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Senior high school students plan their properties
Senior students visit the Roma saleyards
Australia Country Choice Feedlot
Senior students check out the paddock which is used to feed the livestock.
Getting their hands dirty is all part of learning for senior high school students in the Queensland Murray Darling region.
A leading Property Planning Program targets Year 10 to Year 12 students and takes them out of the classroom and into the field for two days.
Started in 2005 by the Queensland Murray Darling Committee (QMDC), the program is carefully tailored to fit in with core modules of the school syllabus. It fits into QMDC's objective of communicating regional issues to young people and the community.
In the past two years 140 students and their teachers have attended from schools in Toowoomba, Warwick, St George, Goondiwindi, Roma and Stanthorpe.
Funding
The Australian Government and State Governments have given more than $5,000 towards the program.
Activities and achievements
QMDC's Education Officer, Pam Fisher, said it fits "brilliantly" with agricultural science, studies of society and the environment, geography and other science courses. One school has already designed an agricultural science project around the Property Planning Program.
"We need to get the natural resource management story out to the schools," said Pam.
"We want them to know we need to maintain a sustainable environment for agriculture; we have to work at it and there's something that can be done.
"The aim of property planning is to give these senior students practical, hands-on experience actually addressing these issues on a working property.
"We call for property owners to volunteer for the students to go to their property for a two day field trip.
"Students are given a lot of information on water quality, erosion and other resource management issues, including information on sustainable management. They're also given the opportunity to discuss issues with experts from different fields.
"We then allow the students to make their own assessment of what they have seen."
When students return from their field trip they develop a management plan for the property and are asked to think about how it would fit in at a regional or catchment level.
The plans are entered in a Property Planning Competition. Finalists present their plans at the Discovering Landcare Conference, held annually by QMDC in Toowoomba.
"The Property Planning Program is not just for would-be farmers, it's also designed to show students there are career opportunities in natural resource management," Pam said.
"It's showing young people another option for them career-wise."
More information
- Pam Fisher, QMDC Education Officer: (07) 4622 2993 or pfisher@qmdc.org.au
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