Cheetah Conservation Botswana devised a fun, engaging activity aimed at primary school students for International Cheetah Day 2019. The activity focused on raising awareness through the age old craft of storytelling. 14 primary schools were selected for this activity from the Ghanzi District and Gaborone. Britz Malepe and Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile, of the Engagement and Awareness team, collaborated on writing a conservation story about a special boy who saves a cheetah. The story was delivered to the schools in October 2019 in preparation for the activity in November.
With the help of Std. 4-6 teachers in the participating schools, the story was read to the students circa the 8th of November 2019. Following the storytelling activity, the students were tasked with illustrating one of six scenes selected from the story to meet a deadline on the 15th of November. Submitted illustrations will be reviewed by CCB, with the best going into the final storybook to be produced for ICD 2020 - which will feature both the English and Setswana versions of the story. This project aims to build a long-term project which combines literacy and conservation promotion among young children in Botswana, and around the world.
According to Macie Hall, a Senior Instructional Designer at Johns Hopkins University, images can be an effective way of presenting abstract concepts or groups of data. She continues to say, instructors have reported that their use of images in the classroom has led to increased students’ interactivity and discussion. Teaching with images can also help develop students’ visual literacy skills, which contributes to their overall critical thinking skills and lifelong learning.
The 2017 Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) statistical analysis for the primary school leaving examinations reported that the South East District has the highest proportion of grade A (24.72%) while Ghanzi has the least Grade A (6.52%) and has the largest proportion of Grade D (39.10%). With one of the highest populations of cheetahs in the country, the Ghanzi District is a focal area for CCB. The success of CCB’s interventions is dependent on people’s conservation knowledge improving.
As the Setswana saying goes: “lore le ojwa le sale metsi”, meaning that it’s better to groom good habits in young people while their thinking is malleable. CCB hopes to inspire young children to become avid conservationists one story at a time.
With the help of Std. 4-6 teachers in the participating schools, the story was read to the students circa the 8th of November 2019. Following the storytelling activity, the students were tasked with illustrating one of six scenes selected from the story to meet a deadline on the 15th of November. Submitted illustrations will be reviewed by CCB, with the best going into the final storybook to be produced for ICD 2020 - which will feature both the English and Setswana versions of the story. This project aims to build a long-term project which combines literacy and conservation promotion among young children in Botswana, and around the world.
According to Macie Hall, a Senior Instructional Designer at Johns Hopkins University, images can be an effective way of presenting abstract concepts or groups of data. She continues to say, instructors have reported that their use of images in the classroom has led to increased students’ interactivity and discussion. Teaching with images can also help develop students’ visual literacy skills, which contributes to their overall critical thinking skills and lifelong learning.
The 2017 Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) statistical analysis for the primary school leaving examinations reported that the South East District has the highest proportion of grade A (24.72%) while Ghanzi has the least Grade A (6.52%) and has the largest proportion of Grade D (39.10%). With one of the highest populations of cheetahs in the country, the Ghanzi District is a focal area for CCB. The success of CCB’s interventions is dependent on people’s conservation knowledge improving.
As the Setswana saying goes: “lore le ojwa le sale metsi”, meaning that it’s better to groom good habits in young people while their thinking is malleable. CCB hopes to inspire young children to become avid conservationists one story at a time.
RSS Feed
