As my Fowler’s bay experience comes to an end I spent my morning thinking about how fantastic opportunities like this are - to not only meet with scientists but to get a taste of their day to day lives and the work required to be successful in their fields. A big part of why I came was to gain real life experience that I can share with my students and encourage them on pathways researching biology, and through spending days with these scientists it is evident to see that their passion and natural curiosity for the areas they study is what drives them to keep researching.
As for today, I went back out to look at the traps we spent hours digging and this time we found things! Two Pigmy Possums and a whole lot of spiders, so that was super fun getting them out and identifying them all. It was our community day today though, so that’s where the field trips ended and we began preparing for 25 primary school students to visit us. Just like I’m sure my high school students would do, the kids were mostly interested in the marine biologist’s boat and the reptiles - I did feel for the botanists, how can we get students engaged with plants?
After the students left we kept chatting with the scientists whilst we made educational videos back to our schools. As we leave tomorrow the evening was really spent learning anything we didn’t get a chance to do in the field or going around and seeing what everyone had collected that morning and afternoon. For the scientists they still have another full week in the field and so after the community day everyone was taking the time to recharge and refresh.
As I’ve said throughout, I am forever grateful for this experience. I didn’t know what to expect coming in, but leaving I am taking forever lasting memories that I can share with my students for years to come. Every outing was a new experience that showcased a different pathway that students could take with their learning. I’m glad to be going home but I’m going to miss being a scientist for a week - it’s been and endless learning journey.
I’ve left you with a photo today of a Pigmy Possum we caught.
