Kuvaus
Asianosainen: ******************
Oulun yliopiston biologian tutkijat ********* pyytävät tutkimuslupaa Name of the project: From science to kids and back: The Lone Wolf board game.
Objectives of the research: The goal of our research is to survey youth’s opinions across the whole Finland about controversial, yet important large carnivores, and assess the effectiveness of board games as science communication and nature education tool. The study is questionnaire-based and includes playing a board game “Life in Boreal Forests: The Lone Wolf” which has been specifically developed to answer our research questions. Both game and questionnaires are available in both Finnish and English languages.
See our website here: https://wildlifegenomics.wordpress.com/study-systems/the-lone-wolf/
Target group for the research (age,grade etc.): Students/pupils from 5 th up to 9th (age ~10-16) grades from comprehensive schools from across whole Finland.
Research plan: Background and significance Large carnivores, such as wolves, play a vital role in ecosystems but often face negative public perceptions due to historical and cultural factors. This negative view, often rooted in a lack of
understanding, hinders their conservation as well as more tolerant co-existence.
This project represents a novel approach to science communication and education, particularly in fostering understanding and tolerance towards large carnivores. By targeting youth, the project aims to improve knowledge that can
contribute to more informed attitudes towards these species and thus to their conservation. The results will provide valuable insights into children’s perceptions of wildlife and the effectiveness of educational interventions, with broader
implications for wildlife management and conservation strategies.
Aims
1. Educate about large carnivores using a board game.
2. Test a science communication / teaching methods.
3. Survey children’s attitudes and opinions.
4. Provide educational materials.
5. Publish study findings.
Implementation and Methodology Students (5th to 9th graders) will be asked to fill in two questionnaires with one month interval, and to play a board game called “Life in Boreal Forests: The Lone Wolf”. The questionnaires
will be completed anonymously online on the Webropol platform via the University of Oulu services. Questions will focus on knowledge and opinions of children about nature and large carnivores, and we will also collect some demographic
information, such as age, gender, home/school town, and hobbies, as these aspects may affect the responses. This research does not collect or store any personal data that allows individual identification, such as name, date of birth, or social
security number.
Pilot Study
A pilot study conducted with students from Ylikiiminki School helped to refine the questionnaires to ensure clarity and appropriateness for the target age group. The pilot study also received media coverage, highlighting its innovative approach to
education and wildlife conservation.
Expected Outcomes
The project is expected to improve children's understanding and tolerance of large carnivores via educational board game. It will provide baseline data on youth attitudes towards carnivores and raise public awareness through media coverage. The project will also test novel teaching approach. The finding will be published in international peer-reviewed open access journal.
Privacy and data protection for the research
To ensure safety of participants’ personal information, questionnaires will be completed anonymously. Anonymity will be implemented by providing a selection of unique identifiers (5-digit codes) to teachers who will then distribute them randomly
to students before they fill in the first and the second questionnaires. This approach grants teachers access to codes and names but not the answers, while researchers will have access to codes and answers but not the respondents’ names.
Thus, student anonymity is maintained by schools withholding personal information from researchers, and researchers refrain from sharing the answers along with given codes to schools, except for presenting the general study results per whole country. The original codes will be modified during the analysis, so there will be no record of them. Personal identifiers will ensure the matching of the participant’s responses from pretest and post-test questionnaires, which, in turn, will help reduce the likelihood of low statistical power and high Type II errors.