Teach pupils in a classroom environment how important ecosystems are via an interactive DVD on environmentally related subjects such as global warming and pollution. Pupils will be given a chance to answer questions posed on the DVD. Explain how we, as human beings, depend on a healthy environment for our own well-being.
Use various other methods to engage the pupils, including a projector displaying some of the more unusual ecosystems and inhabitants of ecosystems both locally and globally. Other methods can include working with maps and testing the knowledge of a class as to where in the world certain ecosystems, animals and birds can be found. Also test the local knowledge of the class and ask them about how many birds they can name that are indigenous to their area.
Get pupils to look at textbooks, and let them pick out an ecosystem and a creature or plant belonging to that ecosystem. Challenge them to write out a 500-word essay, in their own words, on what creature or plant they have selected. Each pupil should be given instructions to write about the life cycle of the selected creature or plant, and to explain why they made their selection.
Take your class on a field trip. Make sure that the trip is planned for the late spring or early summer, when insect life will be at its most plentiful. Seeing a working ecosystem rich in diversity should have a positive impact on pupils, and make them more aware of how important it is to protect ecosystems for future generations. Bring notebooks along for the pupils to record what species they see, or specific species of butterflies and birds.
Create some friendly competition with a group of pupils after a field trip, and arrange the pupils into groups of an equal number. Ask each group what species they saw on the field trip, and give two points for each unique species named. If several of the group saw the same species, give a point to each group.
Check the students' notebooks to verify their reported findings. The group with the most accumulated points wins.