Forest in a Box - Forest Education Foundation
Participatory Practices Research Theme Project
Banner Image: Forest near Deddington Tasmania. Credit: Photograph by David Beynon.
Overview
Research, design, fabricate and evaluate a range of timber teaching resources to be used in primary school environments to support teaching on forests, forestry and wood products. The project was initiated and funded by the Forest Education Foundation. The resource and the associated activities are designed to relate to the Australian Curriculum modules in Design and Technology, Science and Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS).
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Impact and Engagement
The Forest Education Foundation (FEF) approached Architecture and Design to collaborate in the design and production of resources to assist in teaching primary school students about forests and forest products. The following is an extract of the brief provided by FEF:
"Design a hands-on 3-dimensional wood-based resource that encourages students to investigate wood and innovation in design. The resource will be provided to school students following a field experience exploring a local forest. It will connect with a resource package that considers forest systems, management, as well as, wood production and design. The resource should be open ended and promote students’ creativity and imaginations. Students will be asked to sequence their design process from a play phase to planning and evaluation with the Design Thinking Process. The package will be distributed to schools on a loan basis; therefore, it must be creatively packaged and easily transportable. The package will be aimed at middle to upper primary students and should be easy to manipulate, as well as, durable and reusable."
The brief provided by FEF states that the Resource should respond to the F-10 Australian Curriculum upper primary years in areas of Science, HASS and Design and Technology.
The design and fabrication of the ‘Forest in a Box’ Resource – including an extensive literature review and several rounds of prototyping - have been undertaken during Architecture and Design Masters units in 2019 (Advanced Design Research 1 and Advanced Design Research 2). A description of the contents and origin of the Forest in a Box Resource and a range of structured activities are provided in the document "FEF Teacher Resource", which accompanies the Resource.
So far, the Forest in a Box Resource was road-tested in three primary schools - Huonville, Hagley Farm and East Launceston - in February/March 2019. These schools had been invited to participate in the research based on an existing relationship with the FEF and due to their diverse geographical and socio-economic profile. Students in Grades 3 to 6 and their regular class teachers participated in the research. The Forest in a Box was introduced by FEF staff and Richard Burnham to the teachers in a briefing meeting, with the individual teachers deciding how they use the Forest in a Box. The aims of the road-testing were:
- to observe how the Forest in a Box performs in classroom environments in three Tasmanian primary schools;
- to analyse the effectiveness of the Forest in a Box by means of focus group meetings with participating teachers;
- to use the data collected from observations and focus group meetings to make relevant changes and improvements to the Forest in a Box for future use in Tasmanian Primary Schools.
