A Walk Through the Forest

What is this site?

This is a virtual (online) library of teaching materials on environmental topics. Visitors have control over how they individually use the materials because the material is set out to accommodate this complexity.

Materials may be used in a free fashion, such as browsing through a physical library until something captures your attention, or perhaps the visitor has a particular issue or specialised area of knowledge they want to pursue. In that case they may prefer to study the material provided in an optimal order. This is possible because our contributors offer a recommended path for each area of interest, just like having your own personal tutor on hand.

Over time the Forest continues to acquire additional study resources from many sources around the world. The site itself offers multilingual options. Visitors can choose to visit the French or English versions by clicking on the corresponding flags on the Home Page. Content of the site will be in various languages but material will not be translated. Instead it will be presented in its original language of creation.

 

Who can benefit from this site?

Visitors will have diverse backgrounds; they may be scientists, university students, industrial and environmental sectors, NGOs, support agencies, community groups and areas of the public interested in the topics offered in the Forest.

There are many contributors making their teaching materials available. The Forest of Brocéliande is a global community for sharing learning on ecological economics, the environment and sustainable development. Thank you for being a part of this project.

 

First thoughts

In the forest are MODULES or general areas of learning, themes.

Within these themes are AREAS containing important knowledge.

 

The important knowledge in each area is presented as GRAINS

And if we put these elements together to show their connections we have this diagram at right…

Let’s expand on that

  1. In a cauldron inside the Forest are stored all the grains of key knowledge on the site. The cauldron or grain bank is not visible to visitors but the individual grains are visible in the Table of Contents and when you navigate to them.
  2. Grains are accessible via areas within study modules. Some grains will be related to other key grains of knowledge and can be found via a relationship  or grain-to-grain link
  3. Some grains will have fruit attached. These are additional resources which support the main grain idea and could be pdfs, videos, slide presentations, photos, sound recordings, games etc and are accessible from the grain via a hyperlink . Fruits are not part of the forest, they are external resources.

Look at it this way...

 

You click from a Module to an Area to a Grain via a Pathway. Once in an Area you can also move between grains, even grains in other areas and modules. What’s your style-random or structured? We do both here!

The modules currently available to you include...5 modules.

Contributors (teachers and scientists) are able to contribute additional modules.