A Schoolteacher's Guide to Marine Environmental Education in the Eastern African Region.

Abstract

The main objective of this book is to provide teachers of primary and secondary schools in the western Indian Ocean (WIO) region with a basic textbook that will allow them to introduce environmental components in the classroom as well as in outdoor activities. More specifically, it aims at supplying teachers, particularly those with a limited background in marine science, with an overview of the coastal and marine environment and its important ecosystems. Although some of the marine and coastal issues covered in this book already exist in the curricula of other subjects, such as science, geography and agriculture, their coverage in standard textbooks' is either very limited or too detailed and specialised. Therefore, this book can be used individually or together with other available information on the topics concerned, to complement curriculum objectives of the different subjects. The book comprises seven chapters, namely: (1) Environment and Ecology; (2) Oceans and Seas; (3) The Seashore; (4) Mangrove Forests; (5) Coral Reefs; (6) Coastal Pollution and (7) Coastal Resource Management. In the introduction of each of these chapters a section on 'Specific Objectives' is included to act as a guide for teachers to help determine their success at conveying the 'Background Information' to their students. To assist teachers measure changes in their students' attitudes towards the coastal environment in which they live, each chapter also includes a section on 'Skills and Behaviour to be Reinforced' which serves as a reminder of the overall goal of attitude change. Changing attitudes is the main aim of this book, and to assist in this process teachers are encouraged to develop classroom and outdoor activities which include the participation of the students in order to help them acquire new skills. A section on 'teaching and learning strategies' is included at the end of each chapter, listing a few examples of such activities. Teachers are free to decide how they wish to incorporate and disseminate the information provided. They are encouraged to develop their own individual presentation style and modify the teaching and learning strategies as they see fit to their situation and the experience of their students.