Youth

 

 

Encounters with Nature at SiBG

 

The program is addressed to children and youth of school age on all stages of education (from the first grades of primary school to the last grades of senior high school). The classes last 4 lesson units (45 minutes each) and are organized in environmentally important and interesting places – both in the Silesian Botanical Garden and in other location in the Silesian Vovodeship. In case of bad weather the classes take place in educational rooms of the SiBG Center for Ecological and Environmental Education.

The topics of the classes include:

  • Biodiversity of Silesia: a treasure within sight;
  • Recognizing local species of trees and shrubs;
  • Finding and recognizing animal tracks;
  • The world of birds;
  • The world of seeds;

     

The aim of the classes is to create an opportunity for the participants to be close to nature and to become interested in its processes and phenomena, based on examples taken from local nature. It is vital for the children to understand the great value of wildlife, but also to appreciate the value and beauty of the semi-natural environment. Successive workshops within the cycle are realizations of selected points of school curricula from primary, junior high (gimnazjum) and senior high schools.

 

 

 

Laboratory workshops

 

The aim of the workshops is the broadening of environmental and biological knowledge through practice. The participants learn techniques of microscope observation and sample preparation which endows them with a spirit of researching. The accent of the workshops is laid on the broadening of biological interests and the attractiveness of the classes. The workshop participants learn common and well-known botanical object from a different perspective. During the classes the students are taught the structure of a microscope, its mechanism of action, its different types and uses. They are also given the chance to prepare their own live specimen preparations and learn proper observational routines. As part of the program, subject present in junior and senior high school core curricula are being taught, including the structure of the cell, plasmolysis and deplasmolysis. After the observation is done, the students learn how to prepare simplified drawings.

           

The participation in the workshop allows one to look at the natural world in a new way. The fact that the subjects are being discusses on a very broad theoretical basis gives an opportunity to learn the observed objects in a global way and shows the relationships within the world of nature. The (un)usual world of plants in microscopic scale is shown in a friendly way.