Last Wednesday morning, a few of us headed towards the University of Helsinki’s Lammi biological station, where we were to attend in the BIOPEDA -project’s second seminar, funded by the Kone foundation. In the first 3-day seminar, organized in March in the Konnevesi research station (University of Jyväskylä), teachers from every Finnish university came together to discuss the current state and future of biological field courses. Outcomes of this seminar were a webpage maasto-opetus.fi and a publication, published in the Journal of University Pedagogy (in Finnish). The aim of this 2-day seminar was to further develop the webpage, aimed at benefiting both university teachers and students, and to plan future events.
Field courses are a central part of biological and other nature-related studies. Despite of their relevance, field courses and, also, field stations have been under budget-cuts. The aim of the BIOPEDA project is to improve cooperation between teachers and sharing of teaching resources within the Finnish university research network. This will aid both to reduce costs and improve the diversity and quality of courses offered to students, thus increasing the expertise and know-how available in Finland.
The snowy landscape of the Lammi biological station.
Between planning, we also had time to listen and watch a presentation about a Svalbard trip.
Read more:
Maasto-opetus.fi, the university fieldwork website provides fieldwork related resources to teachers and students.
Turpeen uumenissa -blog, news and stories about fieldwork
Finnish Research Stations – a network to reach different Finnish biotopes and ecosystems
We will take a small break from posting new content and are unplugging to enjoy the holidays. We will be back with new content again in the beginning of next year! We wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
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