A group of scientists, concerned about the level of apathy among Jamaicans towards their natural environment, has compiled a six-part documentary showcasing the island’s folklore and its relation to natural history.

The Jamaican Folklore and Natural History DVD collection, launched last Thursday at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston, features the science and traditional beliefs associated with familiar Jamaican plants and animals. The project funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) is a collaboration between the Natural History Division (of the Institute of Jamaica) and the Natural History Society of Jamaica.

Merline Bardowell, who spoke on behalf of the National Commission on Science and Technology, said the features should help to dispel the myths surrounding many of Jamaica’s flora and fauna. “They used to say if moon shine on you, you would get lockjaw… so much for moon exploration,” she joked.

Guest speaker Professor Ronald Young, chairman of the Natural History Division, said the collection was vital for Jamaican students to better understand and appreciate the “culture of science and the science of culture” around them.

The education system, said Young, perpetually fails to engender appreciation among students, since lessons are usually taught with a foreign context. “We try to teach science out of textbooks that are far removed from our environment,” he said.

He added that teaching and learning were often disjointed because students and teachers “are not talking the same language.”

“I am not talking about the vernacular.I am talking about analogies that have no bearing on [students’] experience,” said Young. The high failure rate of CXC science subjects, he added, had nothing to do with students’ abilities.

“There is nothing wrong with their brains, the frame of reference is wrong,” he said. He added that teachers must teach in a context with which students can identify. The DVD, he said, was one approach which could facilitate the process.

The DVDs, all one hour and 17 minutes in length, explore the folklore behind the revered lizard, cotton tree and (duppy) bat, among other creatures and plants. Though the videos are primarily educational, they feature some level of entertainment as each is spun around a story that explains the myth.

The Natural History Division presented clips of the videos, which had viewers laughing hysterically to what were ‘very Jamaican scenarios’.

The project, which began in 2004, is the first such being done by the Natural History Division. However, Dr Trevor Yee of the Natural History Society of Jamaica said . “hopefully we can produce more material that will seek to educate people about our natural heritage.”