Tinana State School, a Green Flag School, celebrated its seventh
year of challenging our young people to come up with tangible and effective
ways that they can help to create a sustainable future at their annual
multi-school Sustainability & STEAM Symposium.
The Sustainability & STEAM Symposium was
held on Wednesday 4th September to increase sustainability awareness, create
connections within communities and to encourage our students to be future
environmental leaders. With ten schools and over 700 students attending, from Maryborough
State High School, Aldridge State High School, Fraser Coast Anglican College,
Xavier Catholic College, St Helens State School, Albert State School, Parke
State School, Tiaro State School, Bauple State School and Tinana State School.
“There
were 430 schools and 8000 students across Australia who took part in National
KTK Week this year and the Tinana State School event was one of the biggest - a
definite highlight,” Kids Teaching Kids (KTK) Director and Founder Arron Wood
said.
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.
Leading up to the day, students selected environmental issues relevant to their community and formulated their KTK workshops. Topics covered in 2019 were: recycling, food waste and the Black Soldier Fly,
the Mary River Turtle, newspaper pots, water wise school vegetable gardens,
wicking bed systems, worm farming, endangered animals, native animals,
rainforest ecosystems, bees, feral pests, boomerang bags, soft plastics, marine
animals, straws, human powered vehicles, eco school committee experience and
sustainable farming and Butchulla storytelling to name a few.
We
also had a 🎥 Fraser Coast Eco Kids Film Crew: a
multi-school film project encouraging kids to 'Be the change that you want to
see in the world!' on the day.
The
Symposium was fortunate to have the support of many sponsors! Sponsorship
allows students to attend the event cost free, supports KTK workshops, environmental
initiatives, workshop presenter costs and the overall celebratory feel of the
day. To help, there were also over 25 organisations, including local government
agencies, community groups and others involved to support this great event of
environment activities and learning.
This
event was held on Indigenous Literacy Day. What better way to show
sustainability then to recycle celebrated at the event with Tinana hosting a Great Book Swap to raise much-need
funds to buy books for remote communities? On the day we banked $350, our
greatest achievement to date!
The
KTK learning model was inspired by the Learning Pyramid©* that 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.
“The
goal for Kids Teaching Kids is to educate others about the importance of
sustainability, and encourage them to spread the message in our communities and
homes. It provides a time to share
ideas, work together and network with others,” 2019 Sustainability Captain, Katelyn
said.
Every
child in our schools is like a little seed, with the power to spread a message
throughout their community.
To
quote Jane Goodall, ‘What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide
what kind of difference you want to make.’
I hope the Symposium gave you a renewed sense of determination to make a
difference that benefits our Earth. We
must continue to work together to spread the seeds of sustainability far and
wide. From little things, big things
grow.