IYB 2010: Lessons for Learning

International Year of Biodiversity 2010: Lessons for Learning

Summer 2011

Acknowledgements The following organisations are represented in this survey of school learning activities during IYB 2010: Africa Alive Amateur Entomologists' Society Banham Zoo Bristol Natural History Consortium British Science Association Colchester Zoo Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Cool it Schools Cotswold Water Park Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Dunnet Head Educational Trust Energy Saving Day (E-Day) Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL Heathfield school and Ancestor's trail Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park London Borough of Bromley London Borough of Lambeth Manchester Museum Marine Biological Assocation National Botanic Garden of Belgium Natural History Museum Norfolk Wildlife Trust Old Macdonald's Farm Royal Zoological Society of Scotland Science Learning Centre London SEPA (D&G Catchment Management Initiative) Tayside Biodiversity Partnership Tree Appeal Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

With grateful thanks to the individuals who sent information, commented, or circulated requests: Abigail Tinkler, Alexandra Robb, Alison Cush, Alister Hayes, Amy Seakins, Andy Lee, Dr Anjana Ford, Anne Connick, Anne Finlayson, Anne MacLellan, Ariel Liu, Dr Bob Bloomfield, Dr Bob Sim, Carolyn Robertson, Chris Jenord, Clare Rugg, Dafydd Lewis, Dan Richards, David North, Dr David Slingsby, Duncan Williams, Doug Hulyer, Professor Edith Sim, Dr Eric Jensen, Dr Honor Gay, Henrik Sell, Henry McGhie, Iain Boulton, Jack Ashby, Jane Langley, Dr Jennifer De Witt, Jill Bewley Jon Parr, Katie Edwards, Koen Es Fristina Articus, Martin Lawrence, Dr Matt Prescott, Professor Michael Reiss, Dr Miranda Stephenson, Oscar Arriagada, Dr Penny Fidler, Ray Smith, Sally Collins, Dr Sally Johnson, Sara Goatcher, Savita Custead, Sharon Bristow, Stephen Roberts, Tim Brooks, Tina Irving, Tony Thomas

NB These exclude individuals and organisations who have chosen to remain anonymous

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Introduction The Convention for Biological Diversity published an overview of the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) 2010, highlighting events from this high profile campaign. The report outlines the strategy for the decade of biodiversity 2011-2020.

In depth evaluation for IYB 2010 for the UK focussed on marketing and communications, showing a positive impact on public awareness of issues surrounding biodiversity. This raises a question for educators: What were the implications of IYB for education/ learning?

This report presents results from a survey aiming to gather evidence about the range and content of IYB-linked programmes for school audiences. Quantitative and qualitative questions addressed organisation information, activity details and educator opinion.

Forty (majority UK) organisations responded, online, by email and in writing. Findings are presented in the order that questions were asked, for participant continuity. Results confirm aspects that are well known in the field of biodiversity education: • • • •

there is a range in size and type of organisations providing biodiversity education the large proportion of volunteers working as biodiversity educators the importance of partnership: between education providers and between providers and schools the need to secure funding

Preliminary conclusions identify the following areas for further research in learning programmes: • • •

the role of technology curriculum content innovation in biodiversity education; do new programmes follow trends in science education?

Next stages This evidence from educators’ perspectives, together with interviews and a literature review will inform a pilot programme, and pupil and teacher perspectives will shape programme development.

This document is intended to be a useful summary for participants; if you would like further details about the literature or pilot programme please contact gkimble@ioe.ac.uk.

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Contents Organisation

4

Response map Type of organisation: Number of • sites: • booked school visits • Number of staff involved in education: Participation in campaigns

3

Education programmes Number and type of IYB activities Development of activities Location Subject links

9

Marketing How activities were advertised and booked

14

Educator Opinion Challenges for educators Recommendations to improve biodiversity education

15

Conclusions

17

Case Studies

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Organisation Location of respondents The map below shows the distribution of participants, who were either IYB partners or read about research online (Biodiversity News, Convention for Biodiversity social media or email circulation). To see this map online, linked to websites, visit: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=20045074638978491836 7.0004a40dc62876ea6b311&ll=54.059388,-74.003906&spn=52.512656,173.144531&z=3 NB For best results view in Google Earth.

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Who took part? Information about this type and size (staff, number of education visits on site and off site per year) of organisation was requested for situating the programmes in context.

Type of organisation Type of organisation (select all that apply): 25 20

%

15 10 5 0

Ten organisations suggested the following ‘other’ categories: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

5

Biodiversity Partnership covering three local authority areas (Angus, Dundee City, Perth & Kinross) Conservation Charity Conservation Organisation Environmental marketing company Farming Scheme Marine Biology research charity - advancing marine biology through research, education and communication Membership organisation for the environmental and sustainability education sector.

National Park Authority Natural History Consortium Science communication Site of Special Scientific Interest Internal Drainage Board (Local Authority) Internet based, sometimes 'real time' events and campaigns Wildlife Trust - Land management/conservation

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Number of sites How many sites is your organisation based at?

Number of organisations

25 20 15 10 5 0 1

2

3

4

5

10 plus

Sites The data confirm that organisations include a range in the number of sites, but the majority only represent one site.

Booked School Visits Approximately how many school children visit your site, or take part in outreach, per year?

200000 180000

Number of booked school pupil visits

160000 140000 120000 On site(s) 100000 Outreach 80000 60000 40000 20000 0

For the organisations who submitted data for this section, there is not an overall positive correlation between outreach and on site activities. ‘Zero’ figures represent organisations providing online resources. Data show a total of 509165 on site visits and 72386 outreach

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contacts. It is important to note that these figures are not complete as not all organisations completed this section. In addition, this shows numbers for general education visits, not exclusively IYB related visits.

