Birds have a novel means to spark curiosity and encourage studying, particularly amongst kids. In Colombia, Audubon has harnessed that potential to assist younger individuals uncover birds, perceive their significance, and change into stewards of the locations they name residence.
In 2021, Catalina Casas, Area Conservation Supervisor for Audubon in Colombia, group training advisor Ligia García, and a bunch of devoted lecturers developed a pilot curriculum for faculties in Colombia’s Central Andes and Southwestern area. The aim was easy however formidable: elevate consciousness about migratory birds and encourage communities to guard the habitats they rely on.
Aligned with Colombian Ministry of Schooling requirements, the Birds to Discover and Conserve curriculum integrates chicken conservation into science, social research, arithmetic, language arts, and citizenship training. Designed for elementary and center college college students, it combines classroom studying with out of doors experiences that join kids with their native environments.
This system focuses on faculties in and round precedence conservation areas, a lot of which serve communities experiencing poverty, social inequality, and the impacts of rural battle. Academics are on the coronary heart of the initiative. They helped co-design and check the supplies, together with educating guides and an illustrated scholar workbook crammed with classroom and area actions for college students, households, and group members.
By means of a train-the-trainer strategy, educators find out about chicken identification, ecology, and conservation and achieve the instruments to guide actions independently. College students find out about native and migratory birds, take part in group science, and take sensible conservation motion—from creating bird-friendly gardens to documenting native information and traditions.
Strengthening the Program in 2026
The pilot started in 20 rural faculties and reached practically 700 college students. Since then, collaborating lecturers have continued utilizing and adapting the curriculum of their lecture rooms. In 2026, Audubon renewed its engagement by a challenge supporting 5 further faculties:
- La Selva Academic Establishment – Ginebra, Valle del Cauca
- Santa Elena Academic Establishment – Santa Elena, Valle del Cauca
- Providencia Academic Establishment – El Cerrito, Valle del Cauca
- La Inmaculada Academic Establishment – San Antonio del Chamí, Mistrató, Risaralda
- José A. Galán Academic Establishment – Manizales, Caldas
The challenge expanded instructor help, strengthened instructional assets, and created extra alternatives for hands-on studying. It additionally opened a brand new dimension of studying: connecting college students in Colombia with friends in the US by their shared curiosity in migratory birds.
Migratory Birds Join College students Throughout Borders
5 digital change periods introduced collectively Colombian college students and college students from 4 U.S. faculties:
- North Canaan Elementary College, Connecticut – fifth Grade STEAM Class
- Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy, Ohio
- World Language Center College, Ohio
- Columbus Worldwide Excessive College, Ohio
College students launched their faculties, communities, and cultures earlier than turning their consideration to migratory birds. They researched and introduced chicken species, exploring their traits, migration routes, habitats, and ecological significance.
The challenge staff created a studying information to assist college students conduct their analysis and put together their shows. Every group ended by answering a easy query: Why is our college a welcoming place for birds?
For a lot of college students, the exchanges supplied a brand new approach to see migration—not merely because the motion of birds, however as a connection between nations, ecosystems, and cultures. They found {that a} chicken touring 1000’s of miles can join communities that may in any other case really feel worlds aside.
From Curiosity to Conservation Motion
The challenge is designed to maneuver college students from consciousness to engagement and, finally, to conservation motion. Every stage aligns with Audubon’s Flight Plan milestones and consists of measurable indicators to trace progress over time.
Studying extends past the classroom. College students and communities have created bird-friendly gardens, organized bird-themed festivals, and documented conventional ecological information, together with native chicken names, tales, and cultural traditions.
These actions do greater than construct information about birds. They strengthen connections amongst college students, lecturers, households, and group leaders whereas fostering a shared sense of duty for the pure world.
Within the quick time period, lecturers have strengthened their capability to ship bird-focused environmental training, whereas college students have expanded their information of native and migratory species and developed deeper connections with nature.
The longer-term aim is to construct a long-lasting tradition of environmental stewardship. By equipping lecturers with the talents and assets to proceed utilizing the curriculum independently, this system can prolong effectively past the lifetime of a person challenge. College students, in flip, are inspired to change into conservation advocates of their faculties, households, and communities.
And the connections created by migratory birds attain even farther. By bringing younger individuals collectively throughout Colombia and the US, this system reinforces a robust lesson: birds don’t acknowledge borders, and neither ought to our dedication to defending them.
A Neighborhood of Academics, College students, and Companions
This work wouldn’t be doable with out the dedication of the lecturers, college students, and companions who’ve helped convey it to life.
Particular due to Kelly Orozco, Consulting Biologist; and to the lecturers in Colombia: María Fernanda Beltrán (La Selva), Sussy Dobrisqui (Santa Elena), María Camila Idárraga and Valeria Rubio (Providencia), Henry Rincón (La Inmaculada), and María Gilma Cortés Castañeda and Claudia Cortés Castañeda (J.A. Galán).
We additionally thank our U.S. companions and educators: Denise Sorrell, North Canaan Elementary College; Wendy Miller, Schooling Program Supervisor and Summer time Camp Director at Sharon Audubon Heart, Connecticut; Patricia Vázquez and Janie Serna, Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy; Lesly Calhoun, World Language Center College; Katherine Kimnach, Columbus Worldwide Excessive College; and Anne Scott, Neighborhood Engagement Coordinator at Grange Insurance coverage Audubon Heart in Columbus, Ohio.
Their dedication and enthusiasm have helped create significant studying experiences and construct connections by birds, biodiversity, and environmental training.
A Trainer’s Perspective
“My identify is María Gilma Cortés Castañeda, and I’m a instructor at José A. Galán College. In 2022, I joined the instructor coaching program led by Audubon in partnership with VivoCuenca, the place we discovered tips on how to use the Birds to Uncover and Preserve curriculum.
The expertise gave us instruments to combine chicken conservation throughout totally different topics and strengthened our dedication to environmental training. The supplies and coaching have been invaluable in serving to us develop participating actions inside and outdoors the classroom, together with video games, murals, illustrated chicken albums, chicken feeders and water stations, and birdwatching area journeys.
Probably the most rewarding half has been seeing how our college students have embraced the challenge and now perceive the vital position birds play in wholesome ecosystems. By means of college initiatives akin to Residing Classroom and Creativeness Discussion board, we now have inspired their curiosity about nature whereas involving households within the studying course of.
The continued help from Audubon and VivoCuenca, together with the chance to take part within the Hen Tourism Congress, has made this expertise much more significant and strengthened my dedication to inspiring future generations to take care of birds and the pure world.”
When kids study from birds, they study far more than tips on how to establish a species. They study that nature connects us—and that defending it’s one thing we are able to all participate in.
