Education for sustainable development
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) makes learning possible in the sense of sustainable development and is geared towards acquiring competences that are necessary for participation in ecologically, socially and economically sustainable development.
The most important goal of ESD is to enable learners to participate actively and self-determinedly in shaping the present and the future.
ESD is not a new subject, but ties in with many current topics that are established in schools and anchored in the curriculum. ESD is based on a holistic, systemic understanding of the world and addresses interrelationships, interdependencies, but also limits in the field of tension between the environment, the economy, society and the individual.
The zoo as an ESD learning site
Such interrelationships and dependencies can be demonstrated and experienced in an exemplary way at the Bern Animal Park. In various school and extracurricular activities, we offer children direct emotional encounters that encourage discovery and phenomenon-oriented learning. The aim is to sensitise children and encourage them to stand up for endangered habitats and animal species. In doing so, we focus on the interrelationships in nature in the sense that we only understand what we know, we only appreciate what we understand, we only love what we appreciate and we only protect what we love.
First and foremost is the direct experience of animals, which is intended to trigger fascination through amazement and thus inspire the corresponding appreciation. Next comes “touching”, i.e. with suitable visual material to touch and compare, the children understand why something has developed in the course of evolution in the way we encounter it today. In all our activities, we want to avoid the admonishing finger, but concentrate on the emotional level.
School offers
In our wide range of possible school course topics, there are various offers that are closely linked to ESD.
Our workshop “Experience, understand and promote diversity” is specifically geared towards ESD. In the Biodiversity Workshop, which we offer together with the Botanical Garden, the Pro Natura Centre Eichholz and Stadtgrün Bern, 5th and 6th grade pupils from the city of Bern can get to know diversity on four dates spread throughout the year. Are you interested? Then we look forward to hearing from you.
Extracurricular activities
Our goal is to develop and offer a level-appropriate programme for children between the ages of 3 and 16:
We take the youngest children (from 3 years to kindergarten entry) in «di chline Dählhölzli Forscher» on a sustainable journey through the Dählhölzli.
Pupils from 9 to 11 years of age can get to know the zoo and its animals in the traditional Uhu Klub for two years.
Weitere Angebote für Kinder zwischen 6 bis 9 Jahre und für Jugendliche ab 12 Jahren sind am Entstehen.
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