Human Ecology Project in Schools
Since its inception, the Human Ecology Project has aspired to extend our educational work to a younger audience. It is important that students are exposed to information regarding food choices and the options available.
Our presentations at the Oxford Literary Festival connected us with Professor Stephen Law who is the liaison for the continued education programmes in the city of Oxford. We offered our services to run short demonstrations on cooking and home ecology as a pilot programme.
These two plant-based cooking sessions were presented to students at Oxford Academy and Greyfriars School. Students participated in making plant-based burgers and were given the opportunity to see how nutritious and tasty food could be made.
The students loved this hands-on approach and had many questions about vegetable-quality food. These programmes will serve as a foundation to introduce healthy and environmentally sustainable food to younger students. They will be complemented by our programmes for Sixth Form students.
Young adulthood is a critical time for developing independent living behaviours like cooking. Despite the importance of being able to cook, research suggests that the majority of young adults surveyed didn’t perform food preparation and purchasing behaviours such as buying fresh vegetables, writing a grocery list, or preparing dinner.
“Thank you so much for such a wonderful session for our students. They really enjoyed it, and we would love to look at some other sessions for our coming school year. I'm now very much looking forward to the summer holidays and the chance to use some of your recipes!"
Education is the biggest tool we possess to assist us in moving toward a vegan world.
Building a curriculum for Sixth Form programmes has already begun. We have already produced a series of short (15-minute) videos on environmental/food topics. These video presentations are all available with short eBook versions of the programmes, research links and discussion topics. The video/eBook sessions can be used in conjunction with an ongoing curriculum or be presented by us as part of more extended workshop sessions.
The aims of both programmes are to expose students to some of the basic links between what we eat and the effect of these choices on the environment. The sessions for younger students will focus on hands-on fun with food. Students will come away with exposure to new healthy food choices.
Programmes for the Sixth Formers will foster a greater appreciation for the principal philosophy of ecology – everything is connected. They will be given an opportunity to explore their own ideas about the environment and discuss issues such as soil health, water use, the ocean and a variety of contemporary health/environment issue
“Thank you so much for coming to Oxford Academy last week and bringing all your enthusiasm for veganism with you, it certainly gave the children something to think about, they are really not used to tasting 'different foods, so I must admit I was pleased with the way they worked. Thank You.
Also a really big thank you for the wonderful books you gave to the children and staff. It is an 'easy' but interesting read. I dipped into mine over the weekend and found it full of things to think about.
Thank you for giving up your time!"
Judith Brown
Teacher, Oxford Academy
