Goals: The purposes of this activity are:

Educational Themes:

KEY CONCEPTS

SECONDARY CONCEPTS

1. Work in pairs to demonstrate observation, reasoning and hypothesizing skills by answering the questions and drawing the pictures in the Teak Woodlands Scavenger Hunt.
2. Participate in an activity group discussion of the above questions.

EEO Preparation:

1. If this camp is using both the EE Exclosure and the Big Enclosure for activities, make sure each guide knows which one they are using for their ‘Exclosure 1’ and ‘Exclosure 2’ activities.
2. Also coordinate orientation and closure places for each activity for each guide/group so that two guides are not planning on using the same activity area.
3. Organize fence patrols with the Head Dog Keeper for one hour before each exclosure activity scheduled for the camp session. The patroller should report any compromises of the fence.

1. Make sure all the students are present and that everyone has their logbook/pencil.
2. Introduction: Introduce the idea of the Teak Woodlands Community in such a way that sparks the students’ imagination about it. Recite a poem, lead them in a song, or ask them intriguing questions about the Teak Woodlands. For example:

"I am going to recite a short poem about a place. When I am finished, we’ll see if you can guess what kind of place this poem is about?

Deep, deep, deep

A secret place of hidden mysteries is calling you

Deep in the kingdom of umkusu

Deep in the home of impunzi

Deep sand…, dry soil

Deep roots…, evergreen.

Deep shade…, tall trees

Deep, deep, deep.

Who has an idea about what kind of place the poem is referring to? What about the poem made you think of that kind of place? We are going to a very special kind of place, called the Teak Woodlands. We will try to learn about its hidden secrets, by exploring it."

3. "To learn the secrets of the teak woodlands community, we must sharpen our observation skills. Most people walk blindly through the natural world, unaware of the beauty and complexity of natural communities. But the scientist looks, listens and uses all senses carefully, to learn about the environment. We are now going to play a game to sharpen our observation skills. Often, we over rely on our sense of sight alone. This game will sharpen our sense of touch." Ask the children to sit facing each other in a circle with their hands behind their backs. Walk outside the circle, placing a stick in the hands of each child. The children have a minute to feel their stick with their fingers. Tell them that they need to get to know their stick as well as possible without looking at it, because you are going to take the stick back and place it in a pile with all the other sticks. Then they will have to identify their stick, based on what they learned about it with their sense of touch alone. When finished, congratulate the students for their ability to observe the natural world with their sense of touch.
4. Activity Orientation: "We are now going to enter the bush camp’s Environmental Education Exclosure. It is completely surrounded by a high electric fence that keeps out, or excludes, all large and dangerous game. In this special area we can explore the bush without fear of large animals." Depending on the camp, you may actually be taking the students into the big enclosure instead of the EE Exclosure, but there is no need to differentiate between the two with the students. "However, we still must watch our step for snakes and thorns like anywhere else, although both are uncommon in this Teak Woodlands Community. When we are walking on the trails of the Exclosure, we will walk quietly, in single file. If at any time you see a snake just step away from it. Once you are about two meters away from it, shout ‘Snake’ and point at it, so the rest of us can avoid it also. Snakes want to avoid us as much as we want to avoid them, so if we give it enough space, it will crawl away. The main thing is not to step on it or get so close that the snake feels like it needs to defend itself."
5. "We will be working in pairs once we get deep into the woodlands. So chose a partner now."
6. You and your partner must stay together at all times for the rest of this activity. When we are walking on the trail as a group, you two should walk together, one behind the other.
7. "We do not plan to return to the bush camp for about two and a half hours. If during that time you feel like you need to use the toilet, come to me and tell me where you are going to go. If you need toilet paper and a shovel, I will give them to you." Pull them out of your daypack and show the students. "If you leave anything behind besides urine, you must bury it all with this little shovel. But remember, this little shovel touches only dirt! If anything else needs to be moved into the hole you dig, use a stick."
8. "Does anyone have a question before we start walking?"

1. Walk the students a small way into the exclosure and show them the exclosure fence to the left, in order to reassure them that they are safe here. Lead them well into the exclosure area. Keep looking back to be sure the group is together, walking quietly in single file. Pace your speed, so that no one is left behind.
2. Pick a place that has sunny and shady spots. Stop the group in a shady spot if it is hot. " This is where we will begin our exploration of the Teak Woodlands. We are going to go on a ‘scavenger hunt.’ A ‘scavenger hunt’ is an activity where we look for things that most people would not think are worth looking for. But we will discover much about the secrets of the teak woodlands from what we find. Turn in you logbook to page _______ to find the ‘Teak Woodlands Scavenger Hunt’."
3. "Note that the activity is four pages long. You do not have to start at number one. You may begin anywhere on the four pages and jump around from item to item. First look over the pages with you partner to see what kinds of things you will be looking for, then, when you find one, you can draw it and answer the questions about it in the logbook. Even though you will be working with a partner now, and sometimes in future activities as well, each person will always fill in all the pages of their own logbook."
4. Remember, number 17 is blank. You can have them write in something of interest that you have noticed in the forest recently, perhaps something seasonal. In this case you will dictate questions to answer about it that they should write in now. Or you can tell them to use that space for something they find that they like but is not listed in the scavenger hunt, in which case they will just give it a name it (anything they like) and draw it.
5. "The questions in the logbook do not necessarily have one right answer. You are not expected to know the answers to the questions already, so do the best you can and guess if you have to. Try to answer each question. You answers will not be graded and you do not have to share them with anyone unless you want to."
6. "You may go off the trail to find things. However, wherever you go, you must do two things:

1. "Come to me or Mr. __________, if you need help understanding anything in the logbook." It is important that you try to stay in the same place, if possible, and have the children come to you, so they all know where you are and can keep you in sight. If you must leave your spot to look at something the children have found, ask the accompanying adult to stand where you were until you return.
2. "You have thirty minutes to find as many of the things as you can, making answers and drawings as required for each item."
3. At 20 minutes, warn them that they have ten minute left. If the activity is going well and student interest is high, you may choose to give them more time, but remember, the next activity is quite similar, so we don’t want them to burn out on this type of activity.
4. At the end of the allotted time, gather every one together, making sure that you have everyone.
5. Lead them to the Forest Pavillion, or a shady spot further down the trail.
6. Have everyone sit down.
7. Go over the logbook sheets with the group. For each item ask if anyone found it. If not, skip it and go to the next item. If so, ask for a volunteer to tell the group about it and answer the questions in the logbook for that item.
8. When appropriate, congratulate students on their ability to hunt and find things, and on their powers of observation.

1. "What a group of good hunters I have here! What did we learn about the Teak Woodlands?"
2. "Do you think it is an interesting place?"
3. "What do you like about the teak woodlands?"
4. "Do you think we know everything about the teak woodlands now?"
5. "Before we head back to the bush camp, we are going to do another similar activity, except this time, we are going to focus on finding out about the relationships the trees of the woodlands have with the animals of the woodlands and the way each kind of tree is specially suited to live in this natural community."