Textbooks and other resource books increasingly discuss environmental issues. But environmental issues can change rapidly. Initiatives to clean up badly polluted areas improve the situation. An oil spill or industrial disaster can change the environment overnight.
It is therefore important for teachers and learners to have access to current information on changing issues. One important resource for teachers is newspapers. Always be on the lookout for articles that you can use. Cut them out, date them and keep them until you can use them.
Magazines with an environmental focus are an important resource for teachers. They are also useful for school libraries. At least two South African magazines aimed at primary school teachers and learners should be available at every school.
Colleen Dawson
reviews
Easy Science
South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA)
(R80 for 6 issues each year)
Each edition of this magazine includes an A2-size poster suitable for the classroom, illustrating one of the articles. The most recent EasyScience has an article on energy, which is an issues-based article that helps us apply the environmentalist slogan, ‘Think global, act local”. The article will help a teacher develop an issue-based lesson, which could follow a knowledge- and skill-based lesson on energy.
Other recent EasyScience magazines have dealt with issues such as biodiversity , the solar eclipse and global warming. It also has articles on other aspects of the NS and Technology curricula, such as the structural strength of domes, sinking and floating, and cells as building blocks of living things.
PO Box 1758, Pretoria 0001
fax: (012) 320-7803 or e-mail: [email protected]
Colleen Dawson
reviews
EnviroKids
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA)
(R100 for 4 issues each year)
This children’s environmental magazine focuses on a wide range of topical environmental issues.
The February 2003 edition, for example, is all about water resources. The first article is a series of photos with written captions about people working in their communities to manage wetlands in their area. This is part of the Mondi Wetlands project, and contact details are given for teachers and learners who want to get more information.
A true story about the migration of a hippo from KwaZulu-Natal to the Easten Cape is also included. The story helps integrate skills of creative writing with a relevant environmental issue. It is followed up with a description of how hippos live both on land and in water, and how they need and affect wetlands.
This whole edition provides a variety of information, activities and real discussions on water issues that will be valuable to a teacher who wants to bring the water cycle to life for the learners.
P O Box 394, Howick 3290
Tel: (033) 330-3931
www.wildlifesociety.org.za
Other environmental
magazines to look out for are:
Earthyear
Earthyear is a glossy, visually attractive magazine that informs, entertains and educates on a wide range of environmental and developmental issues.
Earthyear subscription services, PO Box 91667, Auckland Park 2006, or Fax (011) 727-7111,
e-mail: [email protected],
Tel (011) 727-7000
(R60 for 3 issues.)
Africa Birds and Birding
A magazine that explores the wonders of this continent.
Freepost CB 0566,
PO Box 44223, Claremont 7735
0800 004 464, (021) 686-9001
www.africa-geographic.com
(R116 per year for 6 issues)
Veld & Flora
Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa
Botanical Society, Private Bag X10, Claremont 7735
www.botanicalsociety.org
(R184 for 4 issues a year and membership of the Society)
Rand Water Environmental Education
For posters and other educational resources
Rand Water Environmental Education , PO Box 1127,
Johannesburg 2000
(011) 682-0911 or
0860 10 10 60
e-mail: [email protected]