Liepaja Municipal Education Department Science and Education Innovation Center (ZIIC) has received license issued by the municipal Education Commission and implemented the interest education program “Get to know the Baltic Sea” (hereinafter – the Program) in the Nature House, which was implemented as a part of the additional funding of the European Economic Area and Norway (EEA/N) grant program project “Development of the Innovation Center in Liepaja city” (hereinafter – the Project) within. The program was developed and applied to learners from 9 till 12 grade and the program lasts up to 240 minutes. The state financing of the project for transport compensations has enabled the Program to be learned not only by those class groups that study in Liepāja, but also by students from Ogre region and Limbaži.
The program was implemented in the period from March 26 to April 11 and a total of 133 learners participated in it. In the framework of the program, the learners through assigned roles, such as wind farm developers, sailors, tourism supporters and others, made decisions about the development of the Baltic Sea, also concluding during the game how certain decisions negatively affects the Baltic Sea.
As experienced marine researcher and hydrobiologist Andris Andrušaitis points out: “The program includes two large-format games – “Sea Explorers” and “Sea Planners”, which help you get to know the geography of the sea, environmental features and living nature. The idea of the games was born already in 2023, when the content of the program was created for the international youth camp at the Maritime Studies Base of the University of Helsinki. Both games were developed by the most experienced company of educational and educational games “Uzvediba.lv”, computer graphic artist Ieva Martuzāne, cartographer of the Latvian Institute of Hydroecology Sandra Sprukta and myself in cooperation with Nature House specialists. The research team of the LIFE REEF project also made a significant contribution to the development of the game.”
On the other hand, student Elizabete Mangule from Ogresgala elementary school says after learning the program: “I was satisfied with what I saw in the Nature House – so many unique and fascinating exhibits,” and classmate Adrians Beļakovs-Ceimers adds, “this place and its employees taught me more, as I had thought.” Elizabete, from Liepāja, 9th grade student of the Liepaja State Gymnasium, also shares her impressions after learning the program: “I really liked the activities where you had to work in groups and everyone could express their opinion. I learned from the game “Sea Planners” that nature protection is very important. Maybe it’s because it was my role. It was necessary to know how to negotiate with experts from other fields who also wanted to carry out their activities in important natural areas.”
Before the implementation of the Program, it was also approved together with the 7th grade students of J. Čakste Secondary School in Liepāja and the teacher Aija Skincha. The experience gained during the approval has helped the game developers to make improvements in the content and strategy of the game.
As Sniedze Više, an environmental expert at Nature’s House, points out: “The program demonstrates our center’s commitment to creating innovative and effective educational opportunities that educate and inspire to become defenders of the sea, representatives of the economic field and responsible members of society in general, who, knowing the challenges of the Baltic Sea ecosystem, will be more prudent in the future will use both its resources and pay more attention to the impact each action has on the sustainable development of the Baltic Sea.” S. Više additionally states: “The developed program as a type of service will continue to be available to groups both in person, in the Nature House, and on outreach.”
Interest education program “Get to know the Baltic Sea” is financed within the framework of the “Development of Innovation Center in the City of Liepaja” project of the European Economic Area and Norwegian grant program “Research and Education”. The total cost of this project is EUR ir 1 025 341,78 of which EUR 784 386,37 is co-financing from Norwegian grants, EUR 138 421,13 is co-financing from the Latvian state budget, and EUR 102 534,28 is co-financing from the municipality of Liepaja.
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