Program Delivery Goals

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1. To increase participants’ awareness of the importance of watersheds in their daily lives with emphasis on the Chao Phraya River.

2. To encourage participants to show respect and compassion towards the Chao Phraya River, watersheds, and other environments throughout the world.

3. To increase participants’ understanding, appreciation, and pride of the role that the Chao Phraya River has had and continues to have in influencing Thai culture, history, economy, and society.

4. To expose participants to real environmental issues in a way that leads them to adopt a more sustainable life.

5. To expose participants to new areas of knowledge and skills, thereby inspiring them to take action in solving environmental problems.

6. To provide learning opportunities and facilities whereby participants can continue to develop their critical thinking, leadership, and cooperative problem solving skills and abilities.

7. To provide customized training to build capacity for increased understanding of experiential learning.

8. To provide a safe, welcoming atmosphere which promotes learning.

 

Organisational goals

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1. To develop and run abilities core of high quality EFS programs which address the needs of specific target audiences.

2. To maintain a financially self-supporting program.

3. To continue to seek financial and other support which will help to further develop our programs.

4. To develop and maintain an appropriate number (as determined by the Program needs) of well-trained, motivated, and professional staff that can run programs at a high level.

5. To be guided by our vision and mission to be dynamic and open to taking advantage of new opportunities.

6. To maintain our positive reputation in the school community.

7. To become a strong learning organization where open communication and staff development are a valued norm.

8. To aim to have media coverage at least four times a year and to take opportunity of educational affairs.

9. To become a highly successful and internationally known environmental education organization that will serve as a model for other programs in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and the world.

 

Process Value Goals

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During Barge and land trips, modelled by Traidhos staff, we aim to increase students’ awareness that:

1. Working together as a group presents better opportunities to resolve communication conflict and create new solutions.

2. Conflict resolution depends upon respect for differences and the ability to listen to other people’s views.

3. Each individual has inherent value and worth and can make a difference in the world.

4. Solving problems depends upon each person taking personal responsibility for their attitudes, statements, and behaviours.

Building the Barge Community at the start of a trip can contribute to this area of our program.

 

Education as apposed to Advocacy

The Traidhos Three-Generation Barge Program focuses on education. Our niche is that of information and process providers.

As educators we teach processes that allow students to understand and listen to opinions other than their own by creating inclusive solutions to difficult environmental, cultural and resource management questions.

We want students to find out about environments, while being in different environments and we want them to think what is best for that environment. However, we have no right to advocate behaviour, or to take a stand on any behaviour / activity as an activist or campaigner might do.

Curriculum Integration

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Barge staff apply our extensive experience working with a diversity of academic levels, disciplines and student/teacher interests to create an academic program menu that complements and enhances classroom work.

We pride ourselves in working closely with classroom teachers to create and deliver outdoor, field-based learning experiences that are safe and fun, while challenging students to think critically and work as a team in discovering the interrelationships that exist between humans and the natural world.

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Using the natural environment as our classroom and learning platform, teachers are able to fulfil the syllabus and curriculum requirements in a way that is fun, and often times, quite adventurous, for the students and teachers alike.

This type of program is very effective in engaging the students' interests since they are able to discover that what they are learning has a direct relationship to their own experiences and lives.

 

Whole School - Sequential Learning Approach

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A crucial aspect for the success of changing attitudes and behaviours along with imparting the critical practical and thinking skills that young people will need to make sound environmental and lifestyle decisions is the Barge Program's "whole school-sequential learning" approach.

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One-time experiences, though raising awareness in an individual, are usually not effective for helping young people to develop environmentally friendly values, attitudes and behaviours. Children must repeatedly be exposed to experiences that relate and build upon one another.

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With this in mind, the Traidhos Three-Generation Barge Program has developed a sequential learning program for schools that directly ties in with their curriculum requirements, whereby a student may have the opportunity to attend one of Traidhos Three-Generation Barge Program's educational trips at least six times before they leave secondary school.