Membership activities for schools pupils, and events hosted by an organisation are additional to these figures such as 75,000 taking part in the ‘Big Schools’ Birdwatch’, 6,000 completing ‘Wildlife Action Awards’ and over 200,000 ‘Wildlife Explorers’ at RSPB.

Number of educators Approximately how many staff are involved in providing education activities in your organisation?

Regular Volunteers 1108 On site(s) 495 Outreach 193 Regular Freelancers 67

Numbers in brackets show the total in each category. Clearly, regular volunteers are a key provider of education about biodiversity, therefore it would be wise to consider training when planning support materials. The median numbers of volunteers is 10, on site education staff is 4; outreach is 3 and freelancers: 1.

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Participation in campaigns Has your organisation supported: (select all that apply)

%

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 International Year of Biodiversity

National Science and Engineering Weeks

Darwin 200

7.5 % of organisations were not registered as IYB partner organisations, although their objectives and delivery were linked to IYB education.

Which initiatives, if any, will you be offering events to support this year?

• • • 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Any which are appropriate, as and when we have the time to scope them out and plan activities linked to them.

None in 2012 Free public events and educational resources which raise awareness of Priority Species in the National Park Big Bang Decade of biodiversity EAZA Ape Campaign, European Year of Volunteering Hampshire House Sparrow Survey Hampshire School Nature Watch International Day of Biodiversity International Year of Chemistry International Year of Forestry Jungle Fever National Sustainable Schools Conference 2011 NSEW NSEW Manchester Science Festival The Big Draw World Land Trust

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Education Programmes Number and type of IYB activities How many IYB activities that were suitable for school audiences did your organisation host in 2010? (Approximately, and not including repetitions of one activity at different times) Responses ranged from 1-20, with comments including: • 1 activity- available to be booked all year- included new resources • 2 (1 in zoo, 1 outreach) • 3 event weeks with 12 activities in total • 17 different workshops for schools not including guided tours • Much of our normal provision is fitted the theme so we didn't develop new additional workshops for IYB. • None specifically for IYB - One main envrironmental education project.

• all online with participating schools organising their own contributions Large organisations whose aims and objectives were already strongly linked with education about the natural world tended to refer to existing menus of programmes rather than plan new specific programmes.

Think of the IYB activities offered for school children. Were they: (select all that apply, you can choose more than one per row)

Number of activities

40 35

Online

30 25

Videoconference

20 15 10

Outreach Onsite

5 0

Newly developed Redeveloped Existing activities, renamed for IYB

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This question was presented as a matrix, where participants could select the type of activity (as shown on the x axis below) together with activity development (new/redeveloped/renamed) and location (on site/outreach/videoconference/online).

This matrix was chosen to reflect the fact that activities are multi-faceted e.g. after school, newly developed and online. Online and outreach activities were equally chosen for this survey, although total visit numbers above suggest that outreach is emphasised less than on site visits overall. A number of activities were partly or exclusively online. The role of technology in learning about the environment is a constantly developing area of debate and research, which would require further investigation in this context.

‘Other’ activities were: • Biological pilgrimage • Competition • Drop in events, joint events with partner agencies, activities to support scottish school curriculum • Events for IYB - Grandparent Day as above and Plant Conservation Day/IYB Day • Native tree planting and woodland management day for local school • Nature watch activities offered to all primary schools • River/pond visits • Schools Day at our Festival of Nature • Tayside School Biodiversity Newsletter (can be downloaded via www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk) • Tree planting activities with heavy promotion of IYB • visual art based projects, school's wildlife gardening programe, poetry competition • Young Darwin Prize, Shows, There were 105 programmes recorded in the mutually exclusive categories ‘Existing activities, renamed for IYB’ (41%), Newly developed for IYB’ (38%) and ‘Redeveloped for IYB’ (21%).

When information is filtered to show new, existing and redeveloped activities only: 8 7

Number of activities

6 5 4

Newly developed

3

1

Existing activities, renamed for IYB

0

Redeveloped

2

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Lectures and talks, although they are seen as more traditional pedagogical approaches, were the most common type of activity for new, existing and redeveloped activities linked to IYB.

Which approaches were most likely to be used for new activities?

Resource Packs Drama events/ characters Teacher CPD Stories Pre visit activities Bioblitz events After school Clubs Post visit activities Other Multiple visits Walks Workshops Lectures/talks 0

2

4

6

8

10

To answer this question, it is possible to get an index of innovation by subtracting (total existing plus total redeveloped) from the total new activities, for each category. This shows the types of programme that are most likely to be new (least likely to have existed already or to have been redeveloped). The results are shown above, normalised to zero.

The London Borough of Bromley, Manchester Museum, Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and the British Science Association offered the highest numbers of new programmes.

The chart above raises questions: Over 10% new activities were to support pupils before or after a visit. Is this linked to the emphasis on pre and post visit resources in the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge Criteria?

Bioblitz, fairs and festivals are an increasingly popular format. What’s the best way to engage a wide range of pupils at one-off events?

Drama, characters and stories are more traditionally associated with humanities; how are they used in biodiversity education where the predominant subject is biology (as shown next page)? How does this link to trends in teaching approaches in science education (Harlen, 2011)?

At this stage there is clearly potential to further research the choice of pedagogical approach for new programmes.

