10A Learning in the Wild 113

Look around your classroom Do you see students sitting at desks Are teachers writing on a board and giving lectures At Southern Cross School near the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa things are different Here nature is the classroom

Both the park and the school are home to wild animals such as giraffes impalas and warthogs Students at the school study the same subjects as other students in South Africa But at Southern Cross the staff and students go out into the wild to learn

In one lesson students apply the principles of mathematics to the study of local wildlife Younger students count how many kinds of animals drank at the nearby water troughs1 during the night Older students measure the amount of water the animals drank and calculate2 how much water the animals will need over weeks or months

In language classes a common topic is conservation In one recent debate3 students discussed an important question should people give water to wild animals during a drought4 Another project might consist of finding out how an animal died

The director of the school is Ant de Boer His aim is for students to learn the importance of caring for the environment de Boer says ldquoWhen they leave school we want them to be champions of the natural environmentrdquo As the school motto5 says Southern Cross aims to be a ldquoSchool for the Planetrdquo

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1 A trough is a long narrow container from which farm animals eat or drink2 If you calculate a number or amount you work it out using arithmetic3 A debate is a discussion about a subject on which people have different views4 A drought is a long period of time with no rain5 A motto is a short sentence or phrase that describes the aims and beliefs of a group

Naturersquos Classroom

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