Pupils at Wallace High School in Lisburn, have been using the latest web technology, developed and managed by David Cleland, Website Manager, to collect the views of their peers from around the world. “This is the first survey of its kind originating in a school. I’m delighted that Wallace High School is pioneering such an advanced application of ICT. The school has teamed up with schools in Arizona USA, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Finland to collect data on attitudes to healthy eating.”
To date the poll has been a massive success with upwards of one hundred pupils from each participating school giving their opinion on-line. The poll is centrally controlled on the Wallace website and collects data from the websites of the participating schools using syndication technology.
At the end of the project pupils om each school will analyse the data using Excel. A detailed analysis to compare eating habits across countries, age groups and gender can be obtained. The Internet offers a great opportunity for pupils from very different cultural backgrounds (and time zones) to share educational experiences. The school hopes to continue to develop such partnerships through technology in the future.
The Health Education and Promotion Co-ordinator for the school, Debbie Wallace, explains that adolescents’ health behaviour forms the foundation for their future health. “In Wallace High School, we are keen to promote healthy lifestyles, including a diet which includes five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. In my opinion, it is essential to encourage positive eating habits in the formative years and school has an important role in this.” This significant ICT/Health Education partnership has allowed Wallace High School to form unique links with schools across the world and has enabled them to contribute to valuable research which would otherwise have been impossible. ”
This is a very exciting project as we will be able to analyse our pupils’ eating habits and compare them with those of teenagers from around the world. We will use this information to help develop our Health Education programmes. We are delighted with the enthusiasm shown by pupils in each country for this project and their interest in developing further links with the participating schools.”
Last modified: February 24, 2016