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Subject links Subjects/themes filtered by organisations running new programmes New

Existing and redeveloped

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 0

Chemistry Design and Technology English/ Welsh PE Social Studies Architecture Anthropology Archaeology Neuro Construction/Industry Engineering History ICT Languages Maths Food History and Philosophy of…

Geology Music Agriculture Topical Science Citizenship/ PSHE/ Health…

Geography Earth Science Art and Design/Expressive…

Environmental Science Sustainability Science Nature Biology

2

Top ten subjects for new biodiversity programme development: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Biology Nature Science Environmental Science Sustainability Art and Design/Expressive Arts Geography Earth Science Citizenship/ PSHE/ Health and Wellbeing Topical Science

14 12 11 9 9 7 6 6 5 2

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Which school audiences were activities for?

The largest number of available programmes were for 7- 11 year olds (Key Stage 2 in England). This is broadly in line with 2006/7 research researching visits to museums and galleries, where 51% school visitors were primary age, compared to 36% secondary (Hooper-Greenhill et al, 2007). At that time visits for secondaries were on an upward trend, which has since been reversed by the introduction of the ‘Rarely Cover’ policy amongst other factors). Year 4 in England and Primary 4 in Scotland have the maximum number of programmes, which can be correlated to an extent with curriculum content.

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Number of activities

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

School audience (by age)

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Marketing Advertising How did you advertise activities?

Social Media Other 4% 5%

LEA contact 6% IYB website 7%

Your website 24%

Paper brochure 10%

Invited school 17%

Online brochure 13%

Other website 14%

Other (please specify) • ScotRail added details to their website • None..it was at school we had a captive audience!

• National press • BBC News Online / Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots • Table toppers in cafe • the local press.

• Emails to local schools, posters in zoo • Signage around zoo and emailer to regular visitors

How did schools book?

Letter 13%

Phone 36%

Online form 18%

Email 33%

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Challenges and recommendations Reflecting on 2010, did your IYB education events raise any challenges when teaching about the importance of biodiversity?

Definition • Mainly explaining the word biodiversity.

• We had to come up with a suitable description of biodiversity and what it meant as this was a topic that even teachers had problems understanding • The name biodiversity has no meaning to the general population and getting them to 'feel' for the topic was hard so terms like wildlife, natural history and animals and plants were substituted.

Adults’ perceptions about biodiversity • There is a need to raise awareness of biodiversity generally and we have delivered in-service training to teachers on "taking the curriculum outdoors". This was very successful and gave practical examples of how teachers could use their school grounds more and to link outdoor learning across the curriculum.

• trying to change pre-set ideas in older people • Convincing teachers of the importance and value of getting children to experience the natural world and getting the teachers involved and enthused once on site.

Existing programmes- no need to develop specific IYB activities • We teach the topic of biodiversity in a number of talks, lectures and encounters through a set programme that has been running for a number of years. We find it is quite easy to talk about biodiversity in the zoo, because we can see a great variety of different animals in our own collection, these are then used as great examples for the topic as a whole.

• Not notably. Delivering messages related to biodiversity is central to WWT formal learning programmes. IYB events were therefore felt to be very much business as usual for WWT, hence perhaps not delivering a great deal of specific IYB events.

• Very easily, because talking about biodiversity is our core business. With their enormous collections of living plant species botanic gardens are the place to be for the way they display and take care of plant biodiversity. Not only during an event organized for the IYB, but every day of every year.

• We did not teach about biodiversity, simply made events available for the public and school children to attend.

Funding and capacity • Hands on' education is much more effective and memorable than 'in the classroom'. This is costly and can be complicated to arrange. Funding is very difficult to achieve to deliver again and again to the next years of children and funders don't want to duplicate even if it’s to different children.

• Basically time and resources, as well as teacher and officer capacity • A challenge is having staff resources to do school visits and to deliver events outwith the school grounds.

Communication • It is difficult to reach large numbers of schools. Neither the Department of Education or LEAs seem to have systems in place for communicating good ideas to schools.

Some network organisations only promote their own ideas.

Sources of advice • We found it difficult to make the subject user friendly for under 11s and to find examples of good practice to copy.

As well as the Nature on Track project, we also ran a series of on-site dramas enacted by the Perth Youth Theatre on "The Tree"; all ages welcome, but families and children in particular. Events took place in various Perth & Kinross public parks and also at two iconic Perthshire trees - the 5,000 year old Fortingall Yew and the Shakespeare-famous Birnam Oak. With a BioBlitz in Dundee attended by many children and the "usual" events of Ranger walks, talks, photographic sessions for children by David Boag (the international wildlife photographer), I think we rose to the many challenges to package biodiversity in a slightly different way for IYB!

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If you could make one recommendation to improve biodiversity education for school children, what would it be?

Definition • You don't need to use the word biodiversity! Children are receiving a lot of education about it in all sorts of forms that they maybe don't realise. RZSS has been involved in biodiversity education for years, we just haven't always been using the word!

• Avoid term biodiversity and focus more on enjoyment and adventure Adults’ perceptions about biodiversity • Meet the needs of teachers to produce resources that support Curriculum for excellence, delivered through Outdoor Learning and where there is pre visit and post visit follow up with opportunities to create a portfolio of learning which can be used as a basis of evidence for school inspections.

• Encourage schools to set up wildlife gardens / areas where pupils & staff could interact with plants, insects and other wildlife.

• Need to engage with teaching training practitoners and colleges to engage with them much earlier • encourage teachers to use school grounds for nature study • Private schools with all their space really should do more - they seem less engaged then state schools.

Funding • More money!

• Address the barriers which limit children’s access to LOtC where biodiversity education is in context and as a result can really come to life and perhaps be better understood.

