Making the first step towards preventing humanwolf conflicts
Nikie van Dorst
Daniëlle Koster
Judith Santegoets
7 June 2010
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities
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Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities
Making the first step towards preventing humanwolf conflicts
Wageningen, the Netherlands, 7 June 2010
Nikie van Dorst, Daniëlle Koster and Judith Santegoets
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page i
Contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Stakeholder analysis .................................................................................................................................. 3
2.1. Key stakeholders .......................................................................................................................... 3 2.2. Key players ................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3. Barriers and incentives................................................................................................................. 5
3. Application of the strategy ........................................................................................................................ 6
3.1. Key design principles.................................................................................................................... 6 3.2. Strategy design............................................................................................................................. 7 3.2.1. First phase: Project week for elementary school children ....................................................... 8 3.2.2. Second phase: Grand finale ................................................................................................... 10 3.2.3. Follow up of the designed strategy........................................................................................ 11
4. Justification of the designed strategy...................................................................................................... 12
4.1. Justification of the first phase: Project week for elementary school children .......................... 12 4.1.1. Learning outcomes................................................................................................................. 13 4.2. Justification of the second phase: Grand finale......................................................................... 13
5. Strengths and weaknesses of the designed strategy .............................................................................. 15
5.1. Strengths of the designed strategy............................................................................................ 15 5.2. Weaknesses of the designed strategy ....................................................................................... 15
6. Monitoring and evaluation...................................................................................................................... 17
7. Concluding remarks................................................................................................................................. 19
References................................................................................................................................................... 20
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 1
1. Introduction Our selected issue is "preparing the Netherlands for the return of the wolf". The wolf is spotted at only
four days away from the Dutch border and most certainly it will return to the Netherlands. The wolf's
return however brings forth problems relating to fear and misunderstanding (ARK, FREE Nature &
Zoogdier Vereniging, May 2010). A great deal of this fear and misunderstanding is deeply rooted into our
minds and is largely based on fairytales (e.g. Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs), legends
(e.g. werewolves) and myths (e.g. the wolf being a man‐eater) (BUSCH, 2007).
Recently, several parliamentary questions have been raised regarding the return of the wolf (LNV, May
2010). Although some people believe the wolf will enrich Dutch nature, others are afraid to let their
children play outside and farmers fear their livestock will be attacked (Linnartz, 2009). In order for the
wolf to be able to live here in the Netherlands, the country will need to be prepared, not only for its
arrival, but also for actually living with the wolf. An agreement will have to be reached between rural
communities, nature conservation organisations and even the government in order to prevent and work
towards solving possible problems the return of the wolf might bring about.
It is believed that the wolf will be able to survive in the provinces of Gelderland, Drenthe, Noord‐Brabant
and Limburg (ARK, FREE Nature & Zoogdier Vereniging, May 2010). We expect that the "wolf‐issue" is
most prominent and lively in rural communities in those provinces, partially because in these
communities the topic "wolves" is rather sensitive, but also because the farmers’ livestock and thus their
income is "at stake", which increases their fear and dislike of the wolf's return. The wolf has a protected
status in Europe, meaning that it is not allowed to hunt these animals. If they prey upon the farmers’
livestock and the farmers are not prepared and informed of possible options, we expect the farmers to
take matters into their own hands. They may set out traps and shoot the wolves.
The chosen strategy is education and consists out of two phases. The first phase will be an educational
program for children, as we expect children to be more open to new ideas about wolves. In the second
phase children will provide an entrance to reach the other members of the community, making this a
community‐based learning project. We believe that by trying to have a joined learning experience for a
whole community the reframing of the wolf‐image might be more lasting.
Our main goal is to prevent human‐wolf conflicts if the wolf returns to the Netherlands. The goal of this
specific strategy is to prepare the rural parts of the Netherlands where the wolf is expected for its arrival.
If these areas are not prepared, the wolf may be hunted down and not be able to find a suitable territory
here. This will take away the opportunity to restore a native species to our country.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 2
Sub goals that will help achieve this main goal are:
Decreasing fear of wolves and solving misunderstandings about wolves in all members of rural
communities
Fear and misunderstandings are two main reasons for the current dislike of wolves. Decreasing or even
solving these issues might be the first step towards acceptance and solutions. When people no longer
fear the animal as much and when they understand the animal and its ways, they will be more open and
better able to work towards solutions.
Making the wolf‐topic approachable in rural communities
Currently the wolf‐topic is rather sensitive, farming communities simply do not want the wolf to return
and that is the end of it. If the topic remains unapproachable, then we cannot even begin to work
towards solutions. We need to create a certain open mindedness to get people to discuss their feelings,
their issues and fears so that together we can work towards finding suitable solutions.
