Here it is! The long-awaited toolkit for fifth grade pupils (aged 10-11) called "Under the Sky of the Earth" has just been sent to more than 320 schools which are involved in LEAF in Czechia.

And what can pupils and teachers look forward to? The annual plan of learning activities is again accompanied by six students from a fictional Forest Class. Their characters were made to reflect six common student types according to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, so we really see students identify with some of the types, which keeps them motivated.

Pupils can enjoy a lot of new discoveries and experiments, especially outdoors in nature. They will recognize various forms of the forest in different climate zones, discover new continents, taste food that grows in forests around the world and understand how plants and animals adapt to different conditions. They will observe selected habitats of our mild climate zone and compare it to other areas, play with evolution, and finally make a picnic full of exotic as well as home grown fruits.

"In this new toolkit we´re showing pupils the diversity of nature on different examples. We want to stimulate their curiosity" says Jan Fronek, national LEAF coordinator.

What research has shown

Before this resource was published, it had been tested on approximately 200 children in 10 selected schools during one school year. It also included learning impact evaluation, which showed that there was a measurable increase in pupils' understanding of the phenomenon of adapting organisms to different conditions.

"The children were incredibly excited  and I saw they wanted to know more," says Katka Vrtiskova, a teacher who tested the toolkit with her pupils during the last school year.