• Funding for art and science-based schoolchildren events, i.e. more of the same as mentioned above, but also to encourage Dundee Sensation and Dundee Contemporary Arts (both very keen to be part of the biodiversity process) to run more free events, exhibitions suitable for children, and publications children can use back in the classroom. We are setting up many School Orchard Projects but need funding for the follow on, i.e. maintenance of the trees, wildflower planting of the grassland beneath the fruit trees and books/pamphlets to raise awareness of the biodiversity of orchards to schoolchildren.

• Funding! Very boring I know but we would be able to do so much more if we had long term funding for an education programme Real specimens, living species and pedagogy • The use of more props during school talks and encounters would be a great benefit, encouraging more interactivity with children and the topic of biodiversity. We ourselves have a great number of props many of which have been donated through customs and we're always striving to develop new ideas and props to use.

• Each school could champion a species to learn about and help raise awareness of.

• Outdoor learning and first hand experiences of biodiversity are best. Linking biodiversity with other subjects e.g. creative arts is a good way of increasing biodiversity awareness through fun activities.

• Let it grow on them slowly • make it exciting for them and off the wall • Take pupils out of the classroom!

• Make it more inclusive into other subjects areas and more participatory • Clear graphic images demonstrating the "Circle of Life".

• Let them go outside and do it in a practical capacity. In a classroom is never as stimulating as outside and in nature.

• I would like to have the chance to get wildlife festivals into many more schools as an annual event.

• Let them experience biodiversity first hand. Get them out into the countryside.

Communication • Create a system for communicating exciting activities and high quality information with the UK's 30,000+ schools

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Curriculum Content • get the curriculum to include the basic horticultural qualification suggested on the Cool it Schools /Concrete Jungle site - perfect for all abilities (I looked at a lot of different programmes) and if the school is running the course students will automatically be looking after the gardens too. Some school gardens get neglected - but with kids gardening to get a qualification the gardens would be looked after. These schools are potentially nature reserves.

• Biodiversity classes included full time as part of Science curriculum.

• Increase the amount of environmental education in the curriculum • Give it the same status and importance as other key subject areas so it isn't seen as a marginal luxury or additional activity that is taken up only if it can be afforded or individual teachers see the value in it and make it happen.

Audience • Do not only think of the under 16s - think about University and college students as well Partnership working • Greater learning between experienced and not-so experienced organisations

Conclusions Organisations Thirty-eight organisations from England and Scotland, and 2 European organisations contributed to this survey of learning activities.

Organisations ranged in type and number of sites. In total, the organisations who submitted school contact data welcome over half a million school visits per year, and represent approx.. 72 000 outreach contacts. This figure is for visits overall, not specifically IYB. There Is no strong correlation between outreach and on site visits.

Over half the staff involved in biodiversity education activities are volunteers. Over a quarter are paid staff involved in on site visits. There is a very low number of regular freelancers and the remaining staff provide outreach. A criticism of this question is that it did not take into account part-time work, or the frequent situation where one staff member carries out both onsite and outreach activities.

40% of organisations who took part in IYB are also involved in National Science and Engineering week. Many stated that they were supporting NSEW this year, in addition to the International Year of Chemistry and the International Year of Forests.

Education programmes The most common age group taking part in programmes was year 4, age 8-9. This is broadly in line with trends in museum school visits (Hooper-Greenhill et al, 2007). Results showed a wide variety of

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programme types. Lectures and talks appeared to be the format with the highest number of programmes. When filtered to show new programmes, resource packs, drama events and characters, and Teacher CPD were the most common. This raises a question that will be the main focus of future research: what informs the choice of pedagogy for biodiversity learning activities How are these approaches adapted in current formats such as Bioblitz, fairs and festivals? ? Do trends follow trends in science education (Harlen, 2011)?

The most common subject links for new programmes were not surprising: Biology, Nature and Science. However, it is surprising that that Environmental Science, Sustainability and Arts/Expressive Arts were more common than Geography, since there are strong curriculum links in Geography. Cross-curricular links will be related to pedagogy in future research.

Marketing The largest proportion of programmes were advertised via the organisation’s website (24%). 17% were invited schools, showing the importance of developing productive partnerships with local schools.

Social media advertising accounted for only 4%, therefore this is an area that could be exploited to greater advantage. 26% booked by phone, and 22% booked by email for school trips, with only 12% by letter.

Clearly these options are environmentally beneficial. From a practical perspective it would be worth organisations sharing information about how to manage non-paper bookings whilst maintaining records of school-provider agreements.

Educator Opinion Challenges in teaching about biodiversity included the well-known subject: ‘What is biodiversity?’ In addition to the definition, educators also mentioned the following areas where support is needed: how to change adults’ perceptions about biodiversity; how to include specific programmes within existing programmes; communicating with schools; how to source advice about best practice, and of course, funding.

Recommendations include avoiding the use of the word ‘biodiversity, and engaging with teachers earlier to inspire and enthuse them in the topic. Formal education audiences should include students, in particular PGCE students.

Funding is a major barrier, and in the case study section that follows it is clear that partnership working is one solution to pool resources for cost

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efficiency. A wide reaching system for communicating with schools would also assist with saving costs.

Thoughtful reflections on pedagogy and approach recommend the use of clear visuals, variation in pace but most importantly facilitating real experiences for pupils, where they can appreciate the importance of biodiversity first hand. Educators suggest that biodiversity has a higher status in the curriculum, and there is a recommendation for a greater emphasis on horticulture.

The Scottish curriculum for Excellence strongly supports progression in understanding and skills, and over the following months we will learn how the English curriculum will change. The Belgian Curriculum includes subjects includes a high proportion of objectives that are linked to citizenship, reflecting the plurality of viewpoints surrounding biodiversity.

