Quantcast
Home | Back

Windham goes wild Endangered animals make classroom visit

Share_email E-mail Story    |    Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

Colin McEwen
February 27, 2009
Debra Swank, an Education Specialist for the Akron Zoo, came to Windham Middle School to teach the kids about endangered animals. Pictured with her is Virginia, a male Great Horned Owl who is over 25 years old.
Debra Swank, an Education Specialist for the Akron Zoo, came to Windham Middle School to teach the kids about endangered animals. Pictured with her is Virginia, a male Great Horned Owl who is over 25 years old.
Damian Meadows and Michael Showalter stare open mouthed at Luquillo, a Puerto Rican boa constrictor, that has wrapped herself around Debra Swank's arm, an Akron Zoo Education Specialist, who came to Windham Middle School.
Damian Meadows and Michael Showalter stare open mouthed at Luquillo, a Puerto Rican boa constrictor, that has wrapped herself around Debra Swank's arm, an Akron Zoo Education Specialist, who came to Windham Middle School.
Savannah Rutherford takes a photo of a South American Chincilla on her cell phone during her 7th grade science class at Windham Middle School. Debra Swank, and Education Specialist with the Akron Zoo, came to teach the kids about endangered species.
Savannah Rutherford takes a photo of a South American Chincilla on her cell phone during her 7th grade science class at Windham Middle School. Debra Swank, and Education Specialist with the Akron Zoo, came to teach the kids about endangered species.

By Colin McEwen
Record-Courier staff writer
Students in Danielle Brkich's seventh-grade science class had a "hoot" in seventh period Thursday afternoon.
The Windham Junior High School classroom turned into an extension of the Akron Zoo, as students learned firsthand about endangered animals.
The class received a visit from a Puerto Rican boa constrictor, a chinchilla and a horned owl, made possible by a $1,200 grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.
Students learned about how endangered animals face extinction with dwindling habitats, pollution and poaching.
Brkich said the grant will also provide 50 copies of the book "Hoot," about endangered animals, as well as a workshop about bullying. She said the visit from the Akron Zoo reinforces what the students learn in the classroom.
"I think it makes the issues real, rather than what they are reading about," said Brkich. "That's how kids learn, by participating in actual experiences. This was a learning experience for me as well."
When Luquillo, the boa constrictor, was unveiled students gasped and giggled, but learned quickly about the endangered snake's difficulty, hunted for its skin and oils.
Curled around zoologist Debra Swank's arm, the 4-foot long snake wasn't as scary when the students were able to pet it.
"A lot of times people think of endangered animals as hopeless, but that's not the case if people are educated," Swank told the class.
Zoe Howald, 12, said her favorite part of the class was seeing the horned owl " which is not endangered, as is its cousin, the ground owl.
"It was nice of the Akron Zoo to take the time to come here and talk to us," she said. "We learned about how these animals become endangered."




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back