The Belize Audubon Society and with the Bronx Zoo World Wildlife Society are holding workshops to start marine biology education at an early age for students. For the next 3 days, over 20 lower division primary school teachers will be receiving instruction on how to integrate marine biology into their existing curricula. The Belize Audubon society's Diane Wade Moore explains:
Diane Wade-Moore, Belize Audubon Society
"The idea behind workshop is to teach teachers methodology as to how to introduce marine ecology and marine conservation to their normal day to day teaching activities. We are teaching them a lecture series that was developed by W.C.S. 'Elly Jelly' which tells the story of a little jelly fish going through the sea and meeting up with other sea creatures. And it covers basic things that are required to be covered under our science curriculum: feeding and camouflage and movement and things like that. And it introduces teachers to activities that they can have with their students and how to best get across these concepts of marine ecology and marine conservation to their students."
"The importance at this point is to just build awareness; us having an awareness of our resources is building appreciation for that resource. So whether you grow up to be an accountant or a business manager or anything, the fact that you have this awareness we hope it builds a social consciousness. A consciousness that we have it, we have to use it respectfully, and we have to use it responsibly."
Next week a similar workshop will take place with teachers of higher grades.