Future research will focus on partnership between natural history collections and natural environment sector organisations for effective learning that blends real specimens and observation of species’ behaviour. These survey results will be analysed together with interviews and a literature review to inform an independent pilot programme which will be shaped by pupil viewpoints. It is intended that this will assist educators in developing excellent programmes throughout the Decade of Biodiversity.

Thank you very much to everyone who has taken part in this survey.

Hopefully you will be able to use this snapshot of information and the case studies that follow; I would be interested to hear any comments or requests for further information: gkimble@ioe.ac.uk.

Further reading Harlen, W. (2011) Working towards big ideas of science education. Education in Science (April, 20).Association for Science Education. http://www.ase.org.uk/journals/education-in-science/2011/04/242/2782/20.pdf. (accessed May 2011) Hooper-Greenhill E., Dodd J., Creaser C., Sandell R., Jones C. and Woodham A. (2007) Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The Value of Museums Second Study. An Evaluation of the DCMS/DCSF National/Regional Museum Partnership Programme in 2006-2007. Leicester: Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester. Available at www.le.ac.uk/ms/research/Reports/DCMS2.pdf (accessed May 2011)

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Case studies Case studies are presented by country. All organisations who provided in depth information about specific biodiversity programmes are represented in this section.

Belgium

Niets is groter dan een boom

www.botanicgarden.b e Koen Es Education officer National Botanic Garden of Belgium Bouchout Domain Meise 1860

(There's nothing as big as a tree) Title: Outdoor collection of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium Location: During 2 hours children have a series of activities that makes them understand the working and the beauty of trees.

Description: 360 No. of pupils?

7-12 Age range: Charge, below Funded by? â‚Ź 75 for 20 pupils Charge?

What went well? repeated 18 times, activities are very 'hands on', diverse, easy, cheap in material.

PDF resources: botanic garden educators, schoolteacher , pupils:

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Denmark www.naturhistoriskmuseum.dk Henrik Sel Deputy Director Natural History Museum Aarhus DK - 8000

Title: Location:

Evolution At the museum How "works" evolution? All life forms are the result of random variation and natural selection. Discover examples of amazing adaptations, convergent development, analogous and homologous characters.

Students work in groups of systematics and evolutionary relationships. Skins, skulls, stuffed and

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range:

live animals.

25 12-18

Funded by?

Charge?

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Scotland

Title: Location:

www.cne-siar.gov.uk/biodiversity Anne MacLellan Biodiversity Officer Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Isle of Benbecula HS7 5LA

Biodiversity Fun Day Stornoway Castle Grounds, Isle of Lewis Activity sessions including mini-beast hunt, plant

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

detectives and learning about trees 100 5-12 Council No

Pupils were split into groups and took part in 3 different activity sessions which gave them variety and allowed them to explore and find out about the woodland area. This format has been repeated.

Quote from the staff from Tong School said “All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed their experience of outdoor learning. It was very well organised and the children completely engaged in the different group activities. This overall theme is being extended within the school. We would like to thank all the staff involved in the activities.�

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www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk Tayside Biodiversity Partnership Perth PH1 5GD Scotland

Title:

Nature on Track various (on trains and train stations) between Perth

Location:

and Montrose and at Montrose Basin Visitor Centre On-train and and on-railway station platform (and Montrose Visitor Centre) "BigBuzz" music and poetry for

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range:

everyone c200 all Rural Tayside LEADER and supported by ScotRail.

Funding is also enabling a Children's Activity Pack to be designed - to be published 2011.

Funded by?

Charge?

None

The project was launched during IYB for Tayside, but has since widened to include Argyll & Bute, Highland, Cairngorms, Central Scotland and Lanarkshire (all currently looking into funding to publish similar leaflets so that they have the same "corporate identity"). The children on the trains had the opportunity to meet an international musician and a well-known poet from BigBuzz, listen to natureinspired music and to receive free pencils, bookmarks, activity packs and bumblebee-friendly seed packs to grow their own wildflowers in hanging baskets, pots or window boxes. They were enthralled! Sunday morning performances (x2) also took place at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Montrose Basin Visitor Centre and again were well-received by all ages. See leaflets online.

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www.rzss.org.uk Alexandra Robb Senior Education Officer Royal Zoological Society of Scotland Edinburgh EH12 6TS Scotland

Title: Location:

Biodiversity Art Award N/A Art Competition for S3 to S6 art students where students work will be used in resources and

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

interpretation 50 14-18 RZSS None

Learning science through the arts.

Winners are on website and blog: http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/education/schooleducation/IYBartaward.html http://rzss.wordpress.com/ The drawings will also be used for our resources and interpretation and be credited to the pupils.

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www.sepa.org.uk/land/conservation Anne Connick SEPA (D&G Catchment Management Initiative) Catchment Management Planning Office Newton Stewart DG8 0EF

Title: Location:

Fishing for Knowledge Dumfries and Galloway Schools Fishing for Knowledge' Project (Environmental

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range:

Education Programme via teaching angling.

400 per year 4-12 LEADER D&G, Scottish Natural Heritage, EFTTA, plus

Funded by?

Charge?

approx 50% in-kind provided by partner organisations Fishing for Knowledge

The Fishing for Knowledge Project is a programme to introduce children to the freshwater environment to build knowledge and anticipation, whilst having fun and learning a new skill by using angling as the 'carrot' to take part and thereby reaching an element of the population who may not be interested in such matters. By raising young people's awareness of the natural environment it aims to protect and enhance biodiversity, assisting in the maintenance and enhancement of the nature conservation interests of the river catchment and its enjoyment for all. It also has far reaching social benefits.

