The jaguar goes to school

Silvio Marchini 01 February 2012

After the project, children from Mato Grosso State supports the conservation of the Jaguar (Credit: Disclosure)

Children in the classroom of rural schools on the border of Amazon deforestation are often not seen as potential allies in the conservation of biodiversity. They still do not make decisions about the use of natural resources. Their parents make these decisions. The only thing normally expected of them is that - someday they will become adults who act more environmentally friendly. In this scenario, many environmental educators hope that their efforts in the classroom will translate into benefits for biodiversity in the next generation of decision makers. The Project People and Jaguars Coexist, however, shows that education can bring immediate results. It was developed in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, and came in response to the killing of jaguars, which, along with deforestation, is a serious threat to this species of our fauna, arising interest and emotions in both children and adults - Amazonian rural to urban areas, the first animal that comes to mind when thinking about the forest. In addition, everyone has some feelings for jaguars, admiration, fascination, fear or anger, or everything at once. The project makes an important contribution to a theme of intergenerational learning, revealing the potential of children as interlocutors between conservationists and rural communities on the border of Amazon deforestation. Results - Data were obtained in a scientific experiment designed and rigorously conducted - suggest that children

can transfer to their parents certain changes in attitudes obtained in the classroom and thus modify the shortterm behaviors that currently threaten biodiversity in the Amazon. Motivations for slaughter Interviews with more than 600 farmers in the Amazon and Pantanal revealed that, besides the objective reality of the economic loss, the subjectivity of feelings and perceptions may also be behind the killing of jaguars. Specifically among farmers in the municipality of Alta Floresta, the fear of jaguars and the belief that killing them is a common practice among neighbors, beyond the threat to livestock, are the main motivations for their slaughter. It was with these farmers and their children that the Project People and Jaguars Coexist conducted an experiment that evaluated the effectiveness of different approaches of education and communication - within and outside the classroom - to improve the feelings and perceptions of jaguars and consequently, inhibit the behavior of killing them.

Silvio Marchini gives a talk at the school (Credit: Disclosure)

The experiment had two parts. The first part evaluated the effect of strategies of active versus passive learning in the classroom to knowledge, feelings and perceptions of students regarding jaguars. The second examined the degree to which these actions in school also influence the perceptions of parents. The experiment involved six rural schools and 150 students, averaging 12 years old. For a more detailed description of the experiment, see my doctoral thesis. Impacting parents The students asked, with the support of an official letter from the school, that their parents review chapters of the book used in the activities in the classroom and sign the homework. In addition, parents received information through the printed Guide to People and Jaguars Coexisting (in Portuguese), an illustrated book http://pt.scribd.com/doc/36450412/Guia-de-Convivencia-Gente-e-Oncas-2a-Edicao colorful, attractive and easy

to understand even for those who cannot read. Another group of adults in the same rural community, received the book from the project researchers, identified as representatives of an environmental organization. The impact was greater among parents who received the book through the school, the hands of their son or daughter: at the end of the experiment, they were less convinced that killing jaguars is as common or socially acceptable. It is assumed that the distribution of books through the rural schools is a more effective way to prevent the slaughter of jaguars than distribution by other means. Parents were not only influenced by information provided by the content but also the implicit message that the conservation of jaguars is supported by their children, by a community institution that they recognize and respect - the local school - and allegedly also by other community members. The school as an ally Environmental educators and communicators should be aware of opportunities to benefit from the domino effect theory and find ways to make their messages appear from within the community in order to be achieved; messages that arrive through other community members (eg. friends, neighbors and relatives) can be more easily accepted than those that appear to come from the top down, imposed by "outside" people or institutions. Perhaps conservationists can use the schools to simultaneously reach dozens of children in the classroom which may, in turn, influence their parents and other community members. Considering the challenges, education and communication strategies for conservation with focus on school may have a more cost-effective and particularly attractive tactic in the region, especially since children effectively convey to parents the message of conservation.