Blue Gum High Forest Education Resource Kit

The Friends of Lane Cove National Park Inc., with the help of Andrew Duffy, DECC Ranger at Lane Cove National Park, Valerie Close, educational consultant from ECOLINKS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION and Jude Morris, responsible for the art work, has produced a resource kit for local primary schools in the region of the Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve in St Ives, Sydney, NSW.

The Blue Gum High Forest Education Resource Kit addresses the importance of the Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve as a unique natural heritage area. It concentrates on educating school children about minimizing the impacts of inappropriate practices currently threatening Blue Gum High Forest.

The package will be incorporated into the schools’ current syllabus.This resource assists teachers in developing a unit of study that complements Board of Studies syllabus outcomes from Human Society and Its Environment and Science and Technology K to 6.

It will provide teachers with a number of fun lessons that will satisfy current learning outcomes as well as introduce a wide array of new and interesting concepts.

It includes

• Book and video links
• Full lesson plans
• extension activities
• aerial and street maps with school locations, and
• posters of native wildlife and vegetation in the Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve
• Forest excursion DVD.

The kit cost around $30,000 to produce. Funding came from a $67,000 grant in 2004 from the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s Environmental Trust, to be spent over 3 years on Blue Gum High Forest in the Dalrymple Hay Nature Reserve at St Ives. The money was also used to fund ongoing bush regeneration and environmental education. A number of interpretation signs were erected for public display as part of the program as well as walks and talks, letter box drops and community information days.

The kit was launched at Warrawee Public School, 16th September 2008.

Click here for photos from the launch

Before the launch, Class 5/6M from Warrawee Public School worked on pre-excursion lesson ideas from the kit and presented the audience with their research on wildlife found in the Dalrymple-Hay Nature Reserve. The kit was distributed free to the local primary schools at the launch. Some of these schools have already used the kit extensively and have asked for more copies.

The kit is available free for local schools from the Friends of Lane Cove National Park Inc.

Click here to email us for a copy of the Blue Gum High Forest Education Resource Kit, to arrange a demonstration or for more information.

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