The response from children and teachers who have participated has been fantastic, with all those taking part thoroughly enjoying the experience and wanting to do more. We therefore encourage further activities to maintain interest and further their involvement. (Questionnaires were undertaken and results are available).

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England

www.ancestorstrail.net Chris Jenord Heathfield school and Ancestor's trail Sci teacher Taunton

TA28PD Ancestor's Trail Title: School field Location: Biological pilgrimage Description: 240 No. of pupils?

12-13 Age range: Ernest Cook trust grant Funded by? none Charge?

Thanks to the £1600 educational grant from the Ernest Cook Foundation, on the 18th June 2010, 250 year 8 students walking back in time to the 'dawn of life'. This is a report of the event. We also filmed the project. Inspired by Richard Dawkin’s book ‘The Ancestor’s Tale’, a single class of students began a walk around our playing field representing the human race. As they walked they took a journey back in time, and soon enough were joined, one by one, (at approximately the correct evolutionary times) by other classes representing our evolutionary ancestors such as apes, monkeys, amphibians, birds, fish and eventually, single celled life. Each joining group carried high the placards they had made previously, announcing their life form identity. As the students walked by, teachers flashed their current time period via a flip chart. At around 65 million years a large replica asteroid was carried into the middle of the field complete with sparklers representing a major extinction period! Later roman candle fireworks were ignited to represent volcanic activity, and white confetti sprinkled over the students to represent an ice age! Elsewhere on the field teachers held hands and shuffled across the field representing a drifting continent and captured some students to represent plate tectonics. All the while the students remained intentionally none the wiser and had no or little idea what ‘on earth’ was going on.

The whole experience crept up on them, slowly taking shape so as to maximise anticipation and intrigue. Eventually, when the whole year group had converged and walked back all 3.7 billion years, they were led into our main hall. To help the students connect with the experience, we actually prepared a birthday cake for life, complete with three big candles each symbolising a billion years! We toyed with bestowing each year of life's existence with its own candle, but unfortunately, just to fit them all in, our cake would need to be..... wait for it.... 6 square kilometres! A small group of year 10 student dancers then performed to the whole group, inspired and trained by the Rambert Dance Company during a workshop funded by this grant. (The Rambert Dance Company ran a workshop based on their evolutionary dance ‘the Comedy of Change’). The dance was followed by an explosion of evolution rap from the Canadian Baba Brinkman and finally I emerged dressed as Dr Who (we needed a time traveller!) to explain the whole thing. To finish up we all sang happy birthday ‘to life’ and blew out the candles. At this point, the students were encouraged to make a wish, a wish to preserve the wonderful biodiversity of life on earth. As a result of the activity I have established links with the Charles Darwin Trust and will shortly be telling fellow environmental educators about the project at the ‘Communicate’ conference in November in Bristol. The event was a sister event with a public event of a similar nature also called the Ancestor’s trail. http://ancestorstrail.net/

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Summer 2011

www.colchester-zoo.co.uk Colchester Zoo Colchester CO3 0SL UK

Title: Location:

Minibeasts Discovery Centre at Colchester Zoo Animal encounter using different insects, cockroaches, stick insects, giant African snails.

Children can learn about the bugs and also can have

Description:

a go at handling them 60

No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Primary Schools School children are charged a set price for entrance to the zoo ÂŁ6.50, however there is no extra charge for

Charge?

school talks or encounters.

Minibeasts always proves to be a great success because it allows children to learn by getting up close and personal to many animals that most often their parents would shy away from! All the insects are given a name e.g. Colin the cockroach, making them seem nice and friendly individuals which the children seem to really enjoy!! The class can learn about where the insect comes from, which often leads into a discussion about some of the problems they face out in the wild such as habitat loss. Minibeasts is popular for school group visits and during insect week alone we had 60 pupils that booked the encounter. We repeatedly see children coming back into the zoo with their parents wanting to show them what they got to hold when they visited with the school and also they always remember a fact or two, even if it is just the insects name!!

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Summer 2011 I

www.coolitschools.com Jane Langley Cool it Schools London SE24 9LG

Title: Location:

Concrete Jungle launch wildlife festival Southwark wildlife festival now in its second year and scaling

Description:

up to include all Southwark and Lambeth schools 1,000 pupils in total at the school hard to say how many came to the festival, we think next time

No. of pupils?

we will get a big increase 11 - 17 - but some little kids turned up from

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

other schools No one free

The festival, although put together in a few weeks, created the blueprint and the school is now building on the initiative. Since then they (The Charter School) were awarded an ÂŁ8,000 grant to create a wildlife garden and work is soon to commence. Southwark Council have asked if they can now connect in with the festival and so it will keep on growing. This year we have time to create a really ambitious programme with more stakeholders and schools attending. We were delighted with the response in the first year and we hope we will have the same conservation trusts coming in force in March to tell pupils about their programmes and hopefully getting some young volunteers.

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Summer 2011

http://www.e-day.org.uk Dr Matt Prescott Energy Saving Day (E-Day) Oxford OX2 6RJ

The E-Day Ark Title: online Location: children were invited to make a puppet of their favourite animal and to email a picture of the creation on to the E-Day Ark Description: 200 No. of pupils?

3-10 Age range: self-financed Funded by? n/a Charge?

I was pleased with the puppets that were sent in to the E-Day Ark, but disappointed by the lack of whole hearted support available from outside organisations.

