Torquay pupils join environmental learning event

MORE than 150 pupils from Torquay and across Victoria converged on Scienceworks last month for National My Solar Direct Kids Teaching Kids (KTK) Week.

St Therese Catholic Primary School was among the schools that presented workshops on a range of local environmental issues throughout the day.

“We have 430 schools and 8000 students across Australia taking part in National KTK Week (September 9-13) this year and the Scienceworks event is one of the highlights,” KTK director and founder Arron Wood said.

“They will be focusing on ‘sustainable playground design spirit’ and investigating ways to make parks and playgrounds more sustainable and eco-friendly.

“Topics include rain catchment systems, renewable energy sources and sustainable landscaping.”

KTK education officer Danielle Thuringer, who co-ordinated the Scienceworks event, said that after the schools learnt about their topics form the workshops, they worked together as a school team to design a sustainable playground prototype using the Scienceworks maker’s space and 3D pens.

“The schools will be able to bring their playground prototypes back to school to share with their classmates what they learnt and advocate for sustainable playground improvements in their own communities.”

The KTK program is divided into four stages, where students move from traditional learning and research through to community action and finally to a workshop to formulate the message they wish to share with their peers.

Students can select any environmental issue that is relevant to their community, including drought, recycling, food waste, renewable energy or any of the many others affecting Australia.

The KTK learning model was inspired by the Learning Pyramid, which shows students might only retain five per cent of knowledge through lecture and other traditional learning styles but up to 90 per cent through teaching others.