Poultry Hub Australia’s education excursion to EKKA’s Rural Discovery Day
Last month PHA attended EKKA’s Rural Discovery Day in Brisbane. Now in its 15th year, the popular ‘ag-ucational’ day brings the country to the city to teach primary school students that food comes from farms and not the supermarket shelf.
Over 1100 students attended a variety of different exhibitors from agricultural industries to learn from the farmers themselves and take part in hands-on activities and to get up close to their favourite farmyard animals. Our exhibit was focused on eggs and the importance of having eggs with strong cuticles.
We engaged the students by talking about where eggs come from and what a great source of protein they are. This was further enhanced by a mini science experiment that enabled students to get their hands dirty (literally) and test the strength of the cuticle. Students were heavily engaged and asked a variety of questions like “how does the yolk form?”, “how long does it take to lay an egg?”, “are you a real scientist?” and slightly more curly questions like “how are baby chickens made”, we ensured that the latter question was referred onto their parents and teachers! The day was busy, rewarding and immensely enjoyable for all involved and we look forward to being involved in the future.
This activity also allowed us to chat to teachers and distribute some of our new materials including posters of The Surprising Chicken, The Surprising Egg and Poultry Industry Careers. All of these resources are available now to Australian Schools through request at poultryhub@une.edu.au. Poultry Hub Australia is committed to motivating young people to see the poultry industry as a great industry that delivers a range of valuable food products and also highlight the future job prospects.
PHA would like to take this opportunity to thank Drs Morgan and Taylor who happily gave their time to ensure the day was a success. Their motivation and high level of engagement guaranteed the day was a complete success.