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Summer 2011 I

www.africa-alive.co.uk Sara Goatcher Senior Education Officer Africa Alive Kessingland NR33 7SL

Title: Location:

Earth- Outreach programme In Schools Outreach involving animal handling and environmental

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

education 1 300 Primary- High School Charge as below ÂŁ45 per hour (plus petrol costs)

Lesson plan was based around 3 habitats; rainforest, desert and savannahs and focussed on adaptation, wildlife and conservation as well as the people which live in these places. The sessions involved animal handling with reptiles and small mammals. Sessions were very popular and feedback excellent. Resource pack for school was produced to accompany sessions which worked well and included post-lesson activities linked to IYB. All of our output is tied to the National Curriculum esp Life Sciences, Geog and Citizenship/health. Conservation is our most important message.

30

Summer 2011

www.amentsoc.org Dafydd Lewis Amateur Entomologists Society Hon Secretary and Registrar PO BOX 8774 LONDON SW7 5ZG

Title: Location:

Young Entomologists' Day @ Oxford University Oxford Day of talks by children and entomologists and tours of

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

the Hope entomological collections & other activities.

18 speakers + 80 spectators including other children 5-17 Amateur Entomologists' Society; The Bug Club This was a free of charge event

Children gained huge amount of confidence and fun when giving their talks. We gave them all goodie packs and there were prizes for the best talks. This activity linked to presentation skills and communication as well as natural history learning, and got children interested in the entomology work at Oxford.

31

Summer 2011 I

www.bnhc.org.uk Savita Custead Bristol Natural History Consortium Director Bristol BS1 5HH

Title: Location:

Festival of Nature Schools Day Central Bristol An opportunity for disadvantaged Bristol students to engage with a huge range of organisations - including those who do not offer educational experiences (ie BBC

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Natural History Unit) 1200 7-11 Clifton College, First Great Western, Bristol Water Free to pupils

Range of organisations. Learning. Marketing for the wider event. Volunteer involvement (100+ student volunteers) Organisation and Logistics

32

Summer 2011

www.britishscienceassociation.org Dan Richards National Science & Engineering Week Officer British Science Association London SW7 5HD

Title: Location:

What on Earth Nature-Spotting Project Nationwide An online project in partnership with iSpot encouraging children and the public to take photos of a range of wildlife in their grounds/gardens and upload those

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

photos to the website for identification by experts.

Around 10,000 5-18 BIS Free

The national green-roof competition for the school in the area that uploaded the most photos to the site - this attracted a large amount of regional press coverage. We were also pleased with the number of observations and quality of dialogue on the site. We linked the accompanying Activity Pack to: KS1-4: Sc1 Scientific Enquiry, Sc2 Life Processes

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Summer 2011 I

www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk Tim Brooks People & Wildlife Manager Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Belper DE56 2AX

Title: Location:

Schools mini-bioblitz Markeaton Park, Derby

Description: No. of pupils?

250

Age range: Funded by?

Derby City Council

Charge?

Good example of partnership working across various statutory and voluntary organisations to acheive a defined event.

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Summer 2011

www.darwinslandscape.co.uk www.bromleybiodiversity.co.uk Alister Hayes Heritage Co-ordinator London Borough of Bromley Bromley BR13UH

Title: Location:

Discover Darwin Online and delivered to schools An education resource Including online

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

35

lessons/teachers’notes 1000s KS2-3 LBB and HLF Free

Summer 2011 I

www.lambeth.gov.uk Iain Boulton Parks Project Officer Lambeth Parks & Greenspaces London Borough of Lambeth London SW9 9SP

Title: Location:

Schools in the Park Various Sites in Lambeth FSC partnership project to engage with secondary pupils

Description:

and teachers to use parks for science activities 100

No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Secondary KS 3 and 4 Heritage Lottery Fund and Natural England NO

36

Summer 2011

www.marlin.ac.uk Jon Parr Deputy Director Marine Biological Assocation Plymouth PL1 2PB

Title: Location: Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Mothecomb Bioblitz South devon our second marine bioblitz on the Erme estuary 100 all - school and public and community groups OPAL Free

The bioblitz itself and activities. We didn't do so welll on publicity and relative remote location had effect on numbers

37

Summer 2011 I

www.nhm.ac.uk/education Sally Collins School Programme Developer NHM South Kensington Cromwell Rd London SW7 5BD

Title: Location:

Science Learning Centre twilight CPD event Science Learning Centre/ Attenborough studio Livc videoconference link to the Natural History Museum’s Attenborough studio as part of an IYB Teacher evening

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

event.

80 teachers Teachers Science Learning Centre, NHM, London Zoo NA

Scientists from NHM demonstrated how their research could extend biodiversity teaching. We made use of a videoconference link to the Attenborough studio where Dr Jon Ablett, zoologist at NHM, demonstrated how to dissect a squid! He linked his discussion to how teachers could use this activity to support teaching about biodiversity in school, including practical details about how to buy a squid. This session has been recorded, and we have repeated the videoconference link format in 2011 for the National Science Learning Centre.

NHM also hosted the Young Darwin Prize, a competition for pupils to upload film clips explaining their existing biodiversity projects. Our normal range of programmes support cover biodiversity learning objectives.

38

Summer 2011

www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk David North Education Manager Norfolk Wildlife Trust NWT, Bewick House, 22 Thorpe Road, NR1 1RY

Title: Location:

Biodiversity Walk NWT Ranworth Broad Guided habitat trail highlighting endangered species –

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range:

swallowtail butterflies 2000 KS1-KS2

Funded by?

Charge?

£2.50 per pupil

Hands on, outdoor learning on a nature reserve that inspires and uses all pupils senses – direct experience of biodiversity

39

Summer 2011 I

www.slcs.ac.uk/london Sally Johnson Director Science Learning Centre London London Institute of Education London WC1H 0AL

Title: Location:

Biodiversity for Life, SLCL anniversary event Science Learning Centre London Presentations from 4 scientists (2 NHM and 2 Zoo)

Description: No. of pupils?

followed by discussion 80 teachers

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

SLCL, NHM and Zoo none

The event was highly evaluated by the teachers attending who gained four case studies to use when teaching about biodiversity. They also appreciated having first hand information from scientists.

