Wasp Nest
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Approach:  One to one
Level: Year 4 and year 8
Focus: Coherence of message  
Resources:
Video on laptop computer, picture card
FRAME 208Kb
Questions/instructions:  

This activity uses the computer.
We are going to watch a video of something that could be on the news, and later on I’m going to ask you to be the news reporter.
The video is about a wasp nest in a tree. Put on the headphones, then I’ll play the video.
Click the Wasp Nest button.

Now imagine that you are a news reporter, and you are going to tell a news story about what you saw on the video. Try to describe what happened, and to tell the news so that it sounds interesting. Before you tell the news story I’ll play the video again, so that you can think about what you will say.

Click the Pause/Play button twice, to replay the video.
Here are some pictures from the video to help you tell the news story. You can think about it for a few moments, then tell me the story.
Give student picture.

Tell me the news story. Remember to describe what happened, and to tell the news so that it sounds interesting.

video voiceover:
What you see here are thousands and thousands of wasps in a far northern town in New Zealand and my name is Mike White. I’ve been asked to come up here because I’m a specialist in getting rid of wasps and other pests.

Now because this huge wasp nest is at the top of a very, very tall tree, a 25 metre tall tree – I have to be flown up there by helicopter, attached to a long rope - quite a dangerous job as you would imagine – to throw poisonous powder over this wasp nest. The wasp nest is about as big as a car.

So here I am wearing my protective clothing and you can see why I need to have protective clothing on this very dangerous job to get rid of these wasps.

Now I’m going to put this poisonous powder into the nest to destroy the wasps.

Well, I think that that’s going to work very, very well so back to the base again and job well done and those people can sleep easy tonight.
[Images for picture card were taken directly from news video; script rewritten.]

 
% responses
2008 ('04)
y4
y8
Mentioned: Huge wasp nest:
“big as a car”
37 (36)
51 (57)
yes, lacking detail
16 (17)
17 (19)
thousands and thousands of wasps (or equivalent)
23 (24)
27 (20)
nest high in tree
31 (30)
45 (40)
Tree:
25 metres
24 (24)
43 (45)
very tall
12 (12)
15 (11)
Specialist/expert at getting rid of wasps:
yes, named Mike White
(or very similar)
18 (24)
37 (37)
yes, no name or inaccurate name
37 (40)
39 (37)
helicopter used
62 (62)
72 (62)
man hangs at end of long rope from helicopter
38 (33)
44 (35)
man wearing protective clothing
54 (54)
54 (45)
Poison powder used:
yes, sprayed into nest
49 (52)
55 (62)
mentioned
38 (38)
38 (27)
Job completed well:
people can sleep easy
23 (23)
22 (20)
mentioned
33 (25)
35 (38)
Appropriate introduction
for news story:
(highlighting risk from nest, drama of treatment)
strong
9 (11)
21 (22)
medium
27 (29)
41 (47)
weak
64 (60)
38 (31)
Logical flow and coherence:
strong
16 (14)
33 (27)
medium
58 (60)
54 (61)
weak
26 (26)
13 (12)
Sense of drama
conveyed:
strong/descriptive
8 (9)
14 (11)
medium/some
30 (31)
41 (49)
weak/basic
62 (60)
45 (40)
Speech clarity:
very clear and well articulated
46 (59)
58 (62)
some minor limitations in speech clarity
44 (38)
38 (37)
some significant difficulties in understanding words spoken
7 (3)
3 (1)
very hard to understand
3 (0)
1 (0)
Perspective:
(told from)
newsreporter/third person
83 (76)
89 (85)
personal/first person
17 (24)
11 (15)

Total score:
15–22
9 (6)
24 (12)
12–14
18 (20)
28 (43)
9–11
28 (33)
26 (28)
6–8
27 (25)
16 (14)
0–5
18 (16)
6 (3)
Subgroup Analysis [Click on charts to enlarge] :
Year 4
Year 8
Commentary:
Most year 8 students and a majority of year 4 students presented the main elements of the story, but many omitted details.
The lack of detail was particularly noticeable for Mäori and Pasifika students. Performance was similar in 2004 and 2008, except for an improvement in 2008 among the top quarter of year 8 students.