The effectiveness of environmental education in Quynh Luu

(Baonghean) - Implementing the direction of the Department of Education and Training, in recent times, the Education sector of Quynh Luu district has implemented the task of introducing environmental protection contents into the education system at all levels. By mainly integrating and integrating into subjects and organizing extracurricular activities, these activities have initially created positive changes in the awareness of cadres, teachers and students.

To effectively carry out the task of bringing environmental education content into schools, right from the beginning of the school year, the Education Department of Quynh Luu district organized professional training for staff and teachers of schools. At the same time, thoroughly grasp the synchronous implementation of this content according to the direction and guidance of the Ministry and the Department of Education and Training at 4 levels of education; develop programs, documents, and lectures on environmental protection for all levels of education.

Extracurricular environmental activities of the children's group of Ngoc Son Kindergarten.

Cau Giat Primary School is one of the leading primary schools of the Quynh Luu Education sector. The school has spacious facilities, a green - clean - beautiful campus. Initially, the implementation of environmental protection content in the school was still confusing for the staff and teachers, but with a sense of responsibility as well as awareness of the importance of building and forming environmental protection awareness for students at the primary level, the school has researched, exploited the content and prepared lessons to teach and integrate into the subjects in the most appropriate and effective way.

The school has integrated environmental education into the subjects of Nature and Society for grades 1, 2, 3 and Science, History, Geography for grades 4, 5. Specifically, at the beginning of the week before class, teachers in each group orient the content of the lessons and orient the content of environmental education, then agree within the group to implement it into the lesson. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Anh - Vice Principal of the school said: "To effectively incorporate environmental education into the lesson, we rely on the guidance of the industry, and at the same time, the teachers themselves must also learn more about environmental protection knowledge on information channels such as books, newspapers, the Internet, etc. to prepare, supplement the lesson plan and make the lesson more vivid.

For example, in reading lessons about nature, country, etc., we help students understand and feel the content of the lesson fully and deeply, which is to contribute to educating children naturally about environmental protection awareness. The knowledge about the environment that students receive through essays and poems will be deeply imprinted in their minds. As for lessons that do not directly talk about this content, teachers will prepare suggestive and appropriate connections to educate students about the environment. From there, students will have changes in their thoughts, feelings and take proactive actions to protect the environment.

In addition to education through classroom lessons, the school also educates through extracurricular activities; at the same time, education is provided through the practice of cleaning the classroom environment to be clean and beautiful. In November 2012, Cau Giat Town Primary School was chosen as the launching point for the clean water and environmental sanitation program for the 2011-2012 school year.

As for Quynh Chau Secondary School, one of the mountainous schools, teaching and learning conditions still face many difficulties, but the school has also focused on integrating environmental education content into subjects. Most of the school's teachers' lesson plans in subjects such as Biology, Geography, Literature, Chemistry have the form of connection, expansion, posing questions and tests related to environmental issues, aiming to equip students with basic knowledge about environmental protection. Nguyen Phuong Linh – Class 7A said: “In grade 6, I did not learn much about the environment. This year, teachers in all subjects have taught more about the environment, which helped me understand the importance of protecting the environment. My friends and I are always conscious of maintaining hygiene in the school as well as in public places. My school is a mountainous school, in the summer the trees in the school often wither due to lack of water, we have brought water from home to the school to water the trees, so the trees in the school yard are green again.”

Class 3D, Cau Giat Town Primary School.

Quynh Luu has 107 schools at 4 levels, including 61 national standard schools. Up to now, with the attention and close direction of local authorities and the education sector, schools in the district have implemented the inclusion of environmental education content in subjects and official study hours. At the junior high and high school levels, schools also organize monthly activities for students to clean up villages and hamlets, and take care of local historical sites and memorials. For kindergartens, topics and themes have been developed to help children get acquainted with and experience the environment. Thanks to that, students have initially understood and formed and developed habits and behaviors that are civilized, polite and friendly to the environment; fostered a love of nature, and formed life skills to protect the environment for students.

However, in the process of implementing this content in schools, the district education sector still faces some difficulties and limitations such as some schools are still implementing it in a formal and coping manner, so they are not proactive in creating and exploring new forms and methods of teaching and learning. Therefore, the effectiveness and impact on students are not high. Therefore, the Quynh Luu district education sector needs to further strengthen the inclusion of environmental education content in subjects at all levels; direct schools to overcome difficulties and limitations to explore and be creative in integrating and integrating environmental education content into lessons in a lively and appropriate way so that students can easily understand and absorb it.

Article and photos:Bui Thinh(Quynh Lam - Quynh Luu)