A creative and fun approach to environmental education

In February 2020, the teachers and students of San Roque Elementary School proved that environmental education can be fun. As part of an upcycling competition, they created creative learning stations in their schoolyard and took a strong stand for environmental protection and sustainability.

The upcycling competition took place as part of the school's environmental education classes. Three teams, each consisting of six teachers, transformed waste into artful learning stations. They were supported by their students, who showed amazing talent and visibly enjoyed helping the teachers with this project. With great dedication and attention to detail, they transformed parts of the school grounds into colorful fairytale worlds that invite visitors to enter and learn.

San Roque Elementary School students clearly had fun upcycling.
San Roque Elementary School students during creative environmental education lessons.

Each team was responsible for creating a learning station, resulting in a math and science park, a macabayan park*, and a botanical garden. Everyone involved enjoyed working on them so much that they even volunteered to come to the school grounds on weekends to polish their works of art. The results were stunning and were reviewed by a panel of judges at the competition finals on February 28, 2020. The judges had their work cut out for them, as all three learning stations turned out beautifully. In the end, the math and science park convinced them the most and was declared the official winner of the competition. However, there were no real losers on this day - all three teams did a wonderful job and showed the people in the region how much fun it can be to set a sustainable example against the wasting of resources and for environmental protection.

* Makabayan is a new learning area in the Philippines that combines several subjects with the goal of helping students develop a healthy personal and national identity.