Farming and Countryside Education
FACE's aim is to educate children and young people about food and farming in a sustainable countryside. It aims to meet these educational needs by working with members and partners to promote visits to farms, and to provide easy access to a wide range of high-quality educational resources and activities to complement both school-based studies and outdoor visits.
Route
IE Design Consultancy was recommended to FACE via an existing client relationship at the University of Birmingham.
Background
The Buzz project is a biodiversity research project analysing the effect that farming practices can have on biodiversity. It was a technical research project generating large amounts of data. Syngenta and the other project sponsors wanted to make some of the headline findings available in an educational context and contacted FACE. (The Buzz Project)
Brief
To present the fundamental information that: farmers manage the farmed environment; biodiversity is important; there are farming techniques that help biodiversity; there is a balance between the environment and running a successful business. The resource had to be relevant for primary and early secondary, crosscurricula and must not be boring.
“Response to the Buzz Game has been fantastic. Accessible at so many levels the game is entertaining, informative and grounded in regulatory and statistical integrity. A superb piece of creative problem solving.”
Bill Graham, Head of Education, FACE
Service Offering
- Game concept
- Visual design
- Content commissioning
- Technical design and build of CD and web based game (http://www.buzzgame.org.uk/)
- Online league system for classbased competition
Timeframe
20 weeks from commission to game launch including testing.
Outcome
Highly successful industry launch at the Chelsea Physic Gardens. Hugely popular with teachers. The game has proved so appealing that it is now used with farmers by DEFRA as part of a training programme.
If you are interested in speaking with FACE about our work or would like to find out more please contact us for further details