Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) is pleased to launch Forestlearning.edu.au, a dedicated portal for forests and wood products teaching and learning resources for primary and secondary school teachers. This new website aims to provide easy access for forests and wood products educational information that is linked to the Australian curriculum and is part of FWPA’s education investment plan.
ForestLearning.edu.au provides activities, resources and ideas for teachers to integrate forest education into their programs across a range of key learning areas within the Australian school curriculum and state and territory syllabi including science, biology, history, geography, mathematics, agriculture and technology.
The website was collaboratively developed by a network of forest educators and forestry communication specialists across Australia including:
• Australian Forest Products Association
• Forest Education Foundation, Tasmania
• Forests NSW
• Forest Products Commission, WA
• Forest and Wood Products Australia
• PIRSA Forestry, South Australia
• Sustainable Forestry Program, Southern Cross University, NSW
• VicForests
Forestlearning.edu.au replaces the old online education resource for forestry, www.australianforests.org.au with all traffic from this site now being re-directed to the new and reinvigorated website.
This new site includes:
• A searchable database of over 100 currently downloadable resources;
• Information on key learning themes and topics including:
o What is a forest?
o What role does forestry play in the landscape?
o Why is wood a renewable and sustainable resource?
o How do forests and wood products store carbon?
o How do we use, process and manufacture wood products?
o What is the future?
• Information on organising school visits or professional development for teachers;
• Latest news and events; and
• Glossary of terms and useful contacts and links to forestry organisations and their websites.
Building awareness
Teachers and educators of years 3 to 12 in Australian schools are the primary audience for the website and a targeted marketing campaign will be implemented in July 2011. The campaign will include:
• Leveraging existing relationships including Planet Ark, International Year of the Forests 2011 and the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF);
• Leveraging partner relationships with state education departments and regional curriculum consultants as well as promotion at events;
• Building relationships with professional teacher associations and school councils;
• A public relations strategy with key teacher publications.
For further information: Please contact Melissa Houghton
P: 0412 811 450
E: [email protected]
W: www.forestlearning.edu.au
