Earth learning idea

Elizabeth Devon (UK)

‘I know it’s Monday when a new Earth leaning idea appears’ – quote from a supporter in India.

The Earth learning idea was set up for the International Year of Planet Earth with the intention of reaching as many children throughout the world as possible, particularly those who suffer from lack of resources and from lack of thought-provoking teaching. Our aim is to foster a better knowledge of our natural world and how it works – encouraging the joy of knowledge about the Earth in those who may not otherwise have the opportunity to receive it.

How can this be done?

The website was developed to be used by teacher trainers and teachers of earth science and geography across the globe. This provides educational resources that will promote interactive teaching and the development of investigational and thinking skills, while provoking educational debate. All the activities assume minimal equipment and resources. Further details of our objectives may be found at: https://www.earthlearningidea.com/home/Teaching_strategies.html.

Earth-related activities are published every week in both English and Spanish. Gradually, they are also being translated into Norwegian. Some activities have video demonstrations and, where the activity has resulted in comments from teachers, these have been published as ‘extension’ ideas. Our first sample activity was published in June 2007 followed by four more in the same year. Since the beginning of 2008, we have published an activity every Monday evening and will continue to do so until the end of December this year. We have published many activities, all of which are free to download from our website.

As we have minimal funding for this project, we are using free Internet software, for example, blogger, wiki and, more recently, squidoo. Our blog can be found at http://earthlearningidea.blogspot.comanad the darker the shading on the map below, the more visits to the site.

We intend to increase the numbers of people using our activities in all countries, especially those shown in white or with pale shading on the map. Please help us by sending us the contact details of any teacher-training establishments that you know and details of any schools at which you think our activities would be useful. Our email address is: info@earthlearningidea.com. In this way, we can spread Earth learning ideas across the globe.