Fieldwork expeditions enable educators to share a hands-on, real-world scientific experience with groups of school students, gaining valuable knowledge and skills about biological work done in a natural setting. Such experiential learning for teachers and students alike, enhances classroom education and can motivate career development in students. Beyond the environmental education gleaned on the expedition, students also gain personal confidence and growth when travelling without their parents, benefit from working in collaborating teams and, last but not least, have a lot of fun in one of the world’s most fascinating natural settings.READ MORE
WILDLIFE POPULATION STUDY
Students add to the inventory of population data on key species. Every morning the students are split into groups and walk different sections of the 100 km grid of transect trails. Accompanied by natives who are trained in species identification, the data collected includes date, time, species, GPS location, nearest grid coordinate, group size, perpendicular distance from the nearest individual of the group to the trail, distance surveyed, and transect code.
To collect data the students walk at a pace of 1Km/h stopping every once in a while to listen to the sounds and eventually detect groups of monkeys. Whilewalking the transect trails the students also collect memory cards from the camera traps. The memory cards will be taken back to base lodge where pictures will be downloaded to a computer. Students use their evenings to search for jaguar pictures to be used in a jaguar population dynamics monitoring project. Determining population dynamics is key in devising conservation strategy for the reserve.
