Today, we’re looking back at a week you won’t find in any curriculum — but one that should be in every school’s plan. A week focusing on subjects beyond Maths, English or German. A week full of memorable, instructive experiences and visions that can only be encountered outside the classroom. It’s the interdisciplinary project week at Lyceum Alpinum! For five days, students dedicate their time and attention to a single topic and take a deep dive into another world where they can cultivate a range of ideas and interests. This year was no different. With a range of exciting teaching topics from 3D print Workshops, Roman drama to technological advances. Having such a selection of engaging, informative topics to choose from is key to ensuring the further academic development of our boys and girls. We are thrilled that we were once again able to put together such a colourful programmethis year at the Lyceum Alpinum.
Spotlight: Environmental protection
Although there were many exciting topics and projects to choose from this week, we decided to place the spotlight on an issue that is as relevant as ever; the environment and sustainability. The goal was to sensitise students on environmental issues and to identify overconsumption as one of the biggest burdens placed on the environment. Our central question was, “How can we move forward sustainably as a society without having our lifestyle and consumption habits damage the environment and its biodiversity.”
The week at a glance
In the end, seventeen participants were chosen to take part in the project and they got to spend a night in Zurich. The trip began with our students and teachers going on a research trip to the Morteratsch Glacier nature trail on the Monday. Our ambitious boys and girls assessed the glacier’s decline first hand, before taking a closer look the development of the area’s vegetation compared to the glacier’s peak in the 1850’s.
On Tuesday, they set off on a two-day trip to Zurich, where they visited the local zoo to research the affect various consumables have on the survival of certain species. The next highlight was the excursion to Umweltarena in Spreitenbach; a unique arena where learning about environmental and sustainability issues is transformed from the abstract into the concrete. At both of our stops, our teachers gave our young researchers written assignments to further internalise what they had seen and to develop their own ideas and approaches to dealing with various topics. At the zoo, for example, students were instructed to systematically catalogue, study and assess the behaviouraldata of certain animal species. By creating ethograms, students provided detailed descriptions on individual species and were able to quantify behaviour based on specific segments, i.e. young and old, male and female.
What we learned:
The following day our young environmentalists presented their findings and ideas to the rest of the student body in order to share the newly gained insights and knowledge. Thanks to their work, we now know that a combination of economic, environmental and social aspects stemming from the palm oil industry has greatly reduced both the orangutan population and their habitats. We also learned that there are several key aspects in dire need of addressing if we intend on keeping our planet for a while. These include, among other things, retaining the planet’s biodiversity, advancements in mobility and further expanding renewable energy. Furthermore, we need to develop and implement new strategies of sustainability for water, recycling, air quality and the food industry; our resources are finite and should be used carefully. We owe the majority of our attention to the climate and climate protection in order to truly live sustainably.
Our verdict—two green thumbs up
We hope that the coming generations are willing to take on the environmental challenges and are ready to invest just as much energy in the issue as our young researchers did for their sustainability projects during the interdisciplinary week. It was great to see how the topic really took a hold of several boys and girls as they continued dedicating time to research recycling, water resources and the impact of climate change one the week was over. The methods used in observing behaviours in recording, analysing and visualising data will be of great use to the students as they move forward in school, and beyond their formal education. Considering all of the above, the project on the environment was a huge success—for us and for the planet. Now that we’ve taken a nice long look back, it’s time to set our sights on the future. Let’s take it upon ourselves to use our resources sparingly. We can all make a meaningful contribution to our environment, whether it is by developing more sustainable habits, e.g. reducing our water consumption or increasing our recycling efforts, participating in a volunteer programme or by supporting policies that are friendly to the environment.
With this in mind, we wish everyone a great sustainable and, above all, a green week!
