Comenius pollution project takes students to Sweden

A group of students and teachers from San Andrea Senior School participating for the third year in a Comenius project on pollution, recently spent a week of activities in Satila, Sweden.

The teachers in the group were Audrey Galea, headmistress of San Andrea Senior School, drama teacher Daphne Said, biology teacher Christine Naudi and myself, a teacher of physics and science and technology co-ordinator. The students attending were Lorraine Attard, Dario Vella, Barrie Stott, Marija Vella, Susanne Calì, Joe Azzopardi, Andrea Vella Baldacchiono and Derek Bonavia.

The students were picked on Saturday morning by the parents hosting them and were their guests during their stay in Sweden.

A programme about pollution and environment aspects was prepared by Erik Ordell, teacher of Physics at Satila Skolan. The students from Malta met their counterparts from Sweden and Denmark and together they shared their experiences, and also organised individual activities reflecting the work done on the central theme of pollution by each school.

The short stay in Sweden included both educational and entertaining experiences. The students were taken to Liseberg fun-park, an enjoyable Gotteborg site-seeing boat ride, and a very fruitful and educational visit to the Universeum where they could see fauna and flora from different environments. They also experienced the joy and fun of discovery learning by participating in many specially designed interactive experiments at the Universeum.

The highlights of their visit were a visit to inspect virtue racks and water pollution monitoring activities in nearby lakes, the Ringhalls Nuclear power station and the forest. The students also set up an exhibition on pollution, which included experiments on pollution and energy topics, and opened it to the public. They presented a drama on the need to preserve the environment, and prepared PowerPoint presentations on alternative sources of energy and on water pollution in Maltese valleys.

The Maltese students had the unique experience and opportunity to work and experiment on the electron microscope at Satila Skolan. They gold sputtered leaves and insects, and inspected and photographed them under the electron microscope.

These Comenius activities were organised and directed by the teachers in the groups from Sweden, Denmark and Malta. Students from different countries met and mixed with each other to participate in various activities, and to share information on preserving the environment and reducing pollution. An effort was also made not only to instil awareness on preventing pollution, but also to encourage a spillover effect to the families.

This Comenius activity served also as cultural and personal enrichment to the students and teachers. The trip to Sweden at the end of a three-year Comenius experience will undoubtedly be reflected in future activities and initiatives teachers may undertake as an educational means in their profession for the benefit of their students.