By Tandem, Slovakia
Last year was unusual for everyone. The pandemic has plunged us all into a number of unexpected situations. This has led TANDEM to organize an online conference mainly for educators, during which we presented the PaPPUS project and discussed the importance of plants in our lives in a frame of a workshop. We would like to thank the experts (speakers) Leonie Burton, Felicity Robinson and Phil Burton for their excellent work, as the workshop was a great success based on the feedback recieved.
We selected two pieces of feedback to illustrate how participants experienced the workshop. The first piece is from Csilla Csobády, who is a university student, the second one is from Mónika Kosár, who is a superintendent.
„The PaPPUS project sparked my interest beforehand, as I have been following the project since TANDEM has been working on it. I am studying to be a biology teacher, and I also love nature very much, so I was glad to see this initiative. When I saw this topic between the lectures of the TANDEM pedagogy conference, it was no question that I was going to apply for this workshop. I was able to gain lots of new knowledge, plenty of interesting ideas which can be perfectly integrated into the lessons - to make the curriculum more enjoyable and lifelike, to let the students discover the wonders of nature for themselves. I am grateful to TANDEM for getting involved in this project and for letting us get some insight through the seminar. Special thanks for the Hungarian translation, which made it easier for us to understand the lecture.”
Csilla Csobády, student
„The lecture presented an interesting approach to back to nature, and the ideas of getting to know nature and our environment. In order to understand and understand with our students the processes that take place in nature, thinking here about climate change and the effects of environmental pollution, it is important that we get to know and explain it in detail. The speakers emphasized the importance of scientificity in the cognitive process, the use of accurate (preferably Latin) names. In order for the knowledge to reach the children and for their experiences to expand sufficiently, it is important that they come into contact with nature, leaves, fruits, twigs on a daily basis,…. The performers encouraged us to bring to the classes the organic things found in nature and to use them for illustration, for determining units of measure, samples, quantities - for counting, and for instruments, as material for teaching in fine arts classes. Let the treasures of nature be as much a part of every class as possible to build a closer relationship with nature in children, bringing them to awareness to environmental protection and more purposeful user behavior. Further considering the suggestions, the active use of collected parts of plants would go a long way to curbing the use of paper and plastics. Hiking and observing nature have a good effect on the human body anyway, it provides it with active rest, its stress-relieving effect has long been known. Combining, gaining knowledge and doing things in nature can certainly have a good effect on both body and soul. And in the long run, a more environmentally conscious age group could break away from their school desks.
The quality of the presentation was enhanced by the fact that several speakers were involved and there was no shortage of illustrations. The involvement and action of the student audience was an interesting highlight of the performance.
I am thankful for the opportunity.”
Mónika Kosár, superintendent