How teachers use an ITZA school challenge with their students
At Oasis Academy Shirley Park this year we have committed to delivering the LIFE (Leadership, Identity, Futures and Enrichment) curriculum which extends beyond the academic, providing for pupils’ broader development to become confident, resilient, and independent.
The WWF Global Challenge provided our students with the opportunity to engage with and compete in meaningful activities, quizzes, and films on their devices whilst at home. We are so proud of all our students who took part in these challenges and delighted that two of our students will be competing in the live final against schools from Spain, Nepal, India, Hong Kong and Colombia.
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Phoebe Fraser, LIFE Leader (Enrichment), Oasis Academy Shirley Park, UK
At the International School of Flanders, Belgium, our students in Years 7 to 9 took part in this year’s Challenge. All were given some time in their Geography lessons to do some of the quizzes, watch a video and encouraged to do as much as they could in their own time.
This year it was an interesting theme that our Year 8 students could refer to in their studies of different environments in various parts of the world. They applied some of their new knowledge from the challenge when discussing human impacts on the environment. In year 7, their locational knowledge was expanded, which they then applied to their project about where they are in the world. Each day students talked about their performances and what they had found out. Also they were given an update on our progress as a school and as individuals. It was also something all students included in their Global Citizenship Passport, becoming informed Global citizens.
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Sarah Hodges, International School of Flanders, Belgium
At Blyth Academy Whitby, Canada, we have a course that brings practical life and educational strategies into the classroom. I introduced ITZA to my grade 7 & 8's without highlighting the fact that they needed to study the information before the quizzes.
Students engaged without anxiousness or resistance one might see when a subject is not their forte. ITZA uses various learning style quizzes and adopts a fun approach to studying and gives students key learning benefits without them even knowing.
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Natalie Garcia, teacher, Blythe Academy Whitby, Canada
Students thoroughly enjoyed participating in this year’s WWF Global Challenge. Students in Years 7-11 were invited via Teams to set up an account if they were interested in learning about Big Cat species and the integral role they play within their ecosystems. Almost 40 students took on the challenge and were assigned great animal names. They spent between 10 mins and 2 hours a day watching the fascinating videos and reading the information before completing the interactive quizzes.
They found the quizzes really fun and interesting and they loved the satisfaction of seeing the green circle when they got an answer right. They enjoyed knowing they were competing against each other and thousands of learners across the globe. Some became extremely competitive, wanting to know their place on the leaderboard every day. They increased their knowledge about the animals themselves as well as the impact of climate change and sustainability inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries. Some questions, like the one asking what tiger’s urine smells like made them laugh and provided great balance to some of the more serious questions. The multi-media interface was attractive, intuitive and appropriate for our 11–15 year-olds. They loved identifying the different roars and the competition offered students resources we would not otherwise have access to. We would like to thank the organisers for providing this unique opportunity. Well done SkyHawk5052 and CurlyAnt5445 and all of the other BSB students.
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Veerle Stoefs – Biology teacher, The British School of Brussels, Belgium
"We’re not forced to do anything. There’s freedom."
"The perfect platform to learn and explore."
WWF Global Challenge is a fabulous - and very worthwhile - opportunity to enrich your school curriculum and bring the wonders of Planet Earth into the classroom.
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We have taken part in this ITZA challenge twice now, and, on both occasions, our students have loved learning about the natural world, deepening their scientific knowledge and also confronting some of the ways in which humans are impacting the planet.
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What I particularly like about ITZA is how they not only make the students aware of the issues within the environment, but also empower them to become part of a positive thinking, global network that is capable of real change. Working in Year 6 means that anything included within our school day has to be of real value and contribute towards the coverage of our extremely full curriculum.
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The ITZA challenge definitely does this, and it does so in a way which engages and motivates students to learn both in the classroom and at home.
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David Lakey – Year 6 teacher, Front Street Community Primary School, UK
We first used ITZA at Wirral Grammar School for Boys in 2021 when years 7-11 took part in the WWF Global Challenge. It was a great opportunity for pupils to participate in a global competition after the lockdown of COVID and the restrictions that were placed on education.
This year we kept the competition entry to years 7-8; however, the school has senior prefects connected to each department so we were lucky to have a Year 13 to assist in the coordination of the event.
The boys fully engaged in the process, with minimal input required by us as teaching staff. The support and quality of the resources are superb and we look forward to competing again in 2023.
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Heather Parry – Wirral Grammar School for Boys, UK