The Natural Environment
Today’s lecture has been very helpful in getting to know what the Sustainable Development module entails. I am looking forward to participating in more outdoor learning. As a child, I remember loving outdoor learning so it will be interesting to experience this as an aspiring teacher.
Before attending the lecture I was unsure on how to define ‘sustainability’. I can now say that sustainability is when people are enabled worldwide to satisfy their basic needs as a human being and to enjoy a better quality of life without negatively effecting the quality of life for generations to come. The lecture has also shown me that there are topics that are linked to sustainability that I wouldn’t make an immediate connection with, such as equality and fairness. Before, I would have linked sustainability to topics such as recycling and waste production.
The Natural Environment workshop was very helpful in the sense that it has given me several new ideas for outdoor learning activities. We completed a few activities such as looking for different types of leaves and bugs and also looking at different types of lichens on tree bark. The activities were great stimuli to get ideas flowing for other outdoor learning activities. In my group, one idea was to use the leaves in arts and crafts to create different shapes and patterns. Another idea was to create a play using different types of bugs and thinking how they would move and sound. This workshop has also taught me that learning doesn’t always have to be tedious and in front of a screen.
The Planet Earth workshop also gave us good ideas to take into the classroom. There were several tasks, some being to create a food chain and making tree bark rubbings. This was helpful in creating lessons that you didn’t necessarily need to go outdoors for, for example if weather made it impossible to go outdoors.
In conclusion, I would say that the workshops have given me more confidence in learning and teaching outdoors. I believe that engaging in this module will progressively improve my confidence in the environment around me and hopefully create new and interesting ideas that could be taught outside.
The Urban Environment
The term ‘Urban’ can be defined by a place relating to, or characteristic of a town or city. For me, I live in a rural environment which can be defined as living in the country.
I live in a village which is located in South Ayrshire. Whilst researching for this blog it has been very interesting to see the similarities and differences between rural and urban areas.
In my hometown, the transport is extremely limited. Other than cars, the only other mode of transport is by bus which can cause problems for many people, such as getting to work on time. Due to this, many people travel by car which causes increase in exhaust emissions. The Urban Environment article given states that people living in an a town or city use less energy due to more walking, cycling or public transport being used.
There are limited community spaces in my hometown. Unfortunately, there is only 1 school and 1 shop. Unfortunately, there is no longer a community centre due to lack of funding and also housing development. This can be linked to the Ted Talk by Alessandra Orofino. Although she is referring to the city Rio de Janeiro, you can see the similarities between an urban and rural environment. As humans, we are social animals, but social encounters seem to be declining over the years. Due to public spaces decreasing, unhappiness has become more frequent and participation in communities has become less frequent. There is no recreational space for children or adults which means travelling to urban town’s Maybole or Girvan (10 minutes from my hometown). This can be difficult for those who do not drive or own a car to access facilities due to public transport being poor in my rural environment.
In the rural area that I live, agricultural work is very common. Apart from that, the majority of people have to commute to local towns or cities for work. In urban areas, employment is a lot easier to find in comparison to rural areas because the communities are larger and more advanced.
The term peri-urban space was something I was not familiar with until researching for this blog. Peri-urban areas are defined by the structure resulting from the process of peri-urbanisation. It can be described as the an area between suburbs and the countryside. The Peri-urban Land Use Relationships project (PLUREL) is an organisation created to establish, develop new strategies and plan to develop sustainable rural-urban land use relationships. I am not aware of peri-urbanisation in my local area but believe it could be an effective process because rural-urban interaction is necessary in creating a more sustainable environment.
I was very shocked when comparing air quality between my hometown and the local town Ayr. I found that both air pollution in my rural and urban area were the low, but Ayr was the lowest. In hindsight, this point is backed up by the EEA report as it was said that people living in an urban environment created less exhaust emissions due to walking, cycling or using public transport as it is more available.
Reflecting as a teacher, I believe there are many ways to meet the Curriculum For Excellence experiences and outcomes in social studies. Focusing on P5 (level 2), one out come is:
‘Having explored my local area, I can present information on different places to live, work and relax and interesting places to visit.’
SOC 2-10a
Exploring the local area is important for children in order to discover their surroundings. Comparing a local towns air pollution, community spaces and characteristics to a less familiar city (or vice versa) will give the children a clear understanding that places all have their own attributes and differences.
Another Cfe outcome is:
‘Having explored the ways journeys can be made, I can consider the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of transport, discussing the impact on the environment.’
SOC 2-09a
Researching different types of transport will allow the children to determine which mode of transport is the least/most eco-friendly. Also, looking at which modes of transport are used in their local area can help the children to think of which transport is most suited for their local environment.
To conclude, I have noticed a large difference in urban and rural communities after my research. I have also found that there are also similarities between urban and rural communities despite the large amount of differences, such as the lack of recreational spaces such as community centres. To create a more sustainable environment, I believe that peri-urbanisation should be taken into consideration more.