Rimu Logs
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Approach:  One to one
ACCESS
Level: Year 8
Focus: Problem resolution  
Resources:
Video recording on laptop computer [simulated image below]
139Kb
Questions/instructions:  

This activity uses the computer.
We’ll start this activity by watching a video about a problem.
Click the Rimu Logs button.
[Television news item; scenes of logs being loaded on to trucks; police cars; local iwi protestors; loggers waiting to continue work.]
 
 
 
voice-over:
News Reader: Two days ago these logs were standing rimu tress, hundreds of years old. Now they’re destined for floors and furniture.
Protester: Our native forest’s being cut down as though it’s just pine trees. It’s an issue that makes my gut turn.
News Reader: The dispute became heated this morning when Pipiriki Mäori confronted the loggers but it turns out the Northland-based company is well within its rights. DOC inherited the 200-hectare block in 1987 but it came with existing logging rights which don’t run out until 2010.
Logger: I can’t leave those logs in the bush for months while they fight things over. They’ve got to be moved. We’ve got work to do and I’m within my rights to do it.
 
% responses
2009 ('05)
y4
y8
Think about what the people were saying in the video.      
1. Try to explain what the problem is. not marked • (•)
2. What do you think could happen if the problem is not sorted out?  
people upset/arguments/protests legal action
56 (42)
possibility of violent confrontations
34 (41)
possibility of damage to equipment
2 (4)
trees continue to be logged 23 (23)
3. What are some of the different ways that people can sort out their problems?  
talk about the issues 55 (50)
bring in an outside expert
(e.g. mediator/court/principal)		 32 (23)
negotiate a compromise between groups
(e.g. pay compensation to owner of logging rights)		 36 (43)
work to have rules/laws changed 5 (3)
decide through a vote (majority rules) 4 (3) 
Overall merit/comprehensiveness of ideas: very strong 1 (1)
  quite strong 10 (8)
  moderate 52 (51)
  weak/nonexistent 38 (41)

Total score:
 6–11
  5 (7)
4–5
28 (24)
3
25 (25)
2
23 (23)
0–1
19 (21)
Subgroup Analysis [Click on charts to enlarge] :
Year 8
Commentary:
There was very little change between 2005 and 2009 in the overall scores, although in 2009 a higher percentage of students articulated effects on people, rather than things (equipment, logging). Boys and girls performed similarly. Pakeha students scored higher overall than Mäori or Pasifika students.