Education: The new booklet is in the schools!
A full classroom was present during the 'book tour'!
Dachi Shoshitashvili making school children enthusiastic about bird migration and the continental flyways.
Our new educational booklet about birds in Georgia is already in most schools in the bottleneck. In September, we held a meeting involving more than 25 schools dedicated to promoting the study of birds in their classes. The idea was to present the book we have edited, which aims to explain to teachers how to use birds as a didactic tool. With this support, it is not necessary for teachers to be experts in ornithology, as the idea is to work together with their students to study the birds around them. All along the 60 illustrated pages, the book covers various topics on the biology, behavior, and conservation of birds. The book concludes with various activity proposals encouraging teachers to initiate ornithological projects with their students. The book has been very well received, as there is nothing similar in Georgia, and the teaching staff has shown genuine interest in the content and how the different didactic proposals are presented.
To complete the project for this season, we visited 8 schools in the municipality of Kobuleti, a neighboring area to our count stations. Here, we have explained and discussed with over 200 students and over 25 teachers why Batumi is such a crucial site for bird migration and how its conservation relies on all of us. They understand that preserving a well-conserved natural heritage is important for all generations, benefiting society as a whole.
This project has been carried out thanks to the funding provided by the British Bird Charitable Trust (BBCT) and IJsvogelfonds, to whom we are immensely grateful for their support. Following the positive reception of the project, the potential we see in it, and the motivation of the education team, our idea is to continue and expand the impact of these activities. We are in touch with the Batumi Tourism Department and the Ministry of Education in Georgia to print more copies and possibly collaborate with schools in the upcoming edition of the bird festival in Batumi. It has been hard work, but we are extremely happy and hopeful about all we can achieve!
This project would not have been possible without the incredible work of both Dachi Shoshitashvili and Elza Makaradze, our long-term friends, collaborators, and host in Georgia.
After a long road towards writing and translating, the booklets were finally printed and distributed.
Screenshots from the PDF version of the book before printing.