Iganyana Bush Camp

The chief aim of the CCEC’s Iganyana Bush Camp Program is to promote an interest and understanding of wildlife conservation in the local communities through an extended experiential education program for children.

The Iganyana Bush Camp educational program is most correlated to the grade six environmental science curriculum. This program will be offered free of charge to the grade six classes of each local school. Grade six has been targeted because the Ministry’s Environmental Science syllabus for grade six contains far more concepts relevant to the CCEC goals than any other grade (see the Bush Camp’s Educational Themes listing), and because the developmental maturity of this age level is ideal for experiential education on an extended, overnight basis.

Other primary school grade level, O level, A level and International School programs will eventually be offered that include a curriculum modified to meet the needs of the class attending. These programs may be supplemented by academic instruction provided by the schoolteachers of the class, as well.

The term "extended experiential education" refers to an overnight program where students spend several days in a setting that immerses them in a new environment, not only through a program of hands-on activities where they interact directly with the new environment, but also by merely living in it, surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of the environment. The philosophy behind extended experiential education urges that the length of the program be long enough to affect healthy developments in the perspectives, attitudes and feelings of the students toward the new environment. Typically, the first two days are uncomfortable for the students and dominated by an underlying anxiety due to the unfamiliarity of the new environment, facility, routine, expectations, program, and leadership. Only after they achieve a certain level of comfort and familiarity, can students start to be open to new developments in their minds and emotions toward the new environment. Ultimately, the goal of environmental education is not merely to teach new concepts about the environment, but to promote an emotional attachment to it that would lead to a life-long attitude of caring for it. To be effective in the long term, environmental education must not only develop the mind of the student, but touch the heart as well. This lofty goal requires an extended experience. Iganyana Bush Camp will begin offering a three-day program and then expand to longer programs as facilities are expanded. In considering the design of itineraries of different lengths, note that the number of activities offered is limited by the number of small group rotation slots possible in the number of days available.

Toward the aim of touching the hearts of students as described in the above section, it is actually more important that the Bush Camp program be enjoyable, pleasant and memorable, than it is that it be instructive. This may seem a shocking statement for an educational program, but learning facts and concepts alone is not sufficient to achieve the goal of the Bush Camp.

The Role of the Teacher/Guide: To this end, that the relationship between the students and the bush camp guide/teachers must be very positive and friendly is paramount. The success of the program hinges on the attitude and behaviour of the guides. Bush Camp faculty must always endeavour to maintain warm regards toward their charges. Behaviour modification and group management techniques should be of a positive nature. Use of negative reinforcement techniques such as punishments or public humiliation should be avoided wherever possible. Any child whose behaviour is inappropriate should be counselled privately, if possible. Guides must never display anger, contempt or animosity toward any child. The Bush Camp guide must be "firm, but friendly." He/she must be firmly in control, constantly vigilant of safety concerns. However, the guide should always endeavour to be someone the children like, enjoy being with; someone they respect, admire - a role model. Each guide must maintain the highest standards of professionalism, morality and integrity to earn the honest respect of students. Children emulate the attitudes of those they admire. If they respect the guides, the children are more likely to emulate and identify with the conservation values of the guides. Also, the guide should attempt to use humour often. The bush camp experience of the children should be fun!

Toward this aim, it should be noted that, the demeanour of the Bush Camp guide differs from that of the typical schoolteacher. Because their role in the children’s lives is short term, they do not need to be as strict as a classroom teacher, who needs to consider the long-term classroom management effects of his/her policies, actions and demeanour. Typically, the guide can afford to be more friendly and less authoritative right form the start, trusting that the relatively short term of contact will not allow enough familiarity for children to abuse his/her kindness. However, the guide needs to make it clear to his/her charges at the very beginning of the program that with regard to safety issues, students must submit completely to his/her authority and follow any instructions with out hesitation.

Because most of the Iganyana Bush Camp Education Program happens outdoors, the role the students find themselves in is also quite different. Students will initially be quite uncomfortable and uncertain how to behave. Many students will even feel fear when they are in the bush. Guides must be careful to be explicit about how children are expected to behave at the Bush Camp and what they are expected to do. Guides will introduce each activity with a brief talk about safety and what to expect that will help alleviate student fears and anxiety.

