At the beginning of December, 2022, we finished our educational project “Del Aula a los Hielos: Glaciares Chilenos en tu escuela” [From the Classroom to the Ices: Chilean glaciers in your school] that looks for getting Chilean glaciers closer to children and teenagers didactically to develop themself with nature responsibly and respectfully, by connecting them with the environment where they live at and strengthening the connection with the ecosystem where they inhabit at.
How does the “Del Aula a los Hielos” project initiate?
In August 2021, we were invited to participate in a teenager talent program called “Talentoso 2021” [Talented 2021], whose aim is to look for artistic talents by supporting different social causes through a project. The program’s winner Vittoria Velasco and her Talent Manager Rey Alcalde allowed us to win a fund to execute the educational project “Del Aula a los Hielos.”
Fourth School: Aldea Bosque School from Chonchi commune, in Chiloé city, Los Lagos region.
Last Friday, December 2nd, we carried out this fourth activity of the project for 18 students from different ages in Aldea Bosque School from Chonchi commune in the Los Lagos region.
How was the activity we did?
We prepared a talk on general aspects of Chilean glaciers for the last school we visited this year. This activity was especially thought for students from 2 to 13 years old, who belong to this multi-level school.
We prepared a talk about general aspects of Chilean glaciers for this school. We started by understanding the glacier concept, its importance, where we can find glaciers in Chile, in the Los Lagos region, and the special connection between glaciers with the Isla Grande of Chiloé. Also, we broadly introduce to them the biodiversity that lives in glaciers and around them, the changes that glaciers are exposed to, their main affectations, and finally but not least important, the daily actions to motivate students to take care of nature and glaciers.
After the talk, we had a break where students had launch and played around. As a work team, we could walk around the school and get to know the different corners especially thought to promote learning through nature, such as different classrooms delimited by trees, outdoor library, fossil samples, orchard and greenhouse, compost, rainwater recovery, swings hanging the trees’ branches, among other places thought by and to children.
After the break, we organized a workshop, which consisted of drawing, coloring, and naming a glacier created by students. They could also leave a message to take care of nature. We gave each student crayons and block-size sheets for this activity as a gift.
Finally, we provided complementary educational material to the students and the school such as:
- Graphic material to students and school as a gift: Postcards with information about glaciers and fauna that inhabit glaciers, foundation stickers, and a glacier picture magnet for each one.
Audiobooks to the school as a gift: Two books called “Al Agua” [To the Water] related to child poems written by Sam García and illustrated by María José Carmona and Loreto Salinas. Also, two books called “Opera del Mar” [Opera of the Sea] written by Susannah Buchan and illustrated by Sam Garcia. This last book has texts and sound recordings of whales and cetaceans that inhabit our country’s coasts. Both books are part of the national editorial Manivela.
We also provided students snacks such as muffins and brownies prepared with natural ingredients by Glo Artisan, a healthy bakery from Chonchi, Chiloé. All of this was saved in reusable bags from the foundation.
Certainly, completing this project at Aldea Bosque School was an unforgettable experience that encouraged us to continue our job as a foundation. This activity not only allowed us to visit unknown places and delight us with a natural environment and incomparable geography, but also, we could recognize a learning process and connection with empirical nature, where classrooms don’t settle limits, but the trees, rain, and sea.
Each student participated and contributed knowledge regardless of their age. It was a huge challenge to modify the traditional learning model to children to a formation with a direct connection with the environment. Certainly, we learned as much as they did.
We are grateful to Fundación Talentoso for allowing us to carry out this project; to Aldea Bosque School and teachers for the management, confidence, and enthusiasm to do this activity; to our teamwork for developing and organizing the talk and workshop; to entrepreneurs and local shops for contributing through their products; and mainly, to the students for giving us their attention and active participation in this initiative
“It was a wonderful and unforgettable experience. The outdoor learning model was revealing: the trees, the wind, the leaves, the birds, and the whole environment participated in the academic training of loving and conservative children and teenagers of nature. To complete a project like this is certainly a motivation to continue reaching out to children along the country”, Constanza Espinosa Cancino, director of Fundación Glaciares Chilenos.
“The experience was impressive, not just about the landscape, but the academic training implemented by the visited school to children. It’s an education based on nature and on-site learning as a great model. They make their life and their day-by-day between flora and fauna. An education that it’s not about competing but thinking. The school is an example that could hopefully be replicated all over Chile. The best closing of the project,” Paulina Jiménez Betancour, contributor of Fundación Glaciares Chilenos.
“To visit such a remote school was a unique experience plus the environment where it’s located: a hill with several uneven surfaces and native flora where different areas are placed to complement the educational process, which was focused on nature, it was amazing”, Felipe Espinosa Cancino, director of Fundación Glaciares Chilenos.
Own authorship photography, Fundación Glaciares Chilenos.
