SCIENCE students from St John’s College had the opportunity to talk with scientists deep in the forests of Borneo.
The Year 10 and sixth form students from the Southsea based school have been taking part in a series of live video conferences.
The group of scientists from the Natural History Museum, spent six weeks based in the forests of Sabah, Borneo.
They have been collecting different species of invertebrates and learning about the biodiversity of the environment to compare with the New Forest in Hampshire.
St John’s College is one of a few schools taking part in online discussions.
The video conference was led by Dr Dan Carpenter, Borneo project co-ordinator. Students asked Dr Carpenter about their discoveries.
Video conferences took place both while the scientists were in Borneo and from the museum upon their return.
Andrew Martin, head of science, said: ‘I am pleased that we have the right facilities at St John’s to be able to accommodate this type of learning.
‘Speaking with scientists while in the field is invaluable for our students’ learning and academic performance.
‘Our students have loved it and many have been following the scientists progress through their blogs.
‘So having the opportunity today to ask them questions about information they had posted on their blogs is excellent.
‘We are only one of three schools taking part – so we are honoured to have been given this opportunity.
‘Our Year 10 students are very excited about science now and it’s really made biology look like a real subject rather than looking under a microscope.’
Jess Pearson, 14, from Southsea, said: ‘This was my first video conference and I really enjoyed it. I asked the scientist a question about the species he had come across in the jungle – it was interesting to hear about their habitat.
‘Having the opportunity to talk with the scientist was good and I think it will come in useful when we study insects in biology later in the year.’
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