Conservation in Conversation: A Conservation Curriculum for Secondary Schools in Laikipia County, Kenya

Abstract

In Laikipia County, Kenya, students in pastoralist communities are deeply connected to their surrounding ecosystems. There is a desire amongst both students and instructors to implement more robust conservation biology educational programming. Currently, Kenya’s national curriculum has organized environmental lesson planning at the primary school level, but not at the secondary school level. As a result, the main motivation of this thesis is to pilot a conservation biology curriculum designed for secondary school students with more advanced activities and readings. This thesis is a conservation biology curriculum written in three parts: (1) foundations, (2) threats to biodiversity, and (3) approaches to mitigating these threats. There are eight lesson plans total, each complete with pedagogical objectives and activities to guide instructors and two versions of a scientific reading: one for the instructors and an abridged version for students. The objectives of each reading are to present a clear review of the key literature on a topic within conservation biology and draw connections to case studies and examples relevant to Kenya whenever possible. The background research for this senior thesis was two-pronged—a literature review and exploration of the most pertinent topics within conservation biology to select for the development of the curriculum, and a series of interviews and field-tested lessons at the four secondary schools in Laikipia in order to gather insights to inform the design and writing of the curriculum. Upon completing this background research, the rest of the curriculum was expanded and will be implemented at these same schools in Laikipia in 2021. The topics that have been chosen for inclusion in the curriculum cover a range of ecological issues, with real-world connections to the links between biodiversity loss and human health and socioeconomic development. The discussion provides future directions for expanding upon these existing lessons and formalizing these educational materials throughout Laikipia.