Teaching Conservation with Art at Lagoa do Peixe Bird Festival

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Starting in 2019, SAVE Brasil has been working with schools in Mostardas and Tavares, southern Brazil, to train teachers to conduct lessons on shorebird and Lagoa do Peixe ecosystem in the classroom. Both towns border Lagoa do Peixe National Park, a WHSRN Site of International Importance that has a diversity of coastal habitats that provides a rich food source for migrating, wintering, and breeding shorebirds.

SAVE Brasil is working with teachers as one component of an effort to build a local constituency for the Lagoa do Peixe ecosystem because of its importance for shorebirds, other wildlife, and the local communities. The project has two phases: supporting student-led community presentations on the importance of the park, and an assessment of the natural benefits or ecosystem services communities receive from Lagoa do Peixe.

Teacher training workshops have focused on providing teachers skills and resources to use art to teach about shorebirds, migration and ecosystem services provided by Lagoa do Peixe. At the end of November 2022, at Lagoa do Peixe’s 15th Migratory Bird Festival, SAVE Brasil hosted a booth with material prepared by the students, inspired by a teachers’ training in 2019 and 2022. To explore photos and feedback from the event, explore this slideshow.

  Samples of the student artwork on display at the Festival. Franciane Araújo Terra, Director of “Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Izabel Cristina Lemos Menegaro shared that “The project has worked since the first day of training… I had never seen a project with so much engagement about something from our region. I say that if you ask any child in the town what a shorebird is, they will name them. They all know and this learning is fantastic, it is priceless.”

 Teachers worked with their students to develop art-based presentations to share the importance of Lagoa do Peixe National Park with other local stakeholders in the community.

 Learning with art. Students from 3 to 14 years old had the opportunity to learn about and appreciate shorebirds. The artwork they created were student-driven and primarily focused on paintings, drawing, diorama, and other crafts.

 The importance of wetlands for the shorebirds of Lagoa do Peixe is an important element of the shorebird lessons.

 Through the lessons, students were learned more about the Lagoa do Peixe ecosystem and were inspired to care about conservation of the National Park. Vanderleia Figueira Ribeira, one of the teachers said "All knowledge, when it comes from our reality, makes more sense and is richer. There is no more meaningful reality than the place where we live ,,, Many people come from abroad to get to know and value the Lagoa do Peixe, while some of us, who have this place as our backyard, did not know its riches. Not only did the children learn from the project, but I did too."

 SAVE Brasil team and Soraia Bjaji, Curriculum Coordinator for the Izabel Cristina Lemos Menegaro Municipal Primary School, who participated in the teacher training in the City of Tavares.

 Students participate in educational activity at the 15th Migratory Bird Festival.

Hands-on activities, like this one on migration, can have increased impact on knowledge and appreciation.

 SAVE Brasil had several learning stations at the Festival, including this one on shorebird foraging.

 Raquel Carvalho, SAVE Brasil participated in the event sharing her knowledge about shorebirds of the region. Raquel said “It was rewarding to see the students and teachers so engaged and knowledgeable about shorebirds and the Park. I can tell that the lessons in the classroom with the follow-up activities at the event had a real impact.”

The original funding for the 2019 teacher training and ecosystem service assessment was provided by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Bobolink Foundation and BAND Foundation. For more information please contact Raquel Carvalho.

Photos: Marina Fagundes

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