Preventing problems to arise in rural communities when the wolf returns
Nature conservation organisations and rural communities have to work together to find the actual
problems and work towards solutions. Of course the government would also have to be involved in this
at some point, but starting out with just the two opposing forces would be a good start. Currently the
nature conservation organisations want to approach their counterparty, but they do not seem to know
how they can do this without raising conflict. We wish to bring the two together via neutral grounds to
get the problem‐solving process started.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 3
2. Stakeholder analysis In this chapter we list the different key stakeholders, i.e. the “interested parties” of our change
challenge. We will describe their anticipated role and interests. We also analyse the key players, these
are actors engaged in the educational program but not the main target group of the change challenge.
The key players are essential for the implementation of the educational program. Finally, we will explain
some incentives and barriers for stakeholders to get involved in the activities.
2.1. Key stakeholders Rural communities in Drenthe, Gelderland, Brabant and Limburg (the Netherlands)
This group of stakeholders particularly involves elementary school children aged 9 to 13 and livestock
farmers. An interactive educational program will be designed for elementary school children. The
program can help to enjoy their outside environment without any fear of wolves. The program will also
develop their knowledge about nature by creating an understanding of a specific animal. There will be a
final presentation of their work to which the whole community is to be invited, followed by a discussion
in which worries and questions regarding the wolf's return can be raised. The project created by the
children of the community is meant to subtly help reduce the misunderstandings and fear the adults
might have about wolves so that they as well can feel save in their natural environment. To farmers in
particular the program will be of importance since they have big concerns about their livestock being
attacked.
Stakeholders outside of the rural communities
The second group of stakeholders are those outside the community, including nature conservation
organisations, agricultural organisations, such as LTO, CLM, NAJK and the NBvP, and the Dutch Ministry
of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). The program will be of great benefit to these two parties
as it might prevent upcoming conflicts when wolves return to the Netherlands. It is in the interest of the
nature conservation organisations to protect the wolf, an originally native species that became extinct,
when it inhabits Dutch nature areas again. These organisations believe that the return of this top
predator has numerous ecological consequences beneficial to Dutch nature (Linnartz 2009). For instance,
the remains of their eaten prey can be a food source for various scavengers. Therefore the return of the
wolf will not only stimulate populations of scavengers already inhabiting Dutch nature areas, but also
attract species that no longer inhabit Dutch nature areas. Furthermore, they expect that the wolf’s
presence could help limiting population growth of species such as deer and geese in a natural way, which
might reduce their damage to agriculture (Linnartz 2009).
The agricultural organisations on the other hand promote the farmers interests. The LTO (an
entrepreneurial and employers’ organisation) for instance, has its own consultants and specialists who
provide advice for individual farmers and growers and help them make important decisions (LTO Noord
Communication Department, 2008). As it is believed that farmers are more open to ‐ and best informed
by their colleagues, it will be useful to actively involve these organisations.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 4
The nature conservation organisations and agricultural organisations can support the development of
the educational program. In order to be able to create an informative but neutral program both counter
parties need to be involved. Nature conservation organisations can provide the necessary information
regarding the (return of) the wolf, whereas agricultural organisations can help adjust the program to the
needs and ideas of farmers. The Dutch Ministry is not yet important for the program at this point, but it
needs to be involved during the problem solving stage.
2.2. Key players Elementary school staff
The elementary school staff play an important role during the project week. Teachers have to run the
activities and guide the discussion and the children’s work. The program will be an added value to their
teaching experience. It is in their interest to be able to educate a complex environmental/social problem
through an interactive project.
Experts, including Germans from conflict areas where wolves are already present, a “wolf‐expert” from
a nature conservation organisation and a representative of an agricultural organisation
A short video presentation of an interview with Germans from conflict areas can be shown at the
beginning of the discussion. Farmers are likely to be easier informed by their colleagues than by
outsiders (Linnartz 2009), and a foreign farmer can give them insights in living with wolves from his or
her own experience. It is therefore also of importance that a representative of an agricultural
organisation is present during the grand finale and takes part in the discussion. The “wolf‐expert” can
help to clear misconceptions about the wolf. Both representatives can provide answers to raised
questions and concerns about damage to livestock, but they can also provide information about policy
related information and measures that people can take to prevent attacks.