40

Summer 2011

www.treeappeal.com Tree Appeal Marketing Assistant Fountains Head Court Bishop Auckland DL14 0LZ

Title: Location:

Tree planting at Foyle View School Derry, Northern Ireland Planting trees with special needs students and helping

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

them connect to nature 30 10-16 First Source, one of Tree Appeal's corporate partners Tree planting at Foyle View School

The children were delighted to be involved in celebrating IYB and very much enjoyed their visit from Tree Appeal. We took David Bellamy along and he ensured the day was really special, interacting with the children and making the event both entertaining and informative.

41

Summer 2011 I

www.livingcoasts.org.uk Clare Rugg Exhibit Manager Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust Living Coasts Torquay TQ26RG

Title: Location: Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Preston Biodiversity Project Local Beach biodiversity of local beaches- rocky and sandy shores 180 8-11 school local council £5 per person

Living Coasts Aims – To engage local children in protecting their local marine environment – link with the year of biodiversity.We were able to watch the children progress in their understanding of biodiversity, as well as understanding the role of scientists in protecting and conserving it. During the rock pooling session the children improved their identification skills and understanding of the importance of coastal animals, this then linked well into the beach cleaning activity. The children were keen to help clean and protect their local marine habitat and were enthusiastic about suggesting it as an area of conservation. The trip to Living Coasts concluded the project and the children were very excited about being “scientists” they responded well to the activities and many of them contributed information that they had learned at school as part of their project. The children seemed to have benefited from the project, especially as much of the work was practical and therefore they were learning experientially as well as making a positive impact on the marine environment.

42

Summer 2011

www.wwt.org.uk Carolyn Robertson Learning Advisor Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Slimbridge GL2 7BT

Title: Location:

Sustainable Schools Fair Science Learning Centre NE at Durham Free fair for schools to attend – WWTs role was to encourage schools to think about / do projects on biodiversity and attracting creatures into their school

Description: No. of pupils?

grounds, gardens etc 25 schools (100+ students)

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

DOE Free

The networking of science educators sharing ideas and the chance to engage children close up and answer their queries on bugs and birds. A competition was also included in the fair to win a trip to WWT Washington.

WWT then got the chance to build on learning, with one school group, delivered through the fair.

43

Summer 2011 I

www.painshill.co.uk/Education Painshill Park Cobham KT11 1JE

Title: Location:

The Grotto Rocks Crystal Grotto at Painshill Park Various stations with volunteers with geological games and examples of the grotto's construction and rocks/minerals/etc.Also included pond dipping and

Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

examples of fossils.

50 5-12 N/A Included in admission price.

This was a very interesting event as it was the first of it's kind. It was a great activity as it showed how things that lived in our pond (whilst pond dipping) and their ancestors (fossils) have created certain rocks, minerals and soils around us and how they have been used at a heritage site.

44

Summer 2011

www3.hants.gov.uk/biodiversity/biodiversity andyou/hants_schoolnaturewatch.htm Biodiversity Officer Winchester SO23 8UE l

Title: Location: Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

45

Hampshire House Sparrow Survey throughout Hampshire part of wider public survey 50 schools / 2000 pupils primary HCC and Natural England no

Summer 2011 I

www.se-ed.co.uk Projects Manager London WC2B 4AY

Title: Location:

Introducing Biodiversity and Teaching Resources London and Bristol Teachers and practitioners review current biodiversity

Description:

resources for inclusion in their schools work

No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Teaching staff SEEd Part of conference

46

Summer 2011

Engineer to Board J1 The Point Lincoln LN6 3QN

Title: Location: Description: No. of pupils?

Age range: Funded by?

Charge?

Displays Lincolnshire Show - IDB Tent Interactive presentations etc unknown - 3,000ish all IDBs in Lincolnshire none (show had an entry fee)

Ability to provide the information in a style accepted by various age goups from young to not so young.

47

Summer 2011 I

Appendix- Call for participants in January 2010: Biodiversity Education Research I am conducting research into the provision of biodiversity education, and I would greatly appreciate your assistance. I am a part-time PhD student at the Institute of Education (supervised by Professor Michael Reiss) and a School Programme developer at the Natural History Museum, London. This request is being sent to International Year of Biodiversity partners and other leading providers in the field of biodiversity education.

As you know, in 2010 a variety of organisations offered inspired events or resources for schools audiences as part of IYB. The primary aim of this research is to collate lessons learnt during last year, so that we can share case studies. This will help educators maximise the clear opportunity to draw on current expertise and new directions, when planning future events.

The first stage is to gather experience and evaluation. I would be very grateful if you would be willing to participate by completing this online survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/IYBeducation The twenty questions chosen aim to use as little of your time as possible whilst giving useful data. If you prefer, you can print and send in a paper copy, address below. Owing to the wide range of organisations and evaluation approaches, some aspects may not be relevant for you. If you prefer to send in an evaluation report instead, it would still be helpful for comparison and communication.

I would like responses by February 28th 2011.

In turn, I will be delighted to send you a summary of survey results, in which you will be fully acknowledged (unless you prefer to remain anonymous). You will receive a draft version to approve prior to any publication.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you and best wishes, Grace Mrs Grace Kimble c/o Natural History Museum Cromwell Road London SW7 5BD Tel: 07815 309567 Email: gkimble@ioe.ac.uk/g.kimble@nhm.ac.uk

48