BioTrek Hosts Virtual Field Trips

BioTrek’s outdoor learning spaces are a valuable resource for CPP students and also draw K-12 students and visitors from the community. In a typical year, thousands of K-12 students make field trips to BioTrek.

Rain Bird BioTrek includes a Rainforest Learning Center and Ethnobotany Garden that were made possible through support from Rain Bird. Support from the Ernest Prete Jr. Foundation allowed the college to add a Mesozoic Garden, and a riparian habitat featuring a natural spring called Project Blue.

CPP students who are enrolled in classes such as Interpretation of Science learn by doing as they explain to K-12 classes how Native Americans used plants, and show off the unique plants and animals that live in the rainforest.

In the current virtual environment, students are facilitating the technical aspects of virtual tours while staff members Jennifer Alexander and Michelle Terrazino present information.

“We’re hoping to do 15-20 virtual tours per semester,” Biological Sciences Professor Ed Bobich said. “It’s a field-trip-like experience that helps break up the routine and teaches students about some interesting animals and plants, and how Native Americans use plants for food and medicine.”

There is a nominal fee for the K-12 field trips. The virtual tours allow more students to participate. On a recent tour five second grade classes participated, significantly lowering the cost per student.

If you’d like to find out more about virtual tours or know a K-12 teacher who would like to schedule a virtual field trip, please visit the BioTrek group tour page.