ИСТИНА

To try and answer this question and understand the role the Botanic Garden can play, I would like to share some shocking conclusions of an evaluation of what our children know about biodiversity (before they start having lessons in the Garden). Our children do not know how many plants species there are in the world. But, after analyzing the situation, we realized that not all school educators know the answer to the question….nor do they know how many species there are in our regional flora… The next point is the importance of asking how to conserve plants. For this, it’s important to talk about the role played by botanic gardens in preserving biodiversity (preserving the genofond, creating seed banks etcetera). We have to teach them that it’s impossible to save plants without preserving their natural habitats and - most importantly – without preserving the soils. Soil is a vital ecological factor for any plant. Plants grown in other conditions lose their properties… Another important conclusion that I reached during the evaluation is that teachers know nothing about the problem of invasive species. They aren’t even aware of the phenomenon and the term “invasive species”… and while our school and university curricula are being updated to incorporate these concepts the situation could get out of control. Botanical gardens can take on a vital teaching role and become powerful educational spaces for the application of various techniques and approaches. In 2011 - 2013 the Project participants designed and delivered a teacher training pilot course that demonstrated the relevance of this approach and of IBSE techniques. The next step is to promote closer interaction between gardens and schools, transforming botanic gardens into a major component of contemporary school education for learning about biodiversity and plant conservation.