Energy literacy days in the Moscow region

Author: Ludmila Zhirina

Translator: Pamela L Hughes, volunteer, USA.

The Days of Energy Saving -2020 were very successful in the Moscow region. Field camp activities, in-school activities, and family energy-saving activities have helped more than 600 students improve their energy literacy.

Schoolchildren and teachers of the Moscow region began to prepare for the Energy Saving Day 2020 in October. The regional coordinators developed and  conducted 10-day field training

workshops for schoolchildren of Moscow Waldorf schools in the Yaroslavl region at the Yuryevskoye field base. Schoolchildren of 7-13 years old learned about the development of the SPARE program and the celebration of Energy Saving Day from 2008 to the present, watched videos that schoolchildren created for the annual All-Russian competition "Energy and Habitat,” andbecame acquainted with modern possibilities of energy efficiency and resource conservation in urban and rural conditions.

Moscow schoolchildren learned how separate waste collection helps to form compost, which can

be successfully used at their dacha or in pots for indoor plants at school, instead of utilizing purchased chemical fertilizers. Waldorf schoolchildren worked with local schoolchildren to create eight tall vegetable and strawberry beds by mixing heavy clay soil with last year's compost.

During the campaign, household and kitchen waste was collected, along with waste from the fields that, previously, farmers had simply burned: straw, weeds, dried branches of bushes and trees. During four days of workshops, city schoolchildren for the first time created vermifarms for earthworms. They discovered for themselves: "From waste comes income!".

At the end of October, more than 25 schools in Moscow and the Moscow region held Energy

Saving Days -2020. This year we have called these events “Energy Literacy Days”. In the

classrooms and on the school radio, lectures and class hours were held on the materials of the books of SPIRE. Senior schoolchildren, students of thematic classes, Suvorovites and teachers helped junior students to conduct a large program on the topic: "Save paper, take care of trees!" Workshops on rational consumption, separate collection of waste, and recycling of paper were of great interest among children aged 7-10. At home, in teachers' rooms and in the offices of their schools, schoolchildren collected “waste paper” and learned to use it creatively.

For example, schoolchildren of the Moscow school No.2129 have created huge posters and stands on the theme: "The second life of paper waste" from pieces of unnecessary paper.

Schoolchildren of Moscow School No.1060 made New Year's carnival costumes from pieces of cardboard, packaging material, plastic bottles and disposable cups.

Pupils of the Non-State Educational Institution "Orthodox Education Center for the Great Royal Martyrs" in the Pushkin District of the Moscow Region collected 18 kg of obsolete reports and materials from various organizations in the village of Barkovo, separated the plastic, paper, and metal and handed it over for recycling.

Pupils of elementary grades of Gymnasium №4 c. Podolsk, under the guidance of the class teacher and teacher Krat A.V., created gifts and New Year's cards using the papier-mâché technique (they glued small pieces of paper garbage with water and put them under a press). These New Year's cards were sent by schoolchildren to Grandfather Frosts and Santa Clauses in 12 European countries. And they have already received an answer from Germany! German Santa Claus congratulated Moscow schoolchildren with a postcard made from recycled paper too!

On November 11, the Day of Energy Saving, Moscow schoolchildren studied remotely. Therefore, they organized an “Hour of Energy Saving” in their families: they refused to use additional electricity for lighting. Instead of using electronic devices, they played board games, turned off electric heaters and put on woolen clothes.

Goryutskiy Andrey, 4th grade student of Gymnasium № 4 c. Podolsk created a training video. Andrey said that his mother is a doctor and during the months of Kovid she is at work every day. Therefore, he himself prepares food on the electric stove. He demonstrated an example of  energy saving:It turns out that the electric stove can be turned off immediately after boiling when youcook pasta and porridge. After this, the heat of the stove is enough to cook the dish until done. This video became popular with schoolchildren.

Energy Saving Day helped Moscow schoolchildren to increase their energy literacy, and they learned to approach the environment and natural diversity more responsibly, carefully and creatively.