We want Lost World to be used in every classroom and seen by every student. Quite often beautiful books are kept hidden away for fear of little hands damaging them. We do not want these books to be confined to a locked room in the library; we want them to be pored over, the wealth of knowledge they contain to fill young minds. We want to encourage the teachers to take advantage of this valuable resource and share ideas of how Lost World can be used across the curriculum. So this term, project assistant Fred Hypolite, project advisor Abbie Hine and I are conducting professional development sessions with all the teachers at all the 34 public schools in the Seychelles. Once we have shown the book to the teachers, they gather in their subject or year groups and brainstorm how they could use it in their lessons.

After each brainstorm session, we listen to the teachers’ ideas and share our own suggestions for how Lost World can be brought into different subjects. In science lessons at both primary and secondary levels, much of its content lends itself directly to the curriculum: classifications of animals, how they move and reproduce, food chains – the ideas from the teachers were plentiful. Likewise in history and geography: the images and text can give information about the first settlers and how and where islands are formed. In languages and art the book can be used as a source of inspiration for poetry, stories and paintings. Though both Fred and I are teachers, maths is not one of our subjects and when we created the presentation we struggled to come up with ideas of how Lost World could be brought into these lessons. However, the maths teachers relished the challenge and we were elated listening to one of them describe the imaginative ways in which he could use the book. When he’d finished, Fred led the whole room in a round of applause!

Fred has loved his first sessions with the teachers, and so far the feedback we have received from them has been very encouraging. We hope they will be inspired to use the resource frequently with their students. As Fred says, ‘It gives me satisfaction to know that they have become aware of how to conserve marine life and at some point they will share what they have learned during the session with their students.’ In the foreword to Lost World, the president of the Seychelles, James Michel, echoes our sentiments: ‘It is my hope that this book will instil a sense of wonder in the seas around Seychelles and awaken a sense of responsibility for caring about the unique life they sustain.’

As the teachers are the main contact the students have with environmental education, we feel it is important for them to be passionate about marine life so they will want to share their knowledge and experiences with their students. In order for them to immerse themselves in the underwater world, we are encouraging all teachers to join us for snorkelling sessions. Already they are signing up to participate, a decision no doubt influenced by spending a few hours with Lost World. We can’t wait for these teachers to discover the marine realm with us.