Recently, a curriculum of environmental protection called “Teaching Environmental Protection”, was introduced at Jingyuetan Experimental Elementary School in Changchun. It was proposed by both the China Environmental Press and China Environment News. JISU’s Youth League Committee sponsored the activities, Thirty-eight volunteers from “Baishan Songshui Environmental Protection Club” at JISU, carried out teaching and practical activities with more than 260 elementary school students, focusing on environmental themes such as water conservation, wetland protection, restoration, and recycling.
Volunteers present at Jingyuetan Experimental Elementary School in Changchun
under the leadership of the Youth League Committee
To ensure the smooth progress of the activity, the volunteers began preparations on November 16. In the early stages, the lecture content was confirmed through subject research and a relatively complete environmental protection teaching framework, the classroom process were established; in the later stages, practice lectures were conducted. Volunteers ran several trials and modified the lesson plans according to the complications from the trial lectures to ensure the smooth development of the activity.
Volunteers made preparations on environmental protection lecture
During the activity, the volunteers delivered lectures in six different classes and four grades. They introduced themes of environmental protection with educational video clips, and guided the pupils to think deeply about the current environmental situation throughout the lesson. Through the use of interactive teaching methods, pupils fully understood the importance of protecting the environment. In the future they should be able to take the initiative to protect the environment in any way they can.
During the lesson, the volunteers led the pupils in making clay models of wetlands, drawing weather icons, designing creative reusable bags, transforming old objects and several other fun activities. Interesting and creative hands-on courses allow pupils to have a deeper understanding of the concept of environmental protection and strive to make environmental protection a part of their daily lives.
Volunteers led the students to make and show their works about environmental protection
The activity left an impression on both the pupils and the volunteers. Zhang Yingxi, from Class 6, Grade 4 at Jingyuetan Experimental Elementary School in Changchun, said, “Today, I learned how to reduce household waste and many methods to transform old things. I understood it’s very important to recycle resources.”
Luo Xu, an English major volunteer from Class 1704, School of English, said: “It is the first time for me to participate in the environmental education activity organized by Baishan Songshui Environmental Protection Club. I felt I was making contributions to the cause of environmental protection when I explained environmental protection knowledge to the students in hopes that they would understand environmental protection awareness.” Yu Jingyuan, a Finance major volunteer from Class 1902 (Sino-foreign Cooperative Education Project), School of International Economics and Trade, explained, “We must admit that mankind has no way to create a toolbox for restoring the earth. We can’t create the environment again, and we shouldn’t let the future [generations] pay the bill after all of the damage [we] caused to the environment. What we can do is to encourage more people to know about and pursue environmental protection. We should keep this idea in mind and take practical actions [to preserve the earth].”
Fu Yao, the leading teacher of the Youth League Committee in JISU said, “I hope this activity can enhance students’ sense of social responsibility and service awareness for environmental protection, and improve their social practice capabilities. Let’s join hands to protect our homeland.”
