Session 7.03
Tracks
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| Friday, June 20, 2025 |
| 1:55 PM - 2:55 PM |
| Boulevard room B3 |
Overview
Timber in Action: Designing for sustainability, biodiversity and real-world solutions
Details
This session is suitable for: All
Bring a laptop to this session – no specific software required.
Speaker
Ms Tom Clapson
Stewardship & Environment Manager
HQPlantations Pty Ltd
Timber in Action: Designing for sustainability, biodiversity and real-world solutions
Presentation description
Empower your students through design thinking and sustainability!
This hands-on workshop introduces a suite of ready-to-use, curriculum-aligned timber design projects that engage students in the design process—investigate, generate, produce, and evaluate—to create purposeful, real-world solutions such as a phone stand, nesting box for biodiversity, cutlery pouch, and cardboard seat. These projects embed ethical material choices, sustainable practices, and creative problem-solving aligned with the Years 5–10 Design and Technologies curriculum.
The workshop will officially launch two new units developed by ForestLearning in partnership with DATTA Vic:
1. Designing for Biodiversity (Years 9–10), where students design and construct timber nest boxes to support hollow-dependent species using sustainably sourced wood
2. The Phone Stand Project (Years 7–8), where students design and produce a functional item using manufactured wood products such as plywood, applying sustainable design principles and workshop production skills.
Bringing this to life with real-world context, co-presenter Tom Clapson, Stewardship & Environment Manager at HQPlantations, will share how biodiversity is monitored and supported in plantation forests using technologies such as drones, GIS mapping, and motion-sensor cameras. These industry practices directly align with the new Designing for Biodiversity unit, giving educators insight into how the nesting box designs mirror real conservation strategies used across Queensland’s and Australia's plantation landscapes.
Participants will walk away with a suite of free teaching tools, including Teacher and Student Resources, PowerPoint slide decks, step-by-step production guides, materials lists, instructional videos, and strategies to inspire students through meaningful, sustainable design using timber.
This hands-on workshop introduces a suite of ready-to-use, curriculum-aligned timber design projects that engage students in the design process—investigate, generate, produce, and evaluate—to create purposeful, real-world solutions such as a phone stand, nesting box for biodiversity, cutlery pouch, and cardboard seat. These projects embed ethical material choices, sustainable practices, and creative problem-solving aligned with the Years 5–10 Design and Technologies curriculum.
The workshop will officially launch two new units developed by ForestLearning in partnership with DATTA Vic:
1. Designing for Biodiversity (Years 9–10), where students design and construct timber nest boxes to support hollow-dependent species using sustainably sourced wood
2. The Phone Stand Project (Years 7–8), where students design and produce a functional item using manufactured wood products such as plywood, applying sustainable design principles and workshop production skills.
Bringing this to life with real-world context, co-presenter Tom Clapson, Stewardship & Environment Manager at HQPlantations, will share how biodiversity is monitored and supported in plantation forests using technologies such as drones, GIS mapping, and motion-sensor cameras. These industry practices directly align with the new Designing for Biodiversity unit, giving educators insight into how the nesting box designs mirror real conservation strategies used across Queensland’s and Australia's plantation landscapes.
Participants will walk away with a suite of free teaching tools, including Teacher and Student Resources, PowerPoint slide decks, step-by-step production guides, materials lists, instructional videos, and strategies to inspire students through meaningful, sustainable design using timber.
Biography
Beth Welden is Program Manager of the ForestLearning Education Program, an initiative of Forest and Wood Products Australia. A qualified secondary teacher with a professional background in entomology, Beth has over 20 years’ experience leading national and state education initiatives that connect schools with primary industries, including sustainable forestry and timber design. She has worked with AgForce Queensland’s School to Industry Partnership Program, the Gateway Schools to Agribusiness initiative, and served as a Non-Executive Director on the Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) board.
At ForestLearning, Beth leads the development of free, curriculum-aligned teaching resources that help students explore sustainability, renewable materials, and real-world problem-solving through timber-focused projects. She is passionate about supporting Design and Technologies teachers with engaging, ed-tech rich, hands-on learning tools that bring the life cycle of wood and the potential of sustainable design into the classroom.
Mr Tom Clapson
Stewardship & Environment Manager
HQPlantations
Co-presenter
Biography
