Chinese students learn about nature through writing and photography

"We saw the most beautiful grassland along the road that I had ever seen. There are various grasses, as well as various flowers. They are very beautiful, blue, yellow flowers… so pretty. The green grassland looked like it was wearing beautiful clothing. The flowers are patterns on the new clothing of the ground. We also saw cattle with yellow, black-white, and yellow-white, and some sheep with snow white fur. Then, can you guess what we have seen? We saw a group of brown horses! They are so beautiful! It is the first time for us to see horses. We were surprised. I love this beautiful large wetland."

The above essay is by Yin Xiao Shuang, a student from northeastern China who visited Naoli River Nature Reserve last June. The essay describes her experiences visiting the reserve - a special experience for a student that may live in a city and not have many opportunities to visit a wetland or learn about nature first hand.

To encourage students to explore nature near their homes, Beijing Brooks Education Center, our project partners in China, developed an essay and photography activity for students living near our project sites in eastern China. Through class field trips, the students visit nature reserves near their homes to learn about cranes and wetlands. During these trips the students take pictures of the wetlands, birds or each other, and when they return to their classrooms they write about their experiences. Click here to read more student essays and view examples of the student photographs (two of the student's images are copied below).