Education plays an essential part in developing our understanding of the true value of the natural world as well as highlighting why we need to protect it from what is very often commercially driven development. After all how can we expect anyone to care for our natural habitat and the wildlife that depends on it for survival if they know very little about it and only ever hear the economic reasons why it should be destroyed?
Young people are naturally inquisitive and by default have the ability to develop an understanding of our natural world by simply immersing themselves in it, it also follows that from an understanding comes empathy and from that the realisation that animals have needs just like us in order to survive. The notion that we are a part of the natural world and not separate from it may not be obvious to someone who has little if any contact with the countryside, but by providing opportunities for this discovery we lay the foundations for a life long interest. The learning opportunities we offer are all based upon the value of the natural world, not just as a physical resource but also to us in a spiritual sense as well.
Courses/Talks and Visits
We offer a range of learning opportunities that can either take place indoors or outdoors.
We can bring our Discover Nature pack, cameras and photographic presentations to your school, village hall, youth group, outdoor meet etc and develop an interactive session where the contents can be examined, touched and photographed. The great thing about the box is that people of all ages seem to be fascinated by the contents and always go away with a heightened awareness of what is out there in our countryside. So what is in the box? Well everything from casts of animal paw prints, bones, shells, insects, fruits such as hazel nuts, acorns conkers etc. As a wildlife photographer David also brings along photos, activity workbooks and PowerPoint presentations to support stories about the box contents which can all be integrated into the national curriculum. We can also arrange indoor/outdoor sessions where we can create lots of practical learning opportunities integrating photography, activity sheets and other practical activities.
Find out who has eyes like this
What do Bank Voles eat?
Why do leaves change colour in autumn?
Find the answers to these and many other questions relating to the natural world
Some examples Activities are:
· If you have a school wildlife garden we can carry out a wildlife hunt and using digital cameras and our activity sheets each person can record what is there in a workbook that the learner can keep.
· We can also offer woodland walks (subject to appropriate risk assessment and permissions) where using our activity booklets we will look for animals signs, take casts and photographs of prints and other natural subjects and generally explore.
Qualifications and Experience
David has a great deal of outdoor related experience and holds NGB qualifications in outdoor related subjects such as the Mountain Leader Award. Academic qualifications include a BA (hons) degree in Post Compulsory Education, a Certificate in Education and the A1 Assessor Award. David has also been CRB checked.
We realise that in the current climate that funding is difficult to obtain and where funding is not available we simply charge the standard teaching rate + travel (outside of Teesdale)
Country Shows, Social Meets etc.
We can bring our Discover Nature Pack to your meet or show and can provide activities and presentations for families and young people. We have a range of learning materials, note cards, DVD's, bird boxes and wildlife watching kit etc.
If you have any further questions or wish to book a session please feel free to get in touch without obligation.