Our latest Wild-Live Streaming event connected Year 10 students from Richmond Park Academy, in South-West London, to the conservation NGO Biosfera, on the island of São Vicente, Cabo Verde. Biosfera protects the biodiversity and ecosystems of Santa Luzia (an uninhabited island) and São Vicente through monitoring, research and the implementation of management plans. They also place a strong emphasis on community outreach with multiple, successful awareness campaigns, including one that led them to create a game show broadcasted on national TV. By livestreaming directly with Alberto Queiruga, the Conservation Department Coordinator of Biosfera, the students gained a unique insight into these important areas of Biosfera’s work.
Students watched a series of short videos introducing Biosfera’s GPS monitoring schemes with sea birds, sharks and sea turtles, as well as their national outreach projects with the “Species Collector” mobile app game, TV contest and kids’ graphic novel. This primed them well for discussions with Alberto during the interspersed Q&A sessions, with questions ranging from the general application of technology to protect species, right down to the specifics of which body part is used when tagging sharks. However, the students were most engaged by Alberto himself, with almost all questions centred on his education, career path, and even the coolest place he’d been to work with animals (spoiler alert: Costa Rica)! This led to interesting discussions on topics including the subject choices that help prepare for a conservation career, how many years of education are required, and the typical salaries of NGO members.
From their enthusiastic questions, it is clear the students enjoyed interacting directly with Alberto, which is a key goal of Wild-Live Streaming. As they go on to choose their A-Level subjects next year, we hope our event continues to raise awareness in conservation and related careers. This is supported by the results of our pre- and post-event surveys, with the proportion of students knowing what a conservation NGO is increasing from 12% to 85% after the event. Furthermore, the proportion of students who understood how to get involved with an NGO rose from 0.04% to 58%, highlighting the importance of providing practical information alongside raising awareness. Some students even stayed behind to ask the hosting QM scientists for further advice on getting work experience in marine conservation, which is great to see!
Thanks to Alberto for joining us for another successful Wild-Live Streaming event, and to finish off this post, here is a teacher’s quote about this event: “I loved the event. The session was also varied so the students kept their interest. The students and NGO presenting were dynamic and passionate about their subject area”.