Environmental issues affect every aspect of life on Earth, and younger children will experience their impacts longer than most.

With that in mind, Hayley Hill conceived a project as part of her Environmental Science degree to identify how best to engage primary school children with environmental issues.After developing a plan with her project supervisor Dr Alison Stokes, Associate Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Hayley worked with an established extracurricular eco club at a school in South East Cornwall.Published in The Plymouth Student Scientist in December 2023, her project report includes evidence of such clubs being an excellent way to foster interest in environmental issues, in addition to recommendations for schools and teachers.The initial project involved a small group of children from one school, but – now working as an Education Coordinator for Cornwall Climate Care – Hayley has used her experiences to create and run free workshops across Cornwall and Devon.

To date, these have been delivered to well over 2,500 primary and secondary school pupils, engaging them with some of the key challenges facing our planet and highlighting their role in helping address them.