JUEGA Y APRENDE: A COMPLEMENTARY SET OF ACTIVITIES TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN A DESERT SETTING

Environmental education has recently been designated a required part of the curriculum in Mexican schools from grades 4 to 9. Although this is a big step forward in environmental awareness and environmental education, Mexico has as a big challenge ahead, as environmental education had been neglected for decades. Large gaps in training environmental educators and providing educational materials need to be filled. Having water conservation as a main objective, we developed an activity book about animals of the Chihuahuan Desert with a double intention of (1) showing how wildlife survives in an arid environment by conserving water and (2) taking advantage of the natural draw that animals have on children. A second step (not included in this book but expected to come out as a guide for teachers later on) would consist on explaining how humans and desert communities can mimic some of the animal behavior and use water more efficiently.

Communities within the Chihuahuan Desert region have additional hurdles for an integrated environmental education as native animals are rare and most of them are nocturnal; thus are difficult to see. Fieldtrips at local schools are discouraged because of adverse climatic conditions, safety concerns, and the scant chances of seeing wildlife. The book thus helps introducing some of these elusive animals by giving a few of their characteristics and pinpointing ecological relationships to other animals and adaptations to the extreme climate of the desert. This is complementary material and by no means intended to be part of the curriculum. The activity book is now available on the Internet. Since these materials are in Spanish, it may be of interest to educators along the U.S./Mexico border that have outreach programs to Spanish-speaking children.