The IVN (Association for Environmental Education), possibly in cooperation with NME‐centres in the
selected provinces
The IVN association is actively involved with environmental education and communication. They act as
initiator or organizer of various environmental projects en campaigns and they frequently work together
with provincial NME‐centres (centres for environmental education) (IVN, May 2010). In our case, the IVN
could be the provider of the developed program. This stakeholder should make visits to schools to
promote the designed project week with teachers and elementary school directors. This way they cannot
only promote the program, but also monitor how the project is received and adjust it if necessary. In
addition they can act as facilitator during the project week and the grand finale.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 5
2.3. Barriers and incentives In this chapter we list the assumed barriers and incentives for stakeholders to get involved in the
activities. It is essential to be aware of the barriers in the developing phase of the program, so that they
can still be reduced or diminished and do not turn into real weaknesses. Incentives on the other side can
be used to promote the educational program to various stakeholders.
Barriers
• Costs: The project may simply be too expensive for an organisation to get involved.
• Farmers who do not have children in the upper levels of elementary school may not be reached
despite inviting every member of the community to come to the final event.
• Farmers might be so opposed to the return of the wolf that they might not be open to discuss the
subject with nature conservation organisations.
• School might not want to apply for the program, for instance because they have trouble fitting the
program into their standard curriculum.
Incentives
• The program could help to create an understanding of wolves and reduce fear of wolves, thus
making the topic more approachable for discussion.
• The final event can be used to find out what really creates the aversion to the wolf’s return in
farmers; what are their opposing factors and their real fears.
• The final event can be used to create awareness of the available options for farmers should their
livestock be attacked as a result of wolves.
• The final event will be a way for the two opposing parties to find a common ground and can be a first
step towards finding possible solutions.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 6
3. Application of the strategy The strategy’s design and its application is discussed in this chapter. An overview of the key design
principles is provided first as they are the basis for the communication and education strategy. The
design principles are mostly concerned with the desired way in which learning will take place in the
strategy. The strategy has been designed to make these types of learning possible. After the key design
principles the design and application of the strategy is discussed.
3.1. Key design principles Most of the key design principles for our strategy apply to both the educational part (first phase) as the
part in which the whole community is involved (second phase). Although some might be more
applicable to one of these phases.
Intergenerational learning
The main design principle is intergenerational learning, which can be described as:
"Intergenerational learning arises from activities which purposely involve two or more generations with the aim of generating additional or different benefits to those arising from single generation activities. It generates learning outcomes, but these may or may not be the primary focus of the activity. It involves different generations learning from each other and/or learning together with a tutor or facilitator. Depending on the aims of the activity, it may or may not involve members of the same family" (Thomas, 2009).
Learning from other generations is usually limited to children learning from adults. This is an almost
natural process. However, in order to turn things around, specific arrangements need to be created.
Therefore, both youth and (grand)parents will be explicitly involved in this strategy, as we believe that
all generations have things to offer to each other.
Udaga & Maser (2003) are an inspiration for this key design principle. They described a process in
California in which different generations were brought together to create a new vision for their
community. During this process the adults realized that they had never really listened to children
before. However, this time the children felt safe to share and they were taken seriously.
Peer‐to‐peer learning
Learning from each other, and more specifically from each other's experiences will be a part of the
program, because this can stimulate learning processes which are similar among the participants. This
type of learning will be complementary to the principle of intergenerational learning.
Community based learning
By trying to have a joined learning experience for the whole community the reframing of the wolf‐
image might be more lasting. Therefore, everybody will be included.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 7
Learning from dissonance
When one is exposed to alternative perspectives through confrontation, space will be created to
become aware of one’s own perspective and to challenge this. This is essential for meaningful learning
to take place (Wals, 2006).
Interactive learning
Learning will be hands‐on, creating room for multiple learning styles to be served.
Constructivism: Understanding and building upon prior knowledge, ideas and experiences
The project will start from the perspectives of the children or the other members of the community in
their relation to wolves. Thereby creating a sound match between what they need and what the
program can give.
Immersion
The design will be based on the head‐heart‐hand approach, in which a multi‐sensory learning
environment will be created. When one is immersed in the learning experience, it becomes more
fundamental and is thought to have a more lasting impact (Wals, 2006). Learning through immersion is
related to the flow learning theory.
Creativity
Creativity will be stimulated, as it is a way to help to resolve inner conflicts and to express and cope
with fears and concerns (Boeckel, unpublished).
Active participation
Through active participation learners can create a sense of ownership over the process, making them
more than just passive receivers of the information. This will enhance gaining competences to deal with
the return of the wolf.
