Little Researchers – a Morecambe Bay Curriculum project
Aims
This project aimed to help young people develop their research skills and appreciate the value of research as a tool for caring about and understanding better their local environment, through place-based learning.
Overview
The young researchers were children aged 7-11 from four local primary schools as well as a small group of 3-4 year olds from a local nursery. The children selected their own local environmental project to research. Topics included safe walks to school, preserving plants and wildlife, understanding marinas, the impact of water erosion on rocks and land and finding out how people make crucial decisions affecting the environment. They were supported in their research work by Lancaster University students, who were given training in how to deliver outdoor education.
They were invited to Lancaster University Library to present their research findings to an audience of special guests including Lancaster University academics, researchers and professional services staff together with representatives from the Eden Project.
“Little Researchers” is one of several projects that is part of the Morecambe Bay Curriculum (MBC) launched in 2019, by founding partners Lancaster and Morecambe College and Lancaster University. The MBC project was inspired by Eden Project Morecambe.
The MBC aims to ensure that the different stages of the education system, from early years to postgraduate, support the green skills, knowledge and behaviours required to respond to the climate emergency.
It enables participating schools around the Bay to focus on sustainability and place alongside everyday teaching.
Results and Outcomes
Tab Content: For Partners and Engagement
Lancaster University Project Manager for the MBC Carys Nelkon said:
“It has been brilliant to see the research topics young people chose to investigate as part of this project. I love that the children have been supported to follow their curiosity about nature. We have had really positive feedback from teachers and young people and hope to broaden this programme in the future.”
Dr Natasa Lackovic of Educational Research said:
“The project has been a fantastic learning experience for the entire team - the young learners rightly took central stage and showed a formidable variety of interests, ideas, creativity, curiosity and skills, which is central to being a researcher. Their final project presentations showed the amazing range of environment-aware topics and activities developed through young people-led enquiry and place-based learning. Equally so, it was fantastic to see how engaged, resourceful and inspired Lancaster University students were as mentors for school children.”
Through teacher evaluation feedback, the project team learnt that the teachers would recommend the project to other teachers and how unique it was for the participating schools to engage children in research-led learning. One teacher said that they “have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this project and the children have produced some work they and myself are very proud of. Thank you.”
The little researchers shared many impressions that highlight their newly embraced research spirit and a transformative learning journey. These comments include:
“I feel like a researcher because I discovered something I didn’t know I would.”
“We researched about the environment. I learnt how to sketch bugs and catch them. I saw a lot of bugs that I have never seen.“
“I studied about bacteria because I find it fascinating, it’s something I’ve never really learnt about bacteria.”
“I learnt that there is so much pollution.”
“I learnt a lot and feel like I know more things about different types of animals.”
Tab Content: For Academics
The project demonstrated how place-based learning and the logic of research enquiry can be implemented in schools to support young people’s exploration and understanding of their environment as well as their personal sense and capacities of “being a researcher” and “doing science”.
Young participants’ feedback and their final presentations confirmed that they developed not only new knowledge and skills but an identity transformation, from learners to researchers. In that way, together, we practiced in education what Erich Fromm emphasised as important in one’s life – the idea of “being over having”: learning and understanding how we can be in the world and co-exist with our environment, beyond possessions, and the education that strongly encourages learners to “possess” something – a skill, an object, a grade, a degree.
What we learnt from the process is that the implementation of the project that involves different stakeholders with different tasks, experiences, “language” and understanding of what the project and roles are can be demanding and difficult at times, especially if tasks and roles are modified from what they may traditionally entail. Certainly, this is not surprising, and many colleagues may have similar experiences, as this is what projects with diverse participants are like. Our key message is that good communication and, importantly, a “good spirit”, respect, patience and kindness, are crucial for any project, as well as the readiness to accept challenges and differences and be ready to negotiate and find solutions on the go. It is important to be clear about communication expectations and approaches for all parties involved, as this is central to the project’s success.
One of the highlights of the project was the amazing wealth of knowledge and curiosity that young learners expressed during the project. Lancaster University students were delighted with how much the “little researchers” knew and how rich their imagination and interests were. Another aspect worth mentioning is the fabulous project resources (or outputs) that they created – there was a range of media and information, which include: clay figurines of bugs, posters, Power Point presentations, theatrical sketches, videos, photographs, a comic strip and a herbarium.
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