"Wow, Thulani, look at this - an iron tool used by Sotho-Tswana people who lived at Melville Koppies 200 years ago!"
"Cool, Cameron, I wonder what they used it for?"
At this point the teacher-guide encourages the students to continue to unpack the 'MUSEUM IN A TRUNK' to work out the answer.
This is the envisaged response from Grade 7 students who will participate in the Environmental Education programme that is currently being developed by Glynis Clacherty, an educational consultant, and her team.
Overheard at another site on the nature trail: "Ruby, now that you have overturned a few stones and discovered some woodlice, look at them closely - how have they adapted to living there?"
The teacher-guide is encouraging the learner to make a number of deductions based on her observations. The student will then make his/her own notes and sketches out in the field.
The Green Trust has funded this innovative environmental education project for the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve. Nedbank/WWF - SA's The Green Trust aims to support projects that contribute to an improved understanding and a responsible attitude towards one's environment. Glynis Clacherty is a co-executant of this project, together with Di Beeton of Delta Environmental Centre and the Melville Koppies Management Committee.
Melville Koppies Nature Reserve represents a major provincial and national asset in terms of its natural and historical/archaeological resources, particularly given its location in relation to a major urban centre - Johannesburg.
The Melville Koppies is an important historical site having been inhabited by humans since the Stone Age. The importance of the natural and historical significance was recognised in 1968 when the reserve was declared a historical monument.
The reserve has huge potential as an outdoor classroom and could become a leading example of a student-centred, participatory education programme.
Education programme
The education approach will be characterised by student observation, participation and interpretation and will be linked to the new outcomes-based curriculum. The development process has included material development workshops in which groups of local teachers and education students will be involved. At the end of the period of funding for this project, a number of resources will have been developed which will be available for use over a minimum five-year period and will also be suitable for use in other urban centres.
This programme will also be thoroughly evaluated by the Environmental Education Service Unit at Rhodes University headed by Dr Heila Lotz. This evaluation will be extremely useful for guiding the development of subsequent similar projects. This project is the first attempt to integrate the cultural/historical aspects of Melville Koppies nature Reserve with the ecological aspects, focussing on relationships and interdependence, in other words "looking for links".
Grade 7 students and teachers in Gauteng have an exciting environmental education project on their doorsteps and it is hoped that all participants have an 'A-HA' experience at Melville Koppies.
The education programme will consist of the following components:
The pre-visit
The pre-visit will consist of a teachers' workshop where teachers will be given a teacher's guide and a students' pre-visit package which will consist of a number of interactive worksheets for use in the classroom. The latter will provide a conceptual background for learners. The teachers' workshops will enable teachers to conduct some of the visit themselves as well as the pre and post-visit activities and will provide the skills and interactive methodologies required. The teacher's guide will provide the required information.
The visit
The visit to Melville Koppies will focus on two key areas, namely ecological and historical/archaeological. These two components are broadly similar and will complement each other.
As a first step, the Historical/Archaelogical component will draw up a cultural resource management plan which will include an inventory of cultural resources and actions required to protect them. Part of this investigation will include a survey of the potential for an archaeological excavation on the reserve by the Wits Archaeological Resource Unit.
The historical component will include a focus on Stone Age hunter-gatherers, Iron Age farmers and early colonial history. The historical component will also fund the production of two 'museums-in-a-trunk'. This innovative concept, which is a cost-effective alternative to building a museum on site, will consist of a number of trunks which will contain artefacts, models and evidence cards providing sources of information and will encourage learners to interact with the artefacts and the site itself.
The ecological component will integrate a number of disciplines including botany, zoology, geology, soil science and geomorphology within an ecological process context. The programme will focus on a trail containing information such as a trail map and various identification guides for trees, birds, etc. An attempt will encourage activities such as drama, writing, artwork, mapping etc.
The post-visit
The teacher's guide will provide ideas for formalising what the children have learned on site when they are back in the classroom. Worksheets for use in the classroom will also be provided.
Example of a 'History' activity sheet
Food and Farming
Each one of the artefacts in you box has something to do with the food the people at Melville Koppies ate and farmed.
Look at the artefacts
Work in pairs for this part of the worksheet. Each pair should take an artefact, look at it closely and talk about these questions. Use your evidence cards to help you answer the questions.
Now hold a Kgotlo (do you remember what a Kgotla is from the work you did in the classroom?)
Each pair must tell the group what their artefact is and what it was used for.
Demonstrate to the group how it was used.