“Teacher, look, is the butterfly I made pretty?” Chen, a student, showed her seed DIY work, painted by her. Led by her teacher, she and her classmates came to the Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Camp together to participate in many environmental education courses. They were excited to demonstrate the butterflies they made with plant seeds. In addition, they learned many things about species of butterflies, larval plants, honey plants (nectariferous plants), and more. More importantly, they learned more about environmental ecological education.

“Chenggong Camp Site” is located near the Baquashan Great Buddha Statue in Changhua City, neighboring to National Changhua Living Art Museum and the Skywalk. In the past, it has been the artillery camp of the army since 1953. In 1993, the troops evacuated, and the land was handed over to Changhua County Government. It was not until 2002 that Changhua County Government’s proposal of “The Rural and Urban Landscape Plan” was approved by the Council of Cultural Affairs. It attempted to use the model of the “reutilization of idle space” to seek new functions and usages for the land. “Changhua Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Campsite” is the first environmental education camp the uses the idle land of army garrisons for education purpose. In addition to retaining the forests and greens, it is also the most special ecological education park in Taiwan.

Recently, the Green Environment Learning Camp Site has scheduled a series of environment education courses. They have designed a series of courses covering the areas of the explanation of the environment, course activities, and experiments with the resources and the features in the camp site, with the guidance of the five groups of volunteers: butterfly, herb, indigenous plant, wild vegetable, and water plant. The courses are provided to high school and elementary school teachers and students for school outings, environmental education, nature experiences and other teaching activities.

Since accepting applications from schools in early October, it has received many schools that visited and attended courses in the Green Environment Learning Camp Site. This not only includes schools in the neighborhood, such as Zhongshan Elementary School Affiliated Kindergarten, Minsheng Elementary School, but also but also schools, such as Daan Elementary School and others from Tianzhong, located many miles away, also came to experience the beauty of Baquashan and take courses on environmental issues. In addition to the interpretations and guided tours in the campsite, the volunteers there design different theme activities to visitors of different age groups, such as Shennong tasting different herbs, ecology of wild butterflies, frequently seen wild vegetables and more. At the end, we are enthusiastic to offer “DIY activities.” These topics allows teachers and students to use natural materials to make simple souvenirs of their own.

The Department of Education expects that by providing a quality site for ecological learning and experience in “Changhua Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Campsite”, it allows teachers and students to expand the horizon of their knowledge about the environment so as to treasure it more. Consolidating the concept of life-long learning and environmental education, it aims to construct as “Green Environment Learning Campsite” that integrates the functions of environmental protection, education, culture, and entertainment.
Source: Changhua County Government’s website
Contact: Inspector Shih, Department of Education, Changhua County Government (04-7250057 Ext. 26)

Website of the Green Environment Learning Campsite: https://sites.google.com/a/chc.edu.tw/greencamp/
Fans page of Green Environment Learning Campsite: https://www.facebook.com/chcgreencamp/