Activity 8 – HOMEWORK !
Education has been one of BirdLife¹s mainstays from the Society¹s earliest days. Together with lobbying and research, our education campaigns have slowly but surely changed the nature protection agenda of this country.
But, as all teachers know, education is frustratingly hard to measure. In this activity we would like you to help us gather some data on the impact of our educational work. Of course this is not a scientific survey, but collectively, the questionnaire results should reflect the current attitudes.
So, while the kids have their fun as little journalists, help us find out what people nowadays think about bird-hunting, trapping and the environment.
Action...
- Copy the questionnaire for the number of children participating. For your convenience, there is a Maltese as well as an English version. Choose the version you want to use, but before you make copies for all, please enlarge the survey sheet to about A4 size for easier reading.
- Familiarise kids with the questions by going over the questionnaire. At this point do not discuss the subject so as not to influence answers. Then instruct them to take the sheet home and carry out the survey on a parent. Stress the importance of getting an honest response - there are no right or wrong answers here. Moreover, the survey is totally anonymous. Give them a weekend to do it. Make it look like a special kind of homework - this is, after all, an exercise in communication, where you show the importance of polls and surveys in finding out trends, rather than basing on opinion.
- Back in class discuss the answers, drawing attention to common trends. Now you should discuss these trends, comparing what parents think to what the children feel. If you feel a negative trend, try to make the kids aware of the other side of the coin, the bird’s point of view. Maybe a bash at Activity 16 will help you out here!
- Put the answer sheets in an envelope (or arrange for the DW co-ordinator to collect them, if you have too many). Don’t forget your Feedback Form.
- You need a minimum of 20% of the school population to participate in order to qualify.
Points...
100 points