Meaningful involvement
In order to create positivity regarding the return of the wolf, people need to feel that their input will be
taken seriously. In this case, meaningful refers to this feeling of being taken seriously. Therefore,
feedback on people’s input will be a relevant part of the concept.
3.2. Strategy design The strategy is based upon the following formula: Education of children combined with a presentation
evening to bring the community together for discussion of the topic leads to making the first step
towards further preparation.
In the first phase the project will start at an elementary school with a program aimed at children aged
9‐13. It will focus on passing on knowledge about wolves by providing opportunities to get familiar with
the way wolves live. It will also focus on familiarizing children with conflicts in which social, ecological
and economical interests are combined. In order to do so, the program will be a mixture of
instrumental and emancipatory education.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 8
In the second phase the children will present their new found expertise in one way or another to their
parents and other interested members of the community. This will broaden the learning experience.
Other activities, aimed at an adult level, will focus on social learning between a rural community and
the nature conservation organizations about their perspectives on the return of the wolf. The goal is to
build trust between these often opposing parties and to give the community competences and
knowledge that will help them to deal with wolves in a sustainable way.
3.2.1. First phase: Project week for elementary school children The program will be set up as a project week, which can be build in the standard curriculum. We believe
that such an intensive week will have a longer lasting effect than working on this project once a week
for about half an hour for the duration of a year. Executing the project in one week also allows for more
time consuming activities such as a visit to a zoological park. The first phase of the project is loosely
based on the principle of Flow Learning (Sharing Nature, May 2010). The activities of the first two days
are meant to introduce the children to the subject and stimulate their enthusiasm. Children that can
visit a zoological park will also have a more direct experience. During the third day the children will dive
into the problem, thus getting them more involved and focussing their attention. The last two days are
meant for the children to share their experiences and inspirations. Below is an example of our idea for
this educational part of the strategy. Due to time constraints we can only indicate some ideas.
Monday: Introduction activities
During these introduction activities children get to explore their own and their classmates' associations
with wolves. They will also try to place themselves into the mind of a wolf and explore the animal 'from
within'.
Examples: Let children note their associations with wolves and compare ideas in a group discussion.
Making connections: present children with a sheet of images that they have to cut out and paste
onto one of two new sheets of paper, one for images that can be connected to the wolf and one for
images that cannot readily be connected with wolves. This could be done using various habitats (is
the wolf likely to live here?) or using various types of food (what would the wolf eat?) for example
(Margadant‐van Arcken and van den Berg, 2000).
Interview a wolf: Let one child be the wolf and the other the interviewer. The interviewer will ask
the wolf questions (how old are you?, where do you live?, do you live alone? what do you eat? how
do you find your food? are there animals you have to be careful of?), the wolf will have to answer
the questions, thus attempting to place the child in the wolf's mind (Cornell, J. and A.M. van Harten
– Sharing Nature Card Set). The idea here is to let the children playfully think about the wolf and its
behaviours. Afterwards there will be a discussion to provide the children with feedback on their
answers.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 9
Tuesday: Experiencing the animal
This day in particular is meant to stimulate enthusiasm and to provide children with a bit more hands
on experience. During these activities, the children get to see and/or experience the wolf. The activities
are also meant to create a better understanding of the animal itself.
Examples: If possible the school could visit a zoological park to see the wolves there. A caretaker could tell
them about wolves and they can see the animals for themselves. Several assignments and games
can be performed in the park. For example: locating possible prey animals in the park, finding other
suitable exhibits in the park, letting children think of things to add to the wolves' current exhibit.
If it is not possible to visit a zoological park children can play a variety of games to experience the
wolf. One such experience is the computer game WolfQuest (http://www.wolfquest.org, May
2010). In this game the children become wolves, they will have to hunt, find a mate, find a suitable
den‐site and raise their pups. This allows them to immerse themselves in the lives of wolves. Other
options are for example: setting out a trail that will lead to a prey animal, one child will be the prey,
the others will form a wolf pack and they will have to find the prey by following the trail. This could
also be done without a trail, making it a variation on hide‐and‐seek, the wolves will have to stay
together as a pack though. Tag could also be added to the experience: some of the children can
become hunters, while the pack looks for its prey, the hunters have to tag them.
Wednesday: Creating an in depth experience
When diving into the problem, the children will become more involved and their attention will be
focused on the problem at hand. Children get the opportunity to formulate their own ideas and share
and discuss them with their classmates.
