The ends of the Earth, the start of careers
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Schools wanted: join the program!
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A
key
part of the BookEnd program is communicating environmental work to the public
not just in the form of final results (e.g. what we know about sharks
or caring for injured animals), but also in presenting the experiences
of the scholarship students themselves in undertaking this work (the
excitement and challenges of tackling such topics).
Although the BookEnd scholarships are currently aimed at tertiary level education, we want to help teachers inspire school students of all ages about the natural world and the career opportunities it can provide. If successful, it may be possible to expand the reach of the scholarship program into earlier education. The projects we are
developing provide good opportunities for the University students
involved, but they are also significant as an inspiration for potential
future students and what they can achieve.
As a
key part of the BookEnd program, we want to work with
schools
to better communicate the work that is being done and the options that
this offers for students in future. We are keen for school students to see this not just as "look at what these people are doing" but to build a strong sense of "look at what I could be doing." |
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We wish to build strong
communication and school-interaction into the work of our scholarship
students. This may be in the form of regular updates, information
packs
or presentations on the work being conducted and on the experiences of
scholarship holders as they become familiar with their work. This may
also involve different approaches to providing this material, via the
wide variety of methods and technology available.
The input of school teachers and their students is keenly sought, whether as part of or alongside existing projects within the school. We want our scholarship students to work with teachers to develop communications materials that meet their needs as well as our own. The level or type of interaction may differ between different ages of classes, or according to existing commitments and whatever else given classes have planned for the year. Some schools may simply want once-off information kits for general interest, while others may want to develop more detailed involvement (e.g. feedback and questions for the scholarship students, or mini-projects that run alongside ours). This will obviously become more challenging with increasing levels of interest, but that is also part of the learning experience for everyone involved. We are keen for our students to explore a variety of methods, materials and interaction, whether through direct visits or the delivery of multi-media internet information that builds more of a personalised and ongoing rapport with classes than a single information kit alone. In short, we want to see what will capture the interest of different ages of students within the education system - whether in the form of overall excitement for these projects from younger classes, or the inspiration and more focussed career detail for older classes. The technology and opportunity is there if the right amount of imagination and innovation can be applied. |
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Tasmania has
the lowest retention rate into
higher education of any Australian state, and this high dropout rate in
turn limits career opportunities and economic development within our
community. At the same time, we need good, positive and co-operative
environmental solutions that strike a workable balance between
conservation and development.
We need
to present viable
educational
and career opportunities to
achieve this, and the BookEnd program wishes to
help meet this need
by building strong links to Tasmanian schools as described. Tasmania is
sufficiently compact to trial this new approach, but equally it
contains much to inspire and interest students. For example, the South
West Wilderness World Heritage Area meets the highest number of
criteria for listing of anywhere on the planet (equalled by only one
other location), and there is no shortage of environmental challenges
to be solved (we have over 700 threatened species here alone).
There
are
many other reasons why Australia is special, and we
invite schools to investigate these alongside us. We are keen to work
with you to develop communications programs that really test our
students while inspiring yours!
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Photos this page: Alastair Richardson, Ron
Mawbey, Kevin Doran, Ian Houshold, Niall Doran, W.E.Brown, DPIW staff
and media archives.
Background: W.E. Brown.
Background: W.E. Brown.
