Last weekend my wife, a colleague and I took 7 deserving students from our Environmental Action Group (EAG) on a 4-day, 3-night camp to a remote beach in Hong Kong. The idea was to get them out of the classroom and give them a chance to learn more about the environment, whilst taking action to improve it. We camped on Lo Kei Wan beach, on South Lantau, and when we arrived the beach was filthy. Over our time there we cleaned up the majority of the waste, did some experiments, cook, cleaned, swam, fetched water from the village and talked. I felt that a lot of the social constructs and restrains from school fell away, and we started to get to know each other in new, less formal ways. Despite the rain, heat, mosquitoes and garbage, the students had a great time and learned a lot. Hopefully, they have some memories and lessons to last a lifetime, and to prompt them to further environmental action. I would recommend this kind of trip to anyone, but would advise to keep student numbers low and staff numbers high. If you want any advice on this (including my wife’s delicious camp cooking menu), let me know.

Looking for a way to try and interest more students in the EAG, and to help parents see the multiple educational benefits of such a trip, I produced the video below on return from camp:

Interestingly, just as I sat down to produce the video, I received an email from a student with the following video, which I found to be very inspiring. Thanks Lars!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009xbbf

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, is the one publication that is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Carson, a marine biologist, raced against her own advancing breast cancer whilst attempting to publish the book before it was too late. Sadly, although she finished the book, she passed away before she could fully observe the movement she put into motion. Despite the accuracy of her work, and her own health problems, she was vilified by corporations concerned that her book would threaten their bottom line.

In this BBC Radio broadcast we get a brief yet potent insight into this pivotal moment in the development of our collective environmental consciousness.

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/18-alluring-alien-sight…

My previous post touched on the difference between looking at something with a high speed camera, and how different things can look compared to the naked eye. This set of images provides us with a similar contrast, but this time dealing with magnification. These fantastic closeups give us a completely fresh impression of a bee’s appearance, and thus provide educational opportunities not only in relation to bee anatomy, but also into our own role as observers of things around us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMqM13EUSKw

Each of us has our own understanding of the laws of physics. These beliefs are formed through personal experience (falling out of a tree), classroom education (an apple falls out of a tree) and much more. My own experience has taught me that the way we experience physics everyday is not the whole story, it is simply the way things are under “normal conditions”: change these conditions and everything can change. In relation to this, most people would say that golf balls are solid objects. However, as shown in this brief clip, fire one hard enough at another solid object, and it starts to display some very liquid properties. In real-time this deformation would be too quick to see, giving a truly educational example of the gulf that exists between our perception and reality.

Interestingly, as an avid golfer I have seen photos of golf balls deforming on impact, but the extent of the deformation shown here really took me by surprise. I would guess that the speed of impact is significantly higher than the 160km/h that good golfers can achieve

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and…

All too often we are presented with a false choice between the economy and the environment. This situation seems to occur because economics is primarily concerned with the short term, and measures designed to protect the environment are seen to immediately hinder economic growth (another falsehood according to Paul Hawken). The problem is that sooner or later, damaging the environment to a great enough degree will disrupt economies in many ways. Eventually, the economic disadvantage will be far greater than if action had simply been taken in the first place. As this article shows, certain economies are now starting to feel the economic effects of environmental degradation.

The most important issue raised here, I feel, is the seeming inability of our political institutions to deliver the strong environmental protection we so desperately need, in the face of opposition by a small number of powerful lobbyists.

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger…

In an age where we rely so heavily on technology, more and more people are starting to doubt and deny the science that underlies it. In this fascinating  talk, Michael Specter discusses the danger of such denial. Examples include the supposed link between autism and vaccinations, the growth of alternative medicine and, controversially, genetically modified foods.

This video is a great tool for engaging students to think critically about important issues, such as the nature of truth and information (e.g. why do some ideas become so well established despite a complete lack of empirical evidence?). From this, students can be asked to consider the misleading role the media often plays in this process, and how the scientific community can respond.

To fully understand the power of denial in the face of evidence, we need not look further than the current debate over climate change as a destructive and man-made phenomenon. This is a hypothesis backed by the vast majority of scientists worldwide, yet corporations, governments and the media are denying the need for immediate action.

http://www.boston.com/travel/gallery/zoo_babies/

An interesting, visual look at baby animals in zoos around the world, this collection provides a great way for teachers to interest students in the great biodiversity of our planet.

Despite the comical voice over, this video provides some interesting material on the history of the Internet and the developments that lead to it, such as time-sharing and file sharing. This provides an interesting way to bust the myth that the Internet is a recent development.

http://www.ase.org/section/_audience/educators/lessons

A variety of lesson plans design to raise environmental awareness, and stimulate student action.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/img/2009/03/mar09wallpaper-10_1280.jpg

This single image of a Siamese crodile hatching from its egg is a great reminder that not only birds come from eggs.