Environmental resources have been developed by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the EPA to support primary and second level teachers who are exploring the key environmental issues facing Ireland today. The resources are:
* Eco Detectives, a teacher resource pack of environmental and climate change investigations for primary schools, produced by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in conjunction with the Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin; and
* 2020 Vision: A Closer Look at Ireland’s Environment, a multimedia resource for second-level teachers of Transition Year, CSPE, Science or Junior Cycle Geography produced by the Environmental Protection Agency.
”The activities in the primary school workbooks will make the children feel as if they are real eco-detectives with lots of outdoor investigations and experiments for them to take part in. Learning about climate change and the environment should be appealing and fun and I believe these resources are the way forward in addressing attitudes and behaviour in Ireland today and for its future generations,” explains Ciaran Cuffe, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
“The second-level resources are based around the EPA’s vision of the Irish environment to the year 2020. By then lots of the students who will have used these materials in schools across the country will be young adults, well-versed in the values of sustainable living. My hope is that the resources will influence a generation of young people to have a lifelong passion for the environment,” comments Dr Mary Kelly, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency. “In developing these resources we have worked with teachers to ensure that they are tailored to deliver what the professionals have told us will work best in the classroom.”