The Crichton Carbon Centre’s ‘Biosphere Explorers’ project has undertaken a further round of school sessions in recent months, focussing on the topic of Sustainable Development and recent events including COP26.
We live in a landscape so beautiful and unique that it was awarded the designation of being a UNESCO Biosphere in 2012. Since then, the importance of protecting our environment has become ever clearer, and Biosphere Explorers weaves together these two strands to create beautiful resources for Primary and Secondary students to learn about what the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere is and how we can all protect it.
The Biosphere Explorers project is funded through the Galloway Glens Scheme and led by the Crichton Carbon Centre, a local not-for profit organisation that has become a national centre of expertise on the question of carbon management and peatland restoration.
The latest Biosphere Explorers programme was delivered by Carys Mainprize, the Crichton Carbon Centre’s Project & Communications Officer. The project has been progressed through 2 separate stages, with Biosphere Explorers 1 running from 2018 to 2020 and then Biosphere Explorers 2 from 2020 to 2022.
Through the life of the project, running since 2018, over fifty sessions have been delivered in Galloway Schools, with more than five hundred pupils benefitting from the sessions.
Carys, looking at the latest series of events, said:
“Engaging our young people with the natural world is so important for their learning, curiosity, and connection with the outdoors – and Biosphere Explorers 2 has been working hard to achieve this. I love standing at the front of a class and distilling a really important piece of knowledge about the natural environment and climate change into an engaging lesson. The pupils are often onboard within minutes, and it’s such rewarding work. It’s been such a fun project and I want to thank Galloway Glens for funding us to do this important work.”
Jan Hogarth, Galloway Glens Education and Communities Manager has been supporting Carys in some of her lessons and enthuses about the programme:
“It is absolutely fantastic how enthusiastically schools in the Galloway Glens area have embraced the Crichton Carbon Centre’s Biosphere Explorers programme. Expertly delivered by Carys in a playful and engaging way which incorporates active learning techniques, up to the minute science with valuable scientific investigation skills. Observing the lessons, I was struck by how interested and intrigued the children were in the innovative learning process. Carys was like a children’s science television presenter …the children just love it!”
Crichton Carbon Centre, through their Biosphere Explorers initiative, have produced innovative ‘Learning for Sustainability’ resources for schools. These include board games, lesson plans and training films for children and teachers and will ensure high quality natural world science is available to our region’s schools. All resources are available on the Crichton Carbon Centre’s website.
This is another example of the Galloway Glens Scheme using our funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to prepare our next generation in the need to care for and protect our natural heritage.”
To view or obtain resources, visit here: https://www.carboncentre.org/biosphere-explorers.
In addition, the Crichton Carbon Centre and the Galloway Glens Scheme are excited to be working closely with the Dumfries and Galloway Education & Learning Directorate’s ‘Learning for Sustainability’ Partnership Group. Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is a core part of the Curriculum of Excellence, and both Biosphere Explorers and other Galloway Glens projects such as the ‘Go Wild’ day camps and the John Muir Award programme have contributed work to its LfS Resource Bank, which is available to all teachers across Dumfries and Galloway.