Safety: The guides should be flexible and creative in attempting to achieve the goals of the bush camp and meet the needs of their charges, but must never be willing to compromise on safety issues. The safety and well being of the students is the ultimate responsibility of each Bush Camp guide. No other duty or objective ever overrides this ultimate responsibility. If any guide is ever uncertain about the safety of the children in any circumstance, the current activity must be discontinued and the children must be removed to a safe situation immediately. With regards to child safety and well being, risks are never taken in order to achieve experiential education goals. When in doubt, the guide should never proceed until consulting with the Environmental Education Officer (EEO), who is in charge of the bush camp program. If instructed to engage in an activity with children that any guide thinks may be unsafe, that guide must make their thoughts very clear to the EEO and a safe plan should be devised. Experiential education with children in an intact African savannah ecosystem requires constant vigilance and frequent consideration of safety issues. Safety concerns must always be investigated and discussed thoroughly when a new activity is being designed or proposed for the Bush Camp program.

Effective Group Size for Activities: Safety concerns dictate that activity groups must be small in outdoor education. Managing a group of students outside the classroom is far more challenging. Guides must be adept at the group management techniques required by outdoor education. It is not only safety, however, that determines the size of groups in outdoor education. Group size is also determined by educational effectiveness. Research shows that groups larger than about fourteen compromise the effectiveness of any outdoor activity. With smaller groups, the guide is able to give each child more individual attention and each child is able to hear instructions and see organisms and natural objects better. Therefore, in the Iganyana Bush Camp Program, school groups will be divided into smaller activity groups for most educational activities.

Program Design Philosophy: In order for each child to have the same experience, the itinerary must be designed to allow each activity group to rotate through each activity. The rotating nature of the program complicates itinerary design and logistics considerably (see Bush Camp Itineraries), but the greatly enhanced effectiveness of the program makes the effort worthwhile. The EEO will coordinate with each headmaster to ensure that schoolteachers establish the appropriate number of activity groups before their students arrive at the Bush Camp. Schoolteachers should be encouraged to consider the academic and physical abilities, maturity and behaviour patterns of their students in order to create activity groups that are balanced.

To promote effective relationships between students and guides, each activity group is assigned to a guide at the beginning of the experience. The same guide leads each group through all the activities. Each guide will therefore need to be competent in leading every activity planned for that school. Each guide delivers the program orientation, including a safety talk, to his/her activity group at the beginning of the Bush Camp experience (see Student Orientation Procedure). From this point onward, it is imperative that each guide endeavours to learn the children’s names and develop a personal relationship with each student in his/her group.

Activities: All Bush Camp Activities must be consistent with meeting the goals of the CCEC and be directly related to at least one of the Bush Camp Educational Themes. As often as possible, Bush Camp educational activities should also be designed to:

• allow students to interact directly with the environment
• be hands-on
• be student-centred
• allow children to discover facts and concepts
• allow children to be creative
• be fun

Research shows that the above kinds of activities are most effective educationally.

Assessing Program Success: The CCEC needs a means of measuring the effectiveness of the Bush Camp Educational Program. Therefore, each school visit to the Bush Camp will end with an assessment activity. The purpose of this activity is not to test student ability or performance, but to test the effectiveness of the educational methods and activities being employed by the Bush Camp faculty (see Assessment Procedure).

Success of the Bush Camp Program is greatly enhanced by visits to a school by the EEO, before and after their trip. The pre-trip visit is crucial toward the aim of relieving student anxiety and building up enthusiasm. During the pre-trip visit, the EEO can begin working with the students are who are coming toward the end of developing a trusting relationship that will greatly ease their transition to the Bush Camp program and environment once they have arrived. During the pre-trip visit, the director engages the students in a fun activity that is somehow related to nature. He describes and shows slides of the facility and the program. He interacts with them in a warm and friendly way. He takes time to answer any questions they may have. In this way, he helps mould the children’s expectations so that their camp experience will not be disorienting or disappointing. Appropriate expectations are imperative to success.

During a post-trip visit, the director can reinforce conservation concepts, enhance the relationship between the CCEC and the community, and perform further assessment of the Bush Camp’s success that will provide an insight into the effectiveness of the program (see Assessment Procedure).