Science Lessons in Natural Environment

Emanuel Agjoyan

To organize the teaching-learning process more effectively we need a number of preconditions and among them the organization of educational environment is of particular importance. As for science school subjects educational environment can be varied: the teacher’s study, laboratories, virtual environment and, of course, an outdoor lesson in the countryside and camps. In spite of recent abrupt development of technology natural environment is still paid special importance to while choosing the form of educational environment. I once wrote in my article that camps are convenient to teach strategies, and now I want to assert that they are also convenient to teach some science school subjects. The countryside is not only a good environment for realizing educational projects but also a good opportunity to consolidate the theoretical knowledge and to implement practical skills, in other words, to see with own eyes what has been heard about during the lessons.

Since the September of 2011 (that was the date when I first went on an educational trip to the south pick of Aragats) I have managed more than fifty educational trips with my students during which I tried to use all the sights and natural phenomena as didactic materials. In some cases I succeeded in giving a lecture in the countryside.         

Let me bring several examples. During Geography lessons the students are taught such geographical terms or conceptions as river, river system, tributary, spring, outfall or river mouth, reservoir, storage lake, which can be shown with their pictures but I consider those short explanations and descriptions in the countryside by different rivers (the Arpa, the Kasakh, the Vorotan, the Debed, the Tartar, the Kur, the Araks) to be more impressive.    

Another typical component of our landscape are the mountains of different heights and origins which in their turn can also be very good didactic materials. Mountains of different origins can well be seen when we are travelling about Sunik region. On one side of the road we can see the mountains of Zangezur and on the other side spreads the volcanic highland of Sunik. So the Geography teacher gets the opportunity to present different types of mountains simultaneously distinguishing them by their outward characteristics. On the way back I enjoy listening to the students explanations, and so I consider this method to be a success.

In general   the territory of the Republic of Armenia is very convenient to study the changes of climate conditions as the climate varies in a small area.  The changes of climate conditions are especially noticeable when we travel from Sevan basin to Tavush region. After passing through a two-kilometer tunnel we find ourselves in an entirely different countryside with a different climate, soil, flora and fauna.     

Natural environment is also very convenient to conduct ecological lessons. Particularly the southern shores of Lake Sevan show us the bogging up process as well as the white rocks of the previous level. Unfortunately nearly all the corners of the territory of RA have characteristic features of an ecological problem which not so pleasant to minute.  

Countryside can also serve as educational environment for such school subjects as Chemistry, Physics, Botanies, Zoology and Ecology. And the most important thing is that we can realize joint educational projects integrating different science subjects.