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Coral Reef Ed-Ventures is
an innovative, cooperative educational venture between Smith College and the Hol
Chan Marine Reserve in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. This school-based project
began in San Pedro in 2000, as an effort to facilitate community awareness of reef
ecology and to support and encourage reef preservation. Reefs are important because
they provide natural protection for coastlines and are the basis of tropical marine
fisheries. Reefs also attract tourists, providing substantial income to island and
coastal communities.
The Meso-American Barrier Reef lies off the coasts of southern
Mexico, Belize and Honduras. The reef, second in size only to Australia’s
Great Barrier Reef, extends for 625 miles form north to south, from the northern
tip of the Yucatan Peninsula to the islands of the Gulf of Honduras. Off the northeast
coast of Belize, Ambergris Caye’s
close proximity to the reef allows this small island to boast the title of Belize’s
premier vacation destination. Hol Chan was Belize’s first marine reserve,
and its mission is to monitor the health of the reef for sustainable fisheries
and environmental and economic stability. The island’s economic and ecologic
dependence on the reef necessitates a local understanding of the reef’s central
role in everyday life.
The Coral Reef Ed-Ventures program is an interdisciplinary
effort involving faculty from three departments (Professors Al Curran, geology;
Paulette Peckol, biology; and Susan Etheredge, education and child study) and the
Environmental Science and Policy Program at Smith College. In 2000, the first year
of the program in San Pedro, two Smith student teachers worked with seven children.
The program has now grown to welcome more than 60 Belizean children, ranging in age
from 7 to 11, for the two-week regular session each summer, with a recently introduced
advanced week-long program for ages 12 and up. The Coral Ed-Ventures program aims
to provide education that will lead to greater understanding of the natural world
and the irreplaceable resources it provides, thereby inspiring the youngest citizens
of San Pedro, Belize, to work for reef preservation and protection.
Smith College
undergraduate students with backgrounds in environmental science and education serve
as the teachers for the program. During the program with the Smith student teachers,
the Belizean children explore reef ecology through field trips to the beach and reef,
conduct in-class experiments, and participate in creative activities through arts
and crafts projects, stories, and games. The ultimate goal of Coral Reef Ed-Ventures
is to help build the children’s informal, local knowledge
and understanding of the complex environmental systems that exist in their immediate
environment. The children are challenged to examine critically their place in their
environment and to express their learning in interdisciplinary ways (using visual
arts, poetry, language arts, scientific discovery, etc.).
Returning Belizean students
above age 11 work with Smith student teachers through a recently added advanced program
that allows them to conduct more focused research in a particular area of their choosing.
The advanced program was designed for the increasing number of children who have
outgrown the program, yet are eager for more coral reef education. The advanced course
includes in-depth study of reef structure and the value of associated habitats, such
as lagoons and mangroves, for sustained coral reef health. Last year the older children
created a magazine entitled “Save
the Reef! That’s a Belief!” that contained original artwork, interviews,
poems, stories, and photographs. The Smith student teachers were able to gather enough
donations from local businesses and residents to print one hundred color copies to
be distributed throughout the island.
With strong collaborative support from Hol
Chan Marine Reserve’s education
coordinator and a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer at Hol Chan, the Coral Ed-Ventures program
is able to engage the children in meaningful small group discussions on issues ranging
from environmental ethics to the pros and cons of mangrove destruction. Coral Ed-Ventures
also works with Belizean non-profit organizations such as Green Reef and Kids in
Action to forge collaborations that continue to inspire children towards environmental
stewardship. Guest speakers whose livelihoods depend on the reef, ranging from tour
guides to dive masters to environmental volunteers, emphasize the importance of the
reef as a critical resource to everyday life.
Local citizens already engaged in conservation
efforts also speak to the children and relay to them the importance of protecting
the environment that sustains them. By the end of the program, the children are able
to demonstrate significant knowledge of the coral reef environment by identifying
reef organisms, discussing adaptations and symbiotic relationships, and understanding
threats facing the reef. The program concludes with a graduation ceremony, during
which the school children perform skits using their learned knowledge of the coral
reef and receive “Coral Reef Expert” cards. The program enters its 10th
year this summer and anticipates enrollment of over 100 children, as the number seems
to grow each year via re-enrollment and word of mouth.
Upon return to the United
States in July, the student teachers work at Smith with the program faculty to write
articles for environmental-related publications and to create a poster and presentation
that describe their summer work in the Coral Reef Ed-Ventures program. The Smith
students and faculty then present this poster at research conferences throughout
the academic year, including the Celebrating Collaborations conference, a student-faculty
research symposium held at Smith during the spring semester. |
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10th year of Coral Reef Ed-Ventures! This year, the group took children on an exploration trip to the northernmost part of Ambergris Caye. Story 6: Exploring our world heritage site |
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