A guide to teaching biodiversity through art and media lessons
This guide addresses teachers of art and media who would like to involve their students in the Green Week competition. It offers some background information on biodiversity and also some ideas on how such a topic could be integrated in lessons with the aim of creating artwork and videos.
Background
Biodiversity comes from "biological diversity" and means the variety of life on our planet. This diversity encompasses all the plants, animals and humans which are interconnected within ecological systems. An ecological system (ecosystem) groups certain plants, animals and other organisms living together and functioning as a whole entity. They sustain an ecosystem through interaction with each other and with the water, air and soil around them. Biodiversity is one of the major attributes of a healthy ecosystem and it is vital for Europe and the world.
There are several benefits of diversity:
* Ecological benefits: all plants, animals and micro-organisms have certain roles and functions within an ecosystem. These functions include holding and releasing energy, producing and decomposing organic material, and contributing to processes such as the water cycle, erosion, and climate. * Economic benefits: biodiversity is the living resource of our planet. It provides natural food resources, raw materials for various kinds of industry, tourism, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.
Biodiversity is threatened by certain factors:
* Population growth: increased demand for housing, agriculture, etc. * Pollution: a harmful side-effect of various activities * Habitat loss due to unsustainable ecological practices: an ecosystem may be damaged or altered by various natural and human activities, such as deforestation or desertification. * Invasive species: species of plants and animals occurring further than their normal distribution within an ecosystem. They can have a major influence on individual species of plants and animals, affecting the biodiversity. * Over-consumption of energy from organic resources: it may have significant consequences for the future of mankind. For example global warming results from an over-consumption of coal and petroleum.
Europe is the home of a unique set of ecosystems. Preserving biodiversity should be a concern of every individual on the planet.
Organising the lessons
These are some basic ideas and hints to help teachers integrating such topic easily to any school curricula.
A set of questions can be used to set up preparatory discussions in the classrooms. These could be as follows:
* What happens if animals and plants disappear from certain ecosystems? * How do people's actions affect our environment? * How do food chains link animals, plants and humans? * What role has biodiversity played in shaping your culture(s)?
Students should express the understanding of the biodiversity concept in relation to their nearest environment from two perspectives: their role in preserving biodiversity and as part of the web of life on the Earth.
Assisted by their teachers, students should see both benefits and threats of diversity in their nearest environment and express these in artwork or a video. Both artwork and video may suggest/express concrete examples of unsustainable ecological practices and other biodiversity threats and what solutions students foresee to overcome them in the nearest future.
