MARINE CITIZENS READY FOR ACTION!

BY NICOLA ASHTON

Greenfield International School have taken an innovative approach to leading learning around the UN Sustainability Goals with the launch of Marine March and the Marine Citizen Programme which centred around SDG 14 – Life below water.

We need a generation of informed, responsible, life-long learners who are equipped to make positive changes and difficult decisions in complex environments. Providing unique learning opportunities and ensuring that our young people are creative, curious problemsolvers who are inspired to take action, is not a small task. By learning about ocean conservation and sustainability, young people can develop a deeper understanding of the natural world and a sense of empathy and responsibility to protect it.

Developed by a team of Grade 11 students, with Yasmine El Melki leading on the development of a Marine Citizen Passport, 10 missions were devised by the team to be completed by primary students over the month of March. In lessons, students worked on the missions alongside a series of practical activities designed to educate around ocean conservation. Grade 11 students supported by talking with the ‘young marine citizens in training’ about their experiences and sharing their expertise. Looking into how to clear up an oil spill with spoons, cotton wool balls, soap and paper towels made for an extremely messy day; and graphing the Blue fin tuna populations was by no means an easy task, but the concrete message that students were able to take away with them about the impact made it worthwhile. Learning is messy, noisy, and often times difficult stuff!

As the passport was created to be accessible by a wide range of ages, reading levels and engagement levels, the missions were split into two categories. Completing five missions for a Marine Citizen Award and eight missions for a Master Marine Citizen. All of the activities fit with the IB Learner Profile and so encouraged skills such as reflection, creative thinking, communication, as well as knowledge.

Missions included activities such as creating a short song about an endangered species, thinking and actioning how to make more sustainable transport choices, and creating a piece of recycled art. Some students even managed to convince their family to participate in a community clean-up – they must have mastered the art of persuasion!

All students recorded their missions in their online passport, aiming to reduce paper use for our project, and many learners took this, along with their art creations to a Marine March Showcase for Earth Day. Many members of the school community, including our older secondary students, were able to visit the showcase and learn about life below water firsthand from the students.

Some of the students were interviewed for their showcases and here are some snippets of what they said:

We learned. We were independent. We got frustrated but then we fixed it.We made things, we broke things, and we understood how they work! We reflected and communicated. We asked questions and we thought. We were sad sometimes but we were happy that we can make a change. We had fun.

Nicola Ashton and Joe Thorowgood lead the project across the school, and loved how engaged the students were in their learning.

“The students had a whale of a time! There was a buzz around the school while learning about something that we can all relate to. Most of us live around 20 minutes away from the nearest beach. We need to understand how to care for it, we need to want to care about it; and while we avoid introducing catastrophies to the younger students, this doesn’t mean that they can’t learn to appreciate and value the awe and wonder that comes with all things ocean… turtles, cuttlefish, jellyfish, sand, shells. It is only when they can be creatively curious around something that is so awe inspiring, that we can create a culture of care”.

We are keen to develop the idea further for next year and look at how we can incorporate visits, speakers, collaboration and other activities into the Marine Citizen Programme. Maybe we can get some of them diving soon – who knows.