Examples: Let children discuss the issue of the wolf's return: first let the children formulate their own idea
(what is their opinion and why?) on paper. Then start with a round where everyone can say
something about the matter. The next step is to divide the children into smaller groups and appoint
one chairman. The chairman will guide the discussion, making sure everyone can say something and
that the discussion does not take too long. Each group discusses the issue and then reports on their
discussion to the rest of the class. Afterwards let the children formulate their own views again (has
it changed?) (Margadant‐van Arcken and van den Berg, 2000).
Let children discuss matters pertaining to wolves. Ask them if they think wolves are useful, where
they think wolves should live, how they feel about wolves living in zoological parks, what they feel
about humans hunting wolves? and what they would do if there were too many wolves? (IVN
Vereniging voor Natuur‐ en Milieueducatie).
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 10
Thursday: Expressing ones experiences During this day, the children will be able to express their experiences and inspirations through art
(Boeckel, unpublished). The children's own ideas will be the focus of this activity and their works will be
presented during the 'grand finale'.
Examples: Have children transform existing fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf and the seven
Goats or The Wolf and the three Piglets, and let them perform this transformation in a play during
the 'grand finale'. All these fairytales are based on fear and have helped creating a dreadful image
of the wolf in our youth (ARK, FREE Nature & Zoogdier Vereniging, May 2010). When transforming
an existing fairytale (in which the wolf plays a negative part) into a more positive story, the wolf can
become the ‘hero’. By creating this play, children will be able to express their newly formed ideas
about wolves. The children are stimulated to use their own creativity but are guided in the process
by their teachers.
Let children express their experiences using various forms of art (drawings, paintings, poems,
stories, paper marcher, clay, etcetera). The children can present their work in an exhibition during
the 'grand finale'.
Friday: Expressing ones experiences (finishing up) followed by the grand finale
Friday morning the children will begin with a small evaluation. The children will also be given the
opportunity to look back on and discuss their experiences of the past week. During the rest of the day
the children will have the chance to complete the artwork they started on Thursday. In the evening a
'grand finale' will be held where they can present their work to the community.
Examples: One of the activities for the evaluation can be a repeat of the wolf interview, but this time the
children that were previously wolves will now become the interviewers and vice versa.
3.2.2. Second phase: Grand finale The intensive learning experiences will be concluded with a 'grand finale'. This 'grand finale' will be an
evening of about two and a half hours and will take place the Friday that the children finish their
projects. The evening will start with the presentation of the children's work. The artworks will be
presented in the form of an exhibition, which will be open to public the entire evening. It is
recommended that the school (or other chosen public building) opens its doors half an hour prior to the
start of the event, so that visitors can view the art work. The rest of the evening will start with a play
that some of the children have prepared and if they so choose, some of the children can hold a little
presentation about what they learned as well. After this introduction the children can go to a separate
room to relax and enjoy a non‐educational movie starring wolves (e.g. White Fang, Dances With
Wolves, Never Cry Wolf), while the parents 'do the work'.
The adults (and adolescents) will be presented with a short movie of about 10 minutes introducing the
topic and the current situation in Germany. In this movie, Germans from conflict areas will discuss how
they felt about the return of the wolf, prior to its actual return, how things were handled by the various
parties involved (government, farmers, nature conservation organisations) and how they feel about the
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 11
wolf's return now that it is actually there. After this movie a discussion will be held where people can
raise their concerns and ask questions. A facilitator, a member of a nature conservation organisation
and a member of a farmers organisation such as LTO will be present during this discussion.
It is not our intention to find solutions during this evening, but to make the topic approachable and to
form the first step towards bringing the various parties together and having them work on solutions.
We do however want the community to feel that they are being taken seriously and that this discussion
is meaningful, therefore the members will be supplied with the option to request feedback. A report of
the discussion will be made so that it can be used in further preparation programs. Those who
requested feedback will receive this report and any further information regarding the return of the
wolf. When farmers are interested in further meetings, as this evening alone is probably not enough to
capture this issue in its entirety, they will be invited for a regional meeting with nature conservation
organisations in which they can discuss problem solving more in depth. Thus, the grand finale is meant
as an appetizer for further involvement in the wolf issue.
We have to make sure the grand finale is sufficiently promoted, so that it not solely attracts the family
of the performing children. The provider of the program could work together with the municipality,
which is able to send invitation letters to every household in the community. In addition, it might be
helpful to attach posters and distribute flyers in supermarkets or other public places. A good
communication strategy should be developed, including local newspapers and other forms of media. By
using the media, multiple layers in the community can be reached.
3.2.3. Follow up of the designed strategy To have a more lasting effect on children, this program could be followed up by another program about
wolves that will be implemented on secondary schools. This program, that would have to be developed,
could focus even more on the issue of bringing economic, social and ecological interests together,
because children at that age are capable of handling abstract ideas.
