The two-week-long environmental education training course 2017 of the Chinese Union of Botanical Gardens (CUBG) came to a successful end on August 19, which is marked by 11 interesting oral presentations by trainees.

26 trainees involving environmental education from botanical gardens, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and universities got certificates of completion from Prof. Chen Jin, director of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG0 and current chairman of CUBG. .

This is the fifth session of the Environmental Education Training Course which is initiated by CUBG and held annually in XTBG since 2013.

Basic theories and methods of environmental education studies, statistical analysis, literature comprehension, small research projects, etc. were main contents of the training course.

Prof. Chen Jin delivered lectures, discussed with trainees, and guided through the whole course.

Prof. Peter Higgins, a professor with University of Edinburgh and chair in Outdoor and Environmental Education, was invited to teach within and improve practice in outdoor, environmental and sustainability education.

Prof. Zhang Zichao shared experience and case studies of environmental education in Taiwan.

Dr. Credic Tan from University of Oxford was another invited lecturer. He shared methods of entailing innovative teaching and outreach in conservation and research into the effectiveness.

Prof. Kyle W. Tomlinson and Mr. Wang Ximin also guided the whole course.

Divided into 11 small groups, the 26 trainees raise scientific questions, design experiment, collect data, and analyze data. Afterwards, they presented their results to a 5-person expert panel on August 19.

The presentation entitled “Are tiger moms more prone to environmental protection? A study on the interrelationship of childbearing attitude and environmental awareness” won the first prize.

The presentations by the trainees were exciting and won praise from the training specialists, which marked the training course a success.

In his closing remarks, Prof. Chen Jin called for the trainees to form teams to conduct environmental education, with proper theoretical guidance. He also encouraged the trainees to conduct environmental education  as profesionals, with professional methods.

Prof. Chen Jin delivers a lecture

Prof. Zhang ZIchao communicates with trainees

Prof. Peter Higgins teaches trainees to play ecological games

Design games on biodiversity conservation

Trainees have discussion.

Teachers and trainees pose a photo