Environmental Activism – Wetlands

One of our most exciting workshops presented during our time in Liberia centered around the wetlands.  Liberia has five wetlands recognized by the Liberian government.  The Liberian Environmental Protection Agency is working to get these wetlands protected, but with economic and health issues at the forefront of building the nation up, the environment often gets ignored.  Most Liberians are in a day to day struggle to put food on the table for their families and do not know the important role the wetlands play in providing sustainable protein in their diets in the form of fish.

Teachers Testing the Water

Kristy, Jooyoung and Jenny collaborated on the project teaching methods designed to engage learners and bring thinking to a higher level.  We invited secondary Biology, Chemistry, Geography and English teachers and many attended the seven sessions.

Peter Fahn
 Journalist/Environmentalist

On the first day a Liberian journalist, Peter Fahn, came to speak to our teachers on the Liberian wetlands and their importance for food and clean water. 

Then for three days Kristy, Jooyoung and Jenny presented the teachers with strategies such as KWLA, graphic organizers and questions stems.  They would teach the strategy and then use it as it pertained the teachers’ subject matter.  Learning then focused on planning lessons on the wetlands for Liberian students.  On the 4^th and 5^th day students came to participate in the project.  The Liberian teachers got to practice their new strategies and taught the students about wetlands and the connections that wetlands have to their lives. 

On Wednesday afternoon the students took all their learning and held a Wetlands Festival for the community.  The students presented songs, drawings, dramas, wetland tours, community clean ups and water testing for the community.  The most surprising event was when the results came back on the water testing showing e coli and other bacteria in the neighborhood estuary.

On the last day the teachers spent the day reflecting on their experience and planning lessons for the upcoming year.  Many of the teachers and students say that they are looking at their environment in a new way and will continue to learn more about it and find ways to protect it.