From left to right, Rubén González, director General Manager of Senda Viva, and Ignacio López-Goñi, Dean of the School of Sciences of 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 action, which has already been developed in previous years with the students of the School of Sciences, is now extended to all students of the academic center. For them, Sendaviva will offer internships with a minimum of 200 hours that can be done in summer -between the months of June and September- and winter -between the months of 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.

So far the two institutions have collaborated in a project of research of the department of Zoology and Ecology of the School of Sciences on the ecology of the otter in