As part of the Delta Birding Festival, this round table will reflect on the role that birds and nature can play in education, and on how we can bring biodiversity, science and the observation of the natural environment into schools.
Laura Force is responsible for citizen science projects, particularly the Ritme Natura project at CREAF. She holds degrees in Biology and Philosophy and a master’s degree in Terrestrial Ecology. Since 2016, she has been involved in a wide range of environmental citizen science projects, as well as research into lichen diversity. She has been an associate lecturer in the Botany and Mycology section of the BEECA Department at the University of Barcelona since 2021, and has worked as a Citizen Science and Environmental Education specialist at CREAF’s Research Office since 2022.
Irene Abad coordinates the CBMS (Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme) Butterfly Gardens project, an initiative that promotes biodiversity in urban spaces by planting food and nectar plants for butterflies and other pollinators, while also monitoring them.
Adam Blundell is the teacher behind the pioneering and innovative Ornithology programme at Farmington High School. When the school was built in 2018, it was designed with the ambition of becoming an educational benchmark. Both the school district and the school leadership were enthusiastic about developing an initiative that no other school was offering. In its first year, the programme had 50 students. The number of students quickly grew and currently stands at 120, with many more on a waiting list hoping to join next school year. Many of them are also members of the school’s birding club, which organises field trips to the natural wetlands in the surrounding area.
Maya Gómez is a 17-year-old passionate about ornithology and nature photography. She was a student of Adam’s through a student exchange programme with his school. She is currently studying a science-focused baccalaureate and plans to pursue a degree in Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid. She will join the Delta Birding Festival to talk about her experience studying Ornithology in the United States.
Xavier Riera is head of Outreach and Training at the ICO (Catalan Ornithological Institute). In practice, this involves managing a wide range of projects carried out in collaboration with both public and private organisations. He is also responsible for the citizen science projects Orenetes, Ocells dels jardins, Nius and BiObserva, and writes most of the news articles regularly published about these projects. Together with Marina Cuito, he coordinates all the field trips and courses organised by the ICO throughout the year, with the aim of bringing knowledge about birds and the enjoyment of birdwatching to the general public in different natural areas across Catalonia.
Roger Espluga is a biologist specialising in Ecology and Biodiversity, with a passion for nature and extensive experience in environmental education and teaching as a secondary school teacher. He currently works for the Environmental Education and Public Use Service of the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, and is a member of the coordination team of the Green Schools Network and the Generalitat of Catalonia’s Natural Parks Schools Network. He will moderate this round table.
Drawing on a range of experiences and perspectives, the round table will explore how we can bring nature into the classroom while also taking the classroom outdoors. We will discuss environmental education, citizen science, observing and discovering the natural environment, and the different tools and projects that can turn biodiversity into a learning opportunity. Birds, which are easy to observe and found almost everywhere, will be the common thread running through a discussion that will also pose a challenge: how can we encourage children and young people to discover, observe and value the nature around them?
