News & Events

ForestVR – reasons for impact and significance:

Feedback on resources teachers look for to teach about forestry and wood products in geography

• Many, YouTube clips, Forest learning material
• Videos are always good, students will prefer to watch a video than listen to their teacher typically
• It is important to get the whole picture from the plantation to the mill etc and then into wood products.
• I am keen to use the forest VR alongside some intentional programming to teach about Forestry.
• As a special education leader I am thinking about how to assist staff to utilise this resource.

Open ended teacher feedback about their views on forestry, teaching resources about forestry and wood products including ForestLearning resosurces (2020) –

• It is an important local and national industry, which children should be aware of and understand.
• There are a lot of false-hoods and misconceptions regarding this subject and how using timber is damaging the environment so it is important to educate students in this area.
• Wood is a natural product and forests can be sustainable, so [it is important to be] teaching students about how to manage and use natural resources.
• The students seemed generally interested. I think they get excited when I bring Forest Learning resources into the classroom.
• If you have quality resources it is much easier to work through!
• The resources are clear and the hard work of separating information has been done for them. Students have a short span to decode chunks of text and the resources are well designed
• I’m no expert in this area and there are not many learning resources at hand.This is helpful
• [I am] city based -no real link/experience of forestry work. This resource clearly outlines what is required in an engaging way.
• Children are interested in the processes involved, and you can excite them with topics related to trees, their size, how important they are, etc.
• Students need to know ‘where timber comes from’, the variety of species and manufactured products and their uses.
• I like talking about old growth forests and how they are being protected. I like showing the breakdown process of log into planks, the students are intigued to see mechanisation and how quickly a tree becomes planks
• I’m passionate about sustainability, and to a somewhat lesser degree, about new and emerging technologies concerning wood products that is seeing them in some instances replace things like steel and concrete.
• I usually refer to your website and information pack (that I have had for a number of years) especially when I am talking about harvesting and milling, shaping etc. as I have absolutely no experience here.

Ways this resource helps bring the facts of the industry to light:

• I do feel uncomfortable about the timber industry. I’m not sure about how forestry impacts on old growth forests. I guess I don’t have all the facts so this resource helps me.