JASON Learning is an independent non-profit organization based in the United States. Founded in 1989 by Dr Robert Ballard, their mission is to inspire and educate students everywhere through real science and exploration.
We were very fortunate to have the participation of the talented team from JASON Learning to help document the Penang Hill BioBlitz 2017. Video editor and producer Melissa Salpietra and irrepressible host Haley Nelson produced daily coverage of the surveys for subscribers of JASON Learning who followed the coverage from classrooms all over the world.
Unique to JASON Learning, the JASON Argonauts also have a turn are providing live dispatches from Penang Hill. The Argonauts comprised teachers and students from the US and Hong Kong and Penang. The Hong Kong students were supported by WWF-Hong Kong. The Habitat Foundation and The Habitat Penang Hill provided logistics support for all the visiting teams.
JASON’s Argonaut team followed the scientists participating in the BioBlitz as they sampled for biodiversity specimens from upper canopy to the species of the forest floor within of the 130-million year old tropical rainforest of Penang Hill. This data will be used in the bid to nominate the area as a UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB).
Through the expedition, students and teachers gained greater awareness of biodiversity, not only from the tropical rainforest, but also a greater appreciation of the flora and fauna of their home countries. Students also got the chance to experience firsthand what it feels like to be scientists and rainforest explorers, an experience for a lifetime, and for some, the inspiration for a career to come!
View all the JASON Learning videos here.
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