Foto: Rigoberto Jofré para Rewilding Chile
Schoolchildren from the coast of the Reloncaví Sound and the Chamiza River Valley learned about fungi in an outdoor class
This is the first activity this year with students, which is part of the Friends of the Alerce Andino National Park Program of Fundación Rewilding Chile.
About 50 elementary school students from rural schools in the Chamiza River Valley and the coast of the Reloncaví Sound enjoyed a scientific and educational exploration of the fungi kingdom in the Alerce Andino National Park, accompanied by teachers, parents, and environmental educators from the area.
This way, children from the educational centers surrounding Alerce Andino National Park experienced an outdoor class. This activity is part of the collaborative work of Fundación Rewilding Chile, Universidad San Sebastián, Conaf, and the team of environmental educators Base Camp Volcán Kallfú-ko, based on the cycle of the seasons of the year, in this case, with autumn.
Jéssica Chávez Oyarzo, in charge of the Mañihueico Rural School, who participated in this program for the first time, emphasized that “it was very enriching. We were talking about the importance of incorporating these activities in the Educational Improvement Plan (PME), to continue working in this same area, which is observation. The task was to walk along the trail and observe the types of fungi, their characteristics, and purposes”.
The young participants evaluated this methodology well, as Emiel Cerda, a sixth-grade student from the Río Blanco Rural School, said: “It is better, more fun than being locked up in four walls watching videos on a screen”.
Francisco Muñoz Huinchul, a sixth-grader at the Correntoso Rural School, was also enthusiastic about these educational outings in nature because “you concentrate more, there is a lot of silence, you just concentrate on the wind, the leaves, the plants, and the trees”.
As a strategic ally of this Friends of Alerce Andino NP program, the Architecture Department of the Universidad San Sebastián, through its director Carolina Fonseca, explained that these activities with the neighbors are “part of a master plan of the park, which seeks to positively impact the surrounding communities, not only within the park. And for that, the time we dedicate to conservation education for children is fundamental because they are the agents of change”.
From Fundación Rewilding Chile, Carolina Cerda, director of community outreach, emphasized the importance of educating students by playing and exploring the park.
“Somehow we get them out of the classroom, so that we go and do a science lab in the park. We have been learning specifically about the fungi kingdom in the autumn cycle and we believe that with this type of connection, where the students are learning in the park, they will be the ones who will care for and protect the Alerce Andino National Park in the future and today,” she concluded.
Somehow we get them out of the classroom, so that we go and do a science lab in the park. We have been learning specifically about the fungi kingdom in the autumn cycle and we believe that with this type of connection, where the students are learning in the park, they will be the ones who will care for and protect the Alerce Andino National Park in the future and today.