Another idea would be to add a small program that would last longer, in which the children are invited
to spot the first wolf in the Netherlands. This could reframe its arrival into something desired. However,
at this moment it could take years before the wolf returns, making this element a guaranteed
disappointment. It would be more feasible to add this when the wolves are closer to the Dutch borders
and they could be seen in the Netherlands within a very short period of time.
As is argued before, this program will just be the first step towards a problem solving oriented process
in which the members of the rural community and nature conservation organisations can work together
on solutions. One evening alone will probably not be enough to capture this issue in its entirety.
Therefore, members of the community who are interested in further meetings will be explicitly invited
to these.
This could start with a regional meeting with nature conservation organisations in which agenda setting
and representation issues need to be addressed. In order to do this, a facilitator needs to be brought in
again. Afterwards, the representatives can discuss problem solving more in depth. The government will
be invited to these meetings as well, to make sure that solutions can be implemented.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 12
4. Justification of the designed strategy To justify our educational program we have turned to Margadant‐Van Arcken (1990). She is a
pedagogue who conducted research on nature education in the Netherlands. Her observations and
theories are mostly practice orientated, making it a good starting point for a quick dive into didactic
design principles. Besides these principles, we have also aimed at creating a program that would be
suitable to be implemented in the curriculum of an elementary school.
The grand finale is justified with several theories, ranging from influencing behaviour, participation and
vision building. They are all combined in the program for adults, thus providing a well considered
initiative.
4.1. Justification of the first phase: Project week for elementary school children As Margadant‐Van Arcken (1990) argues, children in the upper levels of elementary school are not yet
capable of reasoning in the abstract and the detached view that is needed to talk about ecology. Many
environmental education programs have the tendency to overestimate this ability of children. Animal
categories, like insects or mammals are not yet tangible enough, as they do not correspond to
children’s visualisation of animals. Therefore, Margadant‐Van Arcken (1990) advises to focus on specific
species. With this specific specie as a starting point, all kinds of ecological and more abstract notions
can be brought in, as they now have a situational, narrative and therefore more solid context.
In this design this specific specie is the wolf, which makes the educational program tangible and
concrete enough for children in this age group. Moreover, mammals, such as the wolf, correspond best
to children's visualisations of animals (Margadant‐Van Arcken, 1990). This way the program will be
build upon the prior knowledge and ideas that children have about animals.
Children in the age class of 9‐13 have a personalistic‐animistic perspective on nature (Margadant‐Van
Arcken, 1990). This means that they act as if things and animals are personalities and living matter. It is
not to say that they think like that. However in their language they express this perspective. The result
of this is that to match children's interests, the animal should be the centre of the educational program.
Children are very curious about animals, and can raise enormous amounts of questions about them.
However, these questions are again from the point of view that an animal is a personality. So, they are
mostly interested in how animals live, gather food, have contact with congeners, how they raise their
young and what their physical capacities are. To fulfil these interests there will be a solid introduction of
the wolf and its behaviour.
The visit to the zoological park or an educational movie about wolves can be used to provide a living
image of the subject. This can provide a connection between what is discussed and what the children
can experience for themselves.
Margadant‐Van Arcken (1990) argues that starting from these interest from children, an educational
program can foster feelings of care, tenderness, amazement and admiration. These feelings can be the
starting point for reframing wolves.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 13
4.1.1. Learning outcomes This educational program addresses more than just the (return of) the wolf in the Netherlands. With its
learning outcomes aimed at more than just this rather specific topic it can be implemented in the
school curriculum as nature education. These learning outcomes are listed below.
Knowledge and insight
Children know what habitats wolves prefer and how these habitats are threatened.
Children are aware of the wolf's presence in countries surrounding the Netherlands.
Children know that wolves have vanished due to a variety of causes, including loss of habitat and
human intolerance.
Children are aware of what wolves need to survive.
Children understand that wolves are predatory animals.
Children learn how management can help animals.
Children learn that wolves are generally afraid of people and avoid contact with them.
Skills
Children can demonstrate their knowledge of animals in the environment by talking.
Children can formulate and discuss their opinions regarding wolves.
Children can formulate and discuss their opinions regarding dilemma's.
Children can work together.
Children can formulate associations.
Attitude and behaviour
Children grain respect for animals.
Children enjoy observing animals.
Children respect animals.
Children are aware of their feelings regarding wolves.
Children can formulate their feelings and opinions regarding the conservation of the wolf.
Children increase their involvement in nature.
