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Action for Biology in Education
(ABE) is a charitable company
set up to foster an interest
in biology among young people.
It is run by a council of Trustee/Directors
and a volunteer Project Manager,
all of whom have either experience
in research science or in science
education.
We try to achieve a dialogue
between professional biologists,
expert amateurs and students
of all ages. If schools cannot
go to the scientists, we try
to bring the scientists to them.
Hands-on activities are an essential
part of arousing interest, so
our events are designed around
as much practical, investigative
work as we can arrange.
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We have links with a wide range of
biological and environmental organisations,
which include the Linnean Society
of London, the Field Studies Council,
the Natural History Museum and the
Chelsea Physic Garden.
Because we are not funded by subscription
and depend on donations and grants
to run our events and administration,
we sometimes have to charge schools
for our activities.
Contact ABE at: 66 Royal Hospital
Road, London SW3 4HS
Email: abe@gondar.co.uk
Websites: www.gondar.co.uk/abe
and www.biodiversityday.org
Backyard
Biodiversity Day, 21st
June, is a national event.
First organised
in 2001, it was the culmination
of over four years development
of the ABE Focus on Biodiversity
programme. It is being repeated
in 2002 by popular demand.
Chris Baines,
the environmental writer and
broadcaster, who is a passionate
advocate of wildlife gardening,
is Patron of the event. He
believes strongly that children
need to reconnect with nature.
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Year seven girls looking for
invertebrates at Coombe Deane
Comprehensive, Devon. Photo
Jane Wilson
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The event is an invitation to
young people from schools and colleges,
their teachers and families to do
just that.
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Identifying
grasses at St Paul's CE Primary,
Stalybridge. Photos Judith Willis.
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The day asks them to:
- Take a close look at the natural
environment in their immediate locality
- Celebrate its diversity each year
by observing and recording local
plants and animals
- Survey selected species and enter
results on the Biodiversity Day
website
It provides:
- An opportunity for some active
science in the field
- The incentive to use computers
to communicate results
- An interface between scientists,
young people and their teachers
It aims to:
- Improve understanding
- Inform on specific areas
- Explain concepts
- Invite ideas
It will also be a
stimulus for young people to:
- Discuss a wide range of issues
relating to living things
- Pose questions and voice concerns
about the environment
- Develop attitudes of responsible
citizenship towards other organisms
and their habitats
The importance and
value of the event to young people
will lie in:
- Raising their awareness about
the natural world
- The sense of enablement they will
get through taking part
- The opportunity to examine the
natural world at first hand in a
co-ordinated and extended way, and
learn specific skills
The Backyard
Biodiversity Action Kit offers
a helping hand for teachers, parents
and club leaders.
- Pupils aged 11-14 and their teachers
- School science club leaders and
members
- After school clubs
- Primary-Secondary link organisers
- Parents and other family members
Biodiversity is a complex and difficult
concept that must become integrated
into how we manage our social and
economic affairs, if we are to achieve
adequate quality of life and a sustainable
and equitable society. This integration
must occur not only at national and
international level, but also for
the individual and the local community.
Biodiversity describes the variability
of living systems at all levels of
natural organisation from genetics
to species, to communities and to
global environmental processes. The
patterns of diversity we see change
with the scales - both in time and
in space - at which we observe them.
These patterns have been determined
by evolution and past fluctuations
in the climate, but now they are being
extensively affected by mankind's
activities. Living resources are over-exploited,
habitats are degraded and destroyed,
and, less obvious but often just as
invidious, the introduction of exotic
species is altering the communities
of plants and animals we now seek
to conserve.
Biodiversity embraces many practical,
ethical and esoteric values, but in
a hard-nosed society run according
to strict economic accountancy, it
is often difficult to express these
values in monetary terms.
Our project explores some of these
difficult concepts using commonplace,
cosmopolitan organisms (rather than
the rarer species that conservationists
tend to focus on) to illustrate the
nuances of biodiversity. So the results
of the project can be informative
for individual classes, but also integrated
into a national picture of variation.
Action for Biology in Education would
like Backyard Biodiversity Day
to involve not only students of all
ages in the United Kingdom, but link-ups
to their compatriots across the world.
We believe the event could present
a unique snapshot of the common flora
and fauna of countries worldwide at
the beginning of the twenty-first
century. What better time to hold
a celebration of the natural world
and to fire young people with the
interest to cherish it, than at the
start of a new century.
The Action Kit is intended more as
a source of ideas and outlines of
possible practical activities in the
field, rather than a collection of
definitive instructions. The quotes
from a range of authors, contemporary
and past, which are included, provide
thinking points for discussion in
class or the basis of homework ideas.
You can print off a detailed description
of the Action Kit here, and view a
number of the pages in modified form
on ABE's biodiversity website at:
www.biodiversityday.org
The 'Backyard Biodiversity Action
Kit' by Virginia Purchon and Dawn
Sanders is a loose-leaf folder of
24 pages. Pages may be photocopied
in limited numbers for classroom use.
Order your kit:
- Online for £6 post
free from a secure Internet site
using a credit or debit card at:
www.gondar-design.com/orders.htm
- By post for £6.50
(p&p included). Send a crossed
cheque made out to ABE to:
ABE Project Manager
Glebe House
Ashby Road
Ticknall
Derbyshire
DE73 1JJ
Tel/Fax: 01332 863993
Email allanrandall@btinternet.com
Enjoy your day!
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