Summary – Skills, knowledge, values and attitude from Biodiversity

This is a public-good interactive module for biodiversity conservation in

the
biome. Based on learning design, it aims to engage intermediate learners
in learning
that fosters authentic, active and interactive experiences. For example,
learners model authentic
scientific inquiry by investigating threats to biodiversity in South African
National Parks. The module incorporates Western and Indigenous sciences
and provides a
global perspective on some of the socio-economic challenges and threats
to the world’s tropical environments.

KEY WORDS
Biodiversity, conservation, resources

Why is biodiversity conservation important in South Africa?

Through the Convention on Biological Diversity, South Africa has
international commitments to
conserve biodiversity, including species and ecological communities,
which are given effect
through the South African Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999, and
related State legislation. South Africa has been bestowed with a great
natural legacy where an extraordinarily large ecologically functioning
natural landscape is ornamented by biodiversity richness of international
significance.
Computer-based learning environments that are accessible to all learners
in South Africa provide an excellent opportunity to not only provide
appropriate resources for sustainability but, also to adopt different
approaches. “Environmental education for sustainability promotes an
approach that takes learners beyond acquiring knowledge about the
environment and instead developing skills for engagement with
environmental change,”
Further, “reorienting education towards sustainability requires a new view
of science, an ecologically-focused science, which recognises the
interconnectedness of systems, both human and natural,” supports this
move away from traditional “canonical science” to one that adopts more
humanistic science perspectives that give “priority to a student-oriented
point of view aimed at citizens acting as consumers of science and
technology in their everyday lives”. Complex issues require an integrated
approach
where “learners can see relationships and links between their learning
and use these to make sense of the world”.
Learners: • Understand that communities of plants animals and people
live and interact in South Africa. Insects, especially termites as
decomposers and herbivores, play an important role in our country.
• Develop skills to build simple food chains and food webs based on real
world examples.
• Understand some of the key factors that threaten South African
ecosystems include: introduced species (weeds & feral animals) and
changed fire regime.