The disc, which covers subjects such as energy use, waste production and littering, is intended for children aged six to 13. iStockphoto
ABU DHABI // A new CD designed to raise environmental awareness should soon be available to 250,000 schoolchildren.
The Interactive Enviro-Spellathon CD has been produced by the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) and will be distributed to 700 government and private schools over the next two years.
The disc, which covers subjects such as energy use, waste production and littering, is intended for children aged six to 13. It is being launched in the next school year and is linked to a program that allows children to carry out exercises online.
“Children should know and understand their natural heritage in the UAE and we want to create environmentally sensitive citizens of the future,” said Rashmi De Roy, the education awareness manager at EWS. “The environment is not always covered in the school curriculum, so many of them will not have had the opportunity to learn about their own land. It is important that teachers and children should know about this.
“It’s a lot of fun. They will be able to learn about particular themes such as dolphins, whales and dugongs.”
The CD, available in English and Arabic and approved by the Ministry of Education, has resources for teachers, links to environmental organisations in the UAE and classroom activities. Children can learn about water conservation, waste reduction and threats to wildlife and habitats.
The CDs feature seven activity levels, one for each school year. Although each level can be finished in about 30 minutes, they are designed to be completed over several sessions.
“There’s a fun quiz for self-assessment at each level,” Ms De Roy said. “It could be about fishing or saving the wildlife of the UAE.”
The CD program can be loaded onto a server, allowing many pupils to access it simultaneously.
The EWS is partnering with organisations such as municipalities and environment agencies in six emirates. It is still trying to find a partner in Umm al Qaiwain, where the CD is not yet available.
The disc follows the Enviro-Spellathon book, which was launched in 2002 and has been updated several times. This has been used in 400 schools by 125,000 pupils.
The book first focused on the spelling of words related to environmental issues, but later became a broader environmental education project. The Spellathon name was kept because it was well recognised.
The book version will still be available in Abu Dhabi emirate.
Ms De Roy said schools often used the book to help with language teaching, as Arabic-medium schools sometimes chose the English version, and English-medium institutions used the Arabic book.
EWS, which is run in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature, is producing the CD through sponsorship from the Emirates Foundation, Aldar, the property developer, and Geant, the supermarket.
The Ministry of Education recently announced plans to increase the amount of environmental education in government schools from the 2009-10 academic year.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
Daniel Bardsley