Biodiversity is one of the most important resources of the Earth to be transmitted intact to future generations , and its preservation is therefore a value that environmental ethics should care about.
The contribution that Liceo Scientifico “G. Marconi ” of Parma wants to give to SEEDS is the format of the project ” The Garden of biodiversity . “
The project involves theoretical, cultural and practical activity .
Through educational activities such as guided research programmes and lectures held by experts , students acquire all the knowledge of biology, ecology , genetics underpinning the concept of biodiversity with all its complex environmental , economic and ethical issues.
Alongside there are practical activities : students identify some varieties of plants, once rather popular among the farmers of the area and now at risk of extinction because considered less productive. They grow them in a small plot of land adjacent to the school with the aim of preserving the genetic heritage of those cultivars , now considered of little interest , but that could turn out to be valuable in the near future.
This practical activities help the students to fix in their memory complex concepts effectively making them aware of the scientific and cultural knowledge relating to biodiversity.
The project involves the use of the garden for educational activities with other schools and to raise public awareness on biodiversity issues and environmental ethics among all the people. For this reason, there will be also a renovation, which will be carried out in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture of the Province of Parma.
To verify the practical effectiveness of the project, entrance and final tests will be proposed to the classes involved in the project and to the classes not involved , as control group, to highlight any significant difference in the degree of assimilation and the perception of the proposed concepts .