Children think about the use and necessity of nature and animals and formulate an opinion about it.
4.2. Justification of the second phase: Grand finale The grand finale is aimed at community‐based learning. It will be the first step toward a process of
building trust and problem solving of the rural community and the nature conservation organisations.
We have decided to include the whole community as a whole, because the theory of reasoned
behaviour (Fishbein and Azjen, 1980) shows that subjective norms play a role in the behaviour of
people. What a person thinks that his or her environment thinks of a subject, in other words the social
norm to behave in a specific way, should therefore not be overlooked in the design of a communication
strategy.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 14
One of the main concerns about participation is about inclusiveness. People would often lack interest or
the courage to speak up, leading to situations in which certain people are not heard (Mayer et al.,
2005). This would hamper the acceptance of the wolf. To prevent this, the start of the process of
bringing the rural community and nature conservation organisations together is set in a building that
the community is already familiar with (the school building, or another building in their community).
Furthermore, by starting the evening with children’s art, a positive atmosphere will be enhanced. We
expect parents and other interested adults to be triggered enough by the various art presentations of
the children to have an incentive to come to the grand finale.
In intractable conflicts people often lack an idea of what a future without this conflict might look like
(Dugan, 2003). Therefore, the short movie with the German situation will be shown, as it is quite similar
to the future Dutch situation. With this, an attempt is made to open up existing perspectives and to
free people from their idea of what is likely to happen.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 15
5. Strengths and weaknesses of the designed strategy In this chapter we discuss what we believe to be the strengths and weaknesses of our strategy.
Strengths of the strategy are those aspects which provide a unique character to the program or the
features expected to turn it into a success. We will also go into more detail on the weaknesses, or as
you might better call them, challenges. It is important to consider these challenges because those are
the points we still have to focus and improve on.
5.1. Strengths of the designed strategy Because the program is structured around a project week and a final event for the whole community,
multiple strengths can be found in the design. During the project week the children will acquire
concrete experiences through the various planned activities. These activities, the experience games,
excursion, discussions and the production of a play or work of art all have a greater “experience value”
than words in a book or spoken by a teacher and will lead to a greater involvement of the children with
nature and in particular the wolf (Frijters 1997). On the other side, the grand finale will be a framework
for bringing various interest groups together to help them understand each other's core values and
concerns through a discussion. They will also be able to learn from the experiences of other people –
through the video‐ by providing an example of how the return of the wolf has worked out in other
areas. The greatest strength of our educational program however, is the way in which it applies
intergenerational learning. Through the designed program, we cannot only educate the children on an
environmental/social problem and reduce possible fears concerning wolves, but also reach the whole
community through their work and ideas.
The project week and especially the grand finale bring together multiple generations, and involve the
whole community. Although it is often the case that children learn from an older generation, in this
program, the children will share their feelings, thoughts and experiences with the adults which could
stimulate their learning about the wolf. In addition, it can strengthen the community itself and make all
members feel that they can contribute to prevention and problem solving regarding the wolfs return.
5.2. Weaknesses of the designed strategy The first weakness of our design is that schools might not be willing to apply for the program. Is the
program attractive and flexible enough to integrate in the standard curriculum? The link of the program
to nature education and how it benefits the teachers should be made sufficiently clear. There should
not only be preparatory visits to elementary schools in order to discuss the project and find ways on
how to improve it, but the program should also be sufficiently promoted once finished.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 16
Secondly there is the question of whether or not the whole community can be reached with this
program and not just the parents and family of children in the upper levels of elementary school. In
smaller communities the interconnectedness and feeling of solidarity is more intense than in larger
villages, where it might be more difficult to involve the whole community. In this case, the strength of
this project – intergenerational learning and reaching the whole community with an educational
program– can turn into a weakness if the grand finale does not attract all the stakeholders in the
community. For this reason, the PR of the grand finale is crucial.
Another flaw in our design might be the timeframe in which we try to achieve our goal: preparing the
Netherlands for the return of the wolf. It is questionable if one week is enough for the children to
change their view off wolves. Do the games the children play really reduce their fear of wolves? Maybe
fear can only be reduced when possible measures to protect oneself for the wolf are offered. When the
whole community does come to the grand finale, it is also essential that the community believes that
they are heard and feel involved. A flaw in our design could be that the community would consider an
hour of discussion pointless when they believe that no further steps will be taken. We do assume
however, that there will be a follow up plan.
A final remark regards the insecurity of when exactly the wolf will return to the Netherlands. Because
scientists are not certain, we do not know if the program will be applied too early or maybe even too
late. Working on a concrete problem would create a larger feeling of necessity than in our case, where
there is not yet a problem, but there might be one in the near future.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 17
6. Monitoring and evaluation The designed strategy will be evaluated to determine if it reached the goals as described in the
introduction. It will be a mixture of result‐oriented and participatory evaluation and will focus on both
the output and the outcome. The impact will not be evaluated, because this is not measurable until the
wolf actually returns, which might take years. Even when wolves do return, it would be very hard to
measure the impact of this specific strategy as there will be many other factors influencing the results.
The output of the total program will be directly measured and will include questions such as:
What is the number of children participating?
What is the percentage of inhabitants of the community coming to the grand finale?
How many people who are not directly linked to the children involved in the educational program
attend the grand finale?
These questions can be measured by asking the schools about the number of children that were
involved and by for instance letting the visitors of the grand finale fill in a form on which they have to
provide information about whether they have a child taking part in the project. The form can also be
attached to the invitation, which they can hand‐over upon arrival.
The outcome of the educational program will be evaluated to determine if the way children think about
wolves has changed (has it become richer? do they express less fear?) and whether it works well as an
educational program.
The first component will be monitored by the repeated interview activity (in which one child has to
interview another child who plays the role of a wolf) on Monday and Friday: what do children think
about the wolf at the start of the project and what in the end? The teacher can execute this monitoring.
The second component will be evaluated with feedback from the teachers in an interview or with a
questionnaire on how the different activities contribute to the children’s learning process and how the
project fits in with the general curriculum. The teacher can also provide tips for improvement.
The outcome of the ‘grand finale’ is harder to measure as this evening is intended to be the first step
towards a new process. It is not likely that the outcome that we want to achieve, including solving
misunderstandings and reducing fear, will be reached by just one evening. However, the community
can feel more open to discuss the topic and feel comfortable in working together with nature
conservation organisations on the problem solving process. These type of questions can be asked of the
participants when the whole problem solving process will be evaluated. We recommend a participatory
evaluation with interviews in which people are asked about their most significant change in this
process.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 18
The evaluation will be run by the NME, although the evaluation of the whole problem solving process
might be more suitable for implementation by an outsider. The NME will also use the results to learn
from them and to improve both the educational program as its link with the ‘grand finale’. The results
of the change in the attitude of children towards wolves and information on whether this program
actually reaches live stock farmers might also be of interest for nature conservation organisations who
work pro‐actively on this topic. The results can have implications for their further strategies.
As it is not likely that all participating schools run the project at the same time, evaluation can be done
on the first couple of projects and adjustments can be made if necessary. An employee of NME will
have to do this evaluation periodically. However, evaluation will be conducted most frequently when
the program is in its early years.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 19
7. Concluding remarks Due to the short time available for this course it was unfortunately not possible to design and create a complete program. We were only able to create a general design and give some examples of how this program could be set up. Further steps are to investigate the attainability of this project, ensure full compatibility with school curriculums and write a practical version of the report, including a manual or guide for the teachers. Factors that are of importance regarding the attainability of our project are the amount of time necessary to implement the program, the ease with which teachers can implement the program, the level to which the program fits the current school curriculums and the costs and benefits. For this last factor, a cost/benefit analysis should be performed. An investigation of possible subsidies or funds should be performed to find out if the program can be funded by an outside body and to find out if schools have enough funds to visit a zoological park. Possible costs for the development of the program are:
Work hours involved in developing and implementing this program; PR for promotion of the project; Film material.
Possible costs for the participating schools and NMEs are:
Materials used by schools such as paper, pencils, crayons; Visit to a zoological park; PR for promotion of the grand finale.
To get an idea of how our design may be looked upon by its stakeholders, we talked with mister Vermeulen (Project leader “Wolven in Nederland”) of Free Nature, who believes our program to be very ambitious. He believes that our design will be able to reach the children in a positive way, but wonders how well we can reach community members that are not directly related our linked to the children participating in the program. Vermeulen also confirmed our idea that children are unbiased and more open to wolves. He believes they are adventurous and curious. Adults however are more biased and their ideas are dependent on the region they live in. Those living in cities have a romanticized image of the wolf’s presence in the Netherlands, but those living in rural areas see a potential danger to their incomes. Free nature, amongst other organisations, is already working on several strategies to prepare the
Netherlands for the return of the wolf. A website is released, media items (both aimed at adults and
children) have been created and several lectures have been held so far. Mister Vermeulen thinks our
strategy fits in their activities and that it can be used to scale up the strategy they use for children.
Wolf awareness in Dutch rural communities Page 20
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