Young Reporters for the Environment

National Seminar 2011

Supported by :

Ministry for Resourcesand Rural Affairs

Ministry of Education,Employment & the Family

Think ... Investigate ... Write ...

Capture ... Publish ... Convey..

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FEE is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education

It is represented locally by Nature Trust (Malta)

FEE programmes:

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YRE growth in Malta

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Programme cost

Schools pay a participation fee of €12 annually.

Total programme cost for NTM is €34,000.

As from next year those participating in more

than one FEE programme will pay one fee.

Special thanks goes to all the sponsors for

making this possible.

5MRRA MEEF

YRE Participating Countries

Brazil Canada Chili China Cyprus Denmark

France Greece Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Malta

Morocco New Zealand Portugal Romania Montenegro Slovakia

Spain Turkey Wales

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Objectives of the YRE Programme

students learn through their investigation

have a vision of the professional world use the internet and new educational

technologies for learning and communication understand the issues of sustainable

development and citizenship advertise investigations/projects have fun!

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The 3 pillars of YRE

Understand

ActBe positive

1. Local investigation

2 Journalistic production

3. Communication towards local audience

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Types of Projects

The Article must not be longer than 1000 words and should include a title and subtitles. Photos, graphs or drawings may be added to support the article.

The Photo should be of good quality. A short text (150 words max.) must explain the link between the photo and sustainable development.

The Video Clip should not be longer than 2 minutes, and should feature a local investigation.

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8 main investigation topics:

Agriculture and Nature

Cities

Coastline

Energy

Climate Change

Waste

Water

Biodiversity 10

Winning photo entries:

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Winning article entries:

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Follow up of local investigations:

Features in local newspapers

Interviews on TV programmes

Activities in schools

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Monday, 7th June 2010

Overdue clean-up San Anton School students, parents and staff last Saturday removed an abandoned car

that had been in Selmun for over 20 years. This was a follow-up activity to the Imġiebaħ project undertaken by the Young Reporters For The Environment group and for which the school was awarded first prize, and coincided with World Environment Day. The initiative was supported by Philip Agius and Sons Ltd which provided transportation to remove the vehicle

14Follow up activity in the newspaper

Project news programme

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Activities at School

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Activities at School

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Ideas for investigation:Global issues in relation to the local

situation

– Fair trade

– New trends in agriculture

– Renewable energy

– Climate refugees

– Water

– Sustainable fishing18

Ideas for investigation:

Local environmental issues

– Water consumption

– Local councils in relation to environmental issues

– Eco tourism

– Green cars

– Coastline development19

Working on the project:

Networking with local and foreign schools for joint projects:

– Gives more depth to your investigation

– Makes research and investigation easier

– Can be integrated with other twinning projects

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Integrating YRE with school projects

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The EkoSkola programme Summer school programmes Writing programmes

The YRE programme and the local curriculum

The YRE programme provides opportunities for project work in a variety of secondary school curriculum subjects

More specifically, YRE projects can be developed into the course work required by the SEC syllabus for Environmental Studies, European Studies, Geography and Biology

At the post secondary level YRE can be developed into the practical project required for Systems of Knowledge, Geography (A) or Biology (A)

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Project work – Environmental Studies

Topic 1: The geographical and geological context of a historical or archaeological site in Malta or Gozo.

Topic 2: Man’s impact on one of the valleys of the Maltese islands.

Topic 3: The main characteristics of the Maltese village core.

Topic 4: An example of civil architecture of the British period.

Topic 5: Investigating one primary activity in Malta – Does it still have a future?

Topic 6: How green are the new cars on the market and do young people consider environmental aspects when buying their first car? 23

Geography – Fieldwork Report

1. (a) Rural fieldwork

(b) Urban fieldwork

(c) Fieldwork in coastal areas

2. Weather observation

(iii) The field trip follow-up could include:

- discussing/analysing information/data collected in the field;

- helping students to write down conclusions reached;

- examining sketches, maps, and photos for relevance;

- giving hints to students on how to write a report of the required length, namely between 1500 and 2000 words.

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BiologyVisits to places of biological interest:

• Experimental farm• Fish farm• Plant nursery• Recycling of solid waste and sewage

treatment plant• Water treatment plant• Nature reserves• Natural history museum

SEC Syllabus (2009): Biology

Services offered to schools

•National coordinator

•Web site – local and international

•Linking with other schools

•Support during the actual writing of projects

•Local and international newsletters. (YRE and EkoSkola newsletter)

• Incentives to the network (Awards, YRE book)26

YRE article entries

Guidelines and tips on how to write a good

article

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YRE photo

entries

Guidelines and tips on how to take a good

photo

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YRE video

entries

Guidelines and tips on how to take a good video clip.

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YRE incentives –International

• The YRE Book - an annual production of the network

• Publication of articles in the website

• Internationally recognized certificates for students

• Networking with foreign schools

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• Trophies to the international winners

• Individual prizes to students and teachers

• Publication of articles in the local press

• Publication in the local website

• A day with the press for the local winner

• Possibility of visits abroad meeting other young reporters

YRE incentives – National

A photo submitted by 14-year-old Luke Scicluna from the Archbishop's Seminary, Rabat, has won the Special Award in a contest for Young Reporters for the Environment organised by the Foundation for Environmental Education.The photo, taken in Bahrija, was titled: The Gateway to the Future of the Natural World - Our World.160 photos were submitted by 22 countries. The first prize was won by China, the second by Slovakia, third by China, while the special prize was awarded to Malta.The Young Reporters for the Environment project aims to help students understand issues related to sustainable development and citizenship, and actively participate in their learning by working on projects with other students and teachers. The final projects, consisting of journalistic productions, are submitted for international acknowledgement.This was the third year that Malta participated in the programme.Nature Trust Malta thanked the Ministry for Education, the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, HSBC Bank Malta and Wasteserv for supporting the programme all the way.

The Times of Malta, Tuesday, 15th June 2010 - 09:03CET

Student's photo wins environment award

How to participate in the YRE programme:

Register (as a school) in the YRE programme

Select a topic to be investigated

Choose methodology : article, photograph or video clip

Inform the national coordinator

Register your project online for networking

Once validated by coordinator, articles/ photos are stored in the Library, and become available to the YRE

community. These may be updated online.34

Calendar

Starting a project: any time during the scholastic year

Ending a project: any time, but before 31st March

Submission of YRE articles or photos: any time

Submission articles or photos for YRE Awards: Deadline end of March

Selection by national coordinators of max. 3 articles and 5 photos: Deadline 30th April

Meeting of the International Jury: end of May

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Some important points:

• Any entries can be uploaded on the international website.

• Entries for competition basis need to be sent to the national coordinator via email.

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• Exceeding word limit automatically disqualifies.

• Plagiarism is a serious offence and will automatically disqualify.

• Last entry date for competition is 31st March 2011. Late entries will not be accepted.

• Students or schools who need assistance are to send entries by mid March.

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The internationalweb site

•A powerful press agency

- database of projects

- co-operation

- news

- library of articles / photos

www.youngreporters.org

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The National Website

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YRE ... a unique opportunity

... to voice your views and get heard.

Make use of it!40

Young reporters at SMC Verdala BSS