Workshop Education project: Fisheries in Arnemuiden'

Notes, findings and conclusions Workshop ‘Education project: Fisheries in Arnemuiden'

To develop the Toolbox Educational Project, a work group had been formed comprising members of a ladies' think tank, council representatives, and people with a fisheries background:

Ladies' think tank: Carolina Janse, Gertrude van de Ketterij, Mojca Kuijpers, and Johanna Schroevers

Municipality of Middelburg: Jack Dooms and Tiny Maenhout

Guest speaker: fisherman Lieven Kusse

Workshop

To prepare for the composition of the games toolbox, a workshop about fisheries in Arnemuiden was organised. The objective was to find out which topics regarding fisheries would be most interesting to children. Important steps to arrive at an Educational Workshop included:

1. Compose a work group comprising teachers, fishermen, members of a ladies' think tank, etc.
2. Determine which topics are of interest, with reference to Horizon Educatief, Fisheries Museum Breskens, and the University of Brighton.
3. Selection of participants: boys and girls in the age group from 7 to 12, from the four Arnemuiden primary schools.
4. Collection of relevant information and determination of communication techniques used.
5. Development of communication tools.
6. Determination of the ways children's responses was to be registered, for example by means of photographs, videos, or by having the participants report their findings and observations.
7. Organisation of the workshop
8. Reporting of findings and conclusions

Possible topics that could be included (source: study carried out by Dr Jo Orchard-Webb, University of Brighton, at Horizon Educatief in Ostend)

1. History
2. Fisheries in practice - then and now
3. Net mending and other maintenance activities
4. Life aboard a ship
5. Fishermen and their families / focussing on the people aspects
6. Process from catch to plate
7. Types of North-Sea fish
8. Nutritional value of fish / health aspects
9. Future of the fisheries industry

To introduce the topics listed above, various communication techniques and means have been used, such as stimulation to make history visible, e.g. by means of drawings and photographs, and presenting tools used for fishing and the handling of the catch. During part 2 of the workshop, the participative method was used, whereby the children were encouraged to become actively involved in the mending of nets, peeling of shrimps, etc.

Workshop programme

Based on the topics, the interactive workshop could be split up into two parts.
Part 1: Theory - with inspiring presentation, comprising photographs, attributes, videos, etc. (topics: history, fishermen and their families, life aboard a ship, fisheries in practice - then and now, the future) Participants were asked to rate the topics presented by means of coloured stickers on the drawings they made.

Break (drinks and snacks)

Part 2: Practicals, including peeling of shrimps, etc. (Topics: mending of nets, types of North-Sea fish, process from catch to plate, nutritional value of fish / health aspects) Participants were asked to rate the topics presented by means of coloured stickers.
Word of thanks and handing out of small presents

General findings and observations

'It was a very entertaining evening! And I think the children enjoyed it as well.'

• After the introduction by teacher Gertrude, the children got busy with pens and paper and enthusiastically started drawing and writing about their experience with fisheries.
• I felt that the topic of silting up of the harbour - an important aspect of Arnemuiden's fisheries background - was somewhat hard for them to grasp. Yet the subject resulted in some interesting questions from the group.
• The children were fascinated by the stories involving different types of fishing craft. They also enjoyed the mending of the nets! Great idea to get them involved in a practical way!
• The topic of 'life aboard a ship' also deserved their attention. The children happily used their imagination to think about the work done on a ship and the aspects of daily life at sea.
• Many questions arose from the group regarding the fisheries trade and the processing of the catch.
• All children were enthusiastically getting involved in the peeling of shrimps, although some were not too keen on their taste! But the activity in itself proved a valuable addition to the programme.
• Children enjoyed being shown tools. They all wanted to see them from up close and were more attentive than if they were just told the story.
• The older children were not too shy to ask Lieven some more personal questions about being a fisherman: How long have you been a fisherman? What was the name of your boat? Etc.
• All children enjoyed the shrimp-peeling session.
• Nearly all parts were provided with a 'Like' sticker. There was only one topic that received a yellow sticker, indicated that it was less interesting to them. Many children had drawn smileys on the blue stickers, indicating their extra special interest.

When asked what their absolute favourite topic of the evening was, we received the following answers:

Word web (+ making a drawing using words specific to fishing) 2x

Peeling shrimps 3x

Stories about fishing 1x

History of fisheries 4x

Life aboard a ship 3x

Mending nets 1x

Just about everything 1x

Conclusions

Because many different communication tools were used, children were fascinated right up to the very last minute. Their interest was raised by the interactive participation tools offered, such as making a drawing or filling in a word-web drawing. They also greatly appreciated the demonstration of fishing techniques using specific utensils. Children were given hands-on experience, so to speak. On the other hand, only the special and pronounced North-Sea fish, such as dogfish, were particularly interesting to the children. The chosen method for organising an interactive workshop, in which children can actively participate, takes quite some preparing. In addition, a lot of input is required from local parties involved. It required detailed defining and thorough preparations where the workshop's work group was concerned.

When all topics have been explained, particularly those involving participation and dialogue, the group dynamics and the process of rating are normally inevitably affected by strong personalities and existing social ties. These effects were less pronounced during this workshop, because children between the ages of 7 and 12 are less influenced by social ties and were more open-minded when giving their ratings regarding the different topics.