On Monday the students from the Perth College travelled to St. Magdalene’s Hill to learn more about surveying on the second day of their Path Skillz course. The group started the day learning about how to construct a path and all did very well putting this knowledge to building a path out of lego bricks in one of our Path Skillz activities. Both groups had fun with this challenge and really enjoyed the activity once they had figured out the different layers.
After a break the group then discussed the different materials that can be used to build a path and were very interested in learning about what tasks they will be doing at the very scenic St. Magdalene’s Hill. Some of the students are familiar with the area and look forward to helping to upgrade the path which has become quite overgrown at the section they will be working on.
The group also decided in their groups who would do the practical survey and interview the community. The students then took a short bus ride from the college to the path site to see the area they would be working on and carry out the surveys they had prepared . The group both recorded their path survey with lots of detail and enjoyed measuring the large section of the path.
Back in class they both groups got together to analyse their findings and discussed their visitor survey. The group documented the many comments given by the public they met on their survey and concluded that the path could benefit from better signage and more dog bins but overall concluded that many visitors to St. Magdalene’s really enjoy the area for walking and were very pleased to hear that the students would be helping to upgrade a small section of the path near the footbridge.
The group then worked on what tools they would need for next week. The group identified all the tools they would need to help cut back overgrown vegetation and help scrape the path to restore it to its former glory. The group produced a budget for the tools they would require and were quite surprised by the cost of many of the tools but did well to remain within the budget that the Path Skillz team had set.
In the final session of the day, the group discussed health and safety issue with the Path Skillz team. The group discussed controls such as wearing hi viz and putting up People at Work signs to let visitors know they would be working in the area. The group also highletd that as many people walk their dogs in the area that this would have to be considered on a risk assessment document (Although the group did say that seeing some dogs playing when they were out surveying was the highlight of their day). 🙂
Below is a blog written by the students of the Moving on class group:
” Today we all went out to visit our path site. There we surveyed a few people and measured the path, the gradient and checked for hazards.
Some of us enjoyed being outside and we all enjoyed meeting the dogs.
Morgan liked interacting with people on the survey and John did the first questionnaire. Mick liked the biccies. We all didn’t like the cold weather.
Next week we will go out and begin improving the path”.
John, Mick and Morgan
” Today we went to visit the path site at St. Magdalene’s Hill. We did a survey and asked people about what they like and don’t like about the hill. We measured the path and drew a sketch of the path.
We didn’t like the cold weather and had cold hands”.
Nicole, Mollie and Lauren
Path Skillz 