School developments in the summer camp - A step towards preserving the climate
On May 14, 2021, an interactive webinar was held for more than 25 schools of the SPARE program in the Moscow and Central regions of Russia: "The favorable climate of our area is changing! What are your suggestions?". On this day, about 500 schoolchildren and teachers learned about the projects of SPARE schools in our region aimed at modern methods of studying climate change processes. They received an invitation to participate in regional climate monitoring, learning about the possibilities of collecting field materials for project research activities in summer camps.
The webinar materials were based on the project of B. V. Trishkin, a geography teacher at Bryansk School No. 66. His project "Satellite monitoring of climatic and anthropogenic environmental changes" was a successful participant of the All-Russian SPARE Competition in the 2019-2020 academic year.
The materials of the webinar were sent to the heads of summer school camps in the Moscow, Bryansk, Vladimir, Voronezh, Yaroslavl and Ryazan regions. The summer of 2021 began with extremely hot weather. Therefore, classes in summer camps on climate change issues have received great attention from children of all ages.
Climatic aspects were also included in the children's health campaign: For example, morning exercises were carried out in forest clearings shaded by tree crowns, and schoolchildren wore hats all day. In addition, before they went swimming in reservoirs, they measured the air temperature in the shade, in the sun, and in the reservoirs. Then, with the help of the Google program, the students compared the current June temperature of their region with the temperatures 10 and 15 years ago, and they saw that the favorable climate is changing dramatically and quickly.
Educational information programs were held on rainy days or in the evening. During the hot season, students made their own mini-solar batteries using mirrors and magnifying glasses. Field kitchens were of great interest, where they used solar screens made of foil to prepare delicious buckwheat porridge with raisins in 15 minutes, using black pots.
The teachers showed how the strips of coastal trees and soil samples in coastal zones can determine the water level in local rivers and lakes; and again, the students could only make an unambiguous conclusion: there is a drying up of reservoirs, leading to desertification.
In the final wrap-up of the workshop, all the students said that such a useful vacation taught them a lot; But most importantly they jointly raised a difficult question: "How will we continue to live
in this territory if it turns into the Sahara desert”. Classes using satellite climate monitoring (based on the materials of the project of the teacher Trishkin B. V.) interested those students who plan to work on a new SPARE project for the next competition.
In conclusion, the camp environmental programs, using the materials and developments of the SPARE program, are successful, arousing great interest among schoolchildren and involving new students in research projects.
Authors: Irina Skiba, Lyudmila Zhirina
Interpreter: Pamela Peters Hughes, volunteer, USA
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