Environmental education boxes have proved a valuable educational tool, both for formal education (e.g., schools, Ranger Services) and amenity groups (e.g., scouts, guides, etc). The ‘Dee Riverbank’, commissioned by the 3 Dee Vision project and developed by the Educational Resource Partnership, has built on this concept to provide a treasure chest of stimulating, formal and informal educational material about the natural history, geography and cultural history of the River Dee Catchment.

The aim has been to gather together resources for teachers, youth leaders and children, which highlight the wealth of natural and cultural history connected with the Dee. These resources will help children to understand how the lives and well-being of all the river users (themselves, other people, industries and animals), both in the past and today, are inextricably linked by the river. They will also help to explain how the river has shaped the landscape around them and how the river has shaped the movement and settlement of people.

The Riverbank contains a mass of resources to use in the classroom plus field equipment and very importantly, includes a User’s Guide, with lesson plans, teachers’ notes and pupil worksheets, based on the 5-14 curriculum guidelines. It enables teachers to select out a relevant package and get teaching without having to spend hours in preparatory work.

15 Riverbanks have been produced with funding from the 3 Dee Vision project, Cairngorms National Park Authority and the MacRobert Trust, and have been gifted to schools across Deeside. To find out about borrowing a Dee Riverbank, select this link.

To see more detail of what’s in the Dee Riverbank, select this link.