Abstract:

The Tecocomulco lagoon, in a rural area in central Mexico, was designated a RAMSAR site (a Wetland of International Importance) in 2003 by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. Now, the integrity of its ecosystems is compromised by social activity and the changes of the rainy season.

The middle school of a town on the shore of the lagoon, a non-governmental organization (NGO) and the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); devised a project to raise social awareness of the lagoon's problem and motivate people in the community to initiate mitigation activities. The intention was to attract youngsters’ attention and enthusiasm to take action and involve their families in preserving the lagoon.

The project included a workshop organized by the NGO and the middle school, and taught by UNAM students and faculty, for the middle school students, addressing the definition of sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Then UNAM gave a short course on sustainability and the SDGs to the school’s teachers. The teachers proposed teaching strategies based on projects carried out by students that their middle school class could undertake at the end of the course. A follow-up meeting was organized to review the results of the projects at the end of the school year. School gardens were among the projects presented by the students.

The paper briefly describes the Tecocomulco lagoon, highlights its importance, and its problems. Then, it presents the stages of the project above commented: the workshop, the course, the teaching strategies and the middle school class projects. Their structure and delivery methods are described. Lessons learn are discussed in the end, along with proposals to improve the approach followed.

Keywords:

Middle school education, sustainability education, sustainable school projects.