Early start for environmentalism
AUSTRALIAN environmental activist and Deputy Mayor of the city of Melbourne Arron Wood hosted a Kids Teaching Kids seminar at Highfields State School yesterday morning.
Year 3-9 students from six state schools in the area attended the event where children and experts presented short talks on an array of environmental topics.
Mr Wood started the program with his father 19 years ago.
“I grew up in Mildura VIC, it wasn’t exactly an environmental hotbed,” Mr Wood said.
“My brother and I had a billabong on our doorstep and we grew to love the natural environment, which set me on this path.
“It worried me that young people didn’t have a voice in the environmental debate, so I decided to start this program.”
They asked the students to research an environmental topic to teach to other children of the same age. Mr Wood said many of the Toowoomba children focused on agricultural issues.
“The most important aspect of the program is that they have to teach each other,” Mr Wood said.
“The premise is, if you understand something enough to teach another person, you understand the topic inside out.
“They also boil complex concepts down into language that other children can understand.”
Mr Wood said he had started proceedings for the seminar to become an annual event in the Darling Downs. He thanked staff at the Amaroo Environmental Education Centre for helping to facilitate the event.