From left to right, Rubén González,General Manager Senda Viva, and Ignacio López-Goñi, Dean the School of Science the University of Navarra.

Photo: Manuel Castells

Biology students from the University of Navarra will be able to do internships at the department de Medioambiente de Senda Viva and participate in the care and maintenance of the animals and the facilities from the first of degree program, after the agreement signed between the two institutions.

Thanks to this agreement, the students will share the tasks of attending to the public and schoolchildren, becoming actively involved in the educational programs promoted by the Park, which will open its doors for the 2011 season on March 19.

This initiative, which has already been underway in previous years with students from the School of Science, is now being expanded to include all students at the university. For these students, Sendaviva will offer internships of at least 200 hours, which can be completed during the summer—between June and September—and the winter—between March and June.

Likewise, the partnership seeks to promote environmental educational content and the research related to environmental Education , in which the academic center is working with applications such as the webquest "Live biodiversity!"a computer application designed for students in the 6th grade of primary school that is already being tested in 20 schools in the region.

Support for the Museum of Natural Sciences
On the other hand, the agreement signed will support the development of teaching activities at the Senda Viva facilities and at the Museum of Natural Sciences of the University of Navarra. In this environment, programs of study, research projects or discussion forums between professionals and students will be promoted to encourage the implementation of new initiatives aimed at knowledge dissemination, awareness, Education environmental, etc.

To date, the two institutions have collaborated on a research project research department Zoology and Ecology at the School of Science the ecology of otters in the rivers of Navarre, as well as in organizing guided tours of the park for 12th-grade biology students, as subject laboratory the subject laboratory " subject , where the wildlife manager and maintenance manager provided an in-depth explanation of the monitoring and care of the various species, their diet, common diseases, treatments, etc.