Snippets from Session 1 – Batch 2
🎊We launched the second batch of UNLESS with a 20-minute parent orientation in the morning. Aware parents are integral to our efforts towards raising awareness and empowering young minds. Parents who believe that there is life and learning away from schools as well are our biggest supporters.
🌏During parent orientation we shared the program need, program inspiration, program objectives and parental role. A few words or appreciation from the parents and we were on our way to the start of session 1 with our young participants between 10 and 15 year olds.
Session 1 was focused on biodiversity and ecosystems. We began with a brief ice breaker where each shared a name of an animal, bird, insect, or tree (any two) and their own name. Interestingly, no one named any insect. 🐝🦗 Later we moved on to a brief discussion about the number of trees, animals and insects species in the world, with the insects forming the largest number and humans having just a single species!!🕷🦋🐞🐛🐜
Each participant then literally planted seeds of their intent in a pot using fenugreek (methi) seeds. 🌱They shared why they are joining this course and what they will do with the learning from this course.
We then moved to our activity titled tree bingo 🌳where participants were divided into groups and each group was provided a bingo sheet. They had to go out in nature and search for things listed in the sheet and then tick the ones they are able to find. The activity was meant for participants to spend time in nature, slow down and observe mindfully. They were guided by our team members and volunteers. Participants spent 20 minutes in nature, observing and working on the sheet. A debriefing session followed thereafter.
This was followed by a short snack break where fruits were provided for all.
After the snack break, we moved on to our next activity on understanding ecosystems and biodiversity and that each space can be an ecosystem in its own right. Before moving onto the activity, we had a brief discussion on what are ecosystems and biodiversity. In this group activity, participants again broke into groups and were provided magnifying glasses. They had to select a patch on the ground and spend 20 minutes looking at various living beings in that patch (ants, snails, spiders, pests, insects, beetles, worms, centipedes etc.). Each group selected their own patch (some changed their spots too when they could not locate anything at one place) and spent time observing and documenting what they saw. The activity was followed by a debriefing activity.
Following this activity, we again had a brief discussion on what are ecosystems across the world and the biggest ecosystem, the oceans.
A short video on Ocean ecosystem took students to dive into the world of sea animals and know a bit more about the biodiversity in oceans.
We ended the session with the follow-up activity and the brief about next week’s session.🌳
