The Ecological Interactions Olympiad: A Classroom Activity for Reinforcing Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

Different methods and strategies for teaching scientific knowledge have been proposed and integrated within existing classroom dynamics. These represent opportunities for reinforcing and teaching scientific concepts in the classroom, especially in ways that students can easily understand. In this article, we propose a dynamic classroom activity for teaching ecological interactions between plants and frugivorous birds, as an example. This same model could also be used or adapted to teach diverse ecological concepts to students. This teaching strategy is divided into two parts: (1) a theoretical class, and (2) a group activity that we called The Ecological Interactions Olympiad. We describe this method step-by-step and provide suggestions for applying it to other scientific topics. The aim of using such learning strategies is to increase the attention and interest of young students in scientific topics and to improve their critical thinking skills and awareness of the events and interactions that occur in nature, which could ultimately contribute to the conservation of nature.