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The Bermuda Zoological Society [BZS] recently held professional development workshops for Primary, Middle and Senior school teachers, with the workshops focused on “Discovering Trunk Island and What it Has to Offer.”

The BZS has been running a campaign related to Trunk Island in Harrington Sound, with the BZS aiming to help provide classes that utilize the island as a “living classroom” to some 3,000 students.

The workshops proved to be popular among the teachers, with the Primary school course on the 26th being fully booked and the Middle and Senior school course on the 27th being oversubscribed.

The BZS said, “After a brief introduction and review of the workshop’s schedule, the teachers headed out to Trunk Island for the day. While there, they were able to explore the endemic Palmetto forest, the invasive Surinam Cherry forest, the rocky coast of the island, and the beach and seagrass beds.

“At each station, they were given a series of hands-on activities to complete that were designed to demonstrate how the island could be integrated into their school curriculum.

“Activities included comparing the endemic Palmetto forest with the invasive Surinam cherry forest through measuring the distance between trees, the height of trees, the amount of light reaching the forest floor, and looking at what lived under the leaf litter.

“The types of plants were also identified as well as whether each plant was endemic, native or introduced.  Many of the teachers also snorkeled to observe the marine habitats and species living around the island.

“Toward the end of the day, the teachers worked in groups to develop lesson plans for a variety of classes they would support if taught on the island.  These lesson plans were then presented to the entire group for discussion.

Dr. Jamie Bacon, the Education Officer at BZS, remarked, “We were happy to see that the workshops were so popular with the teachers this year, especially since many of them came from varying disciplines including science, math, special needs and even a librarian.

“The teachers were quick to realize how the classes on Trunk Island could be cross-curricular, linking not only with science topics, but also with math, English and social studies.”

The feedback received from the teachers was extremely positive, with many of them embracing the idea of cross-curricular classes and even making suggestions of their own, including conducting English classes on the Island for creative writing.

The workshops have already resulted in an S4 class from CedarBridge Academy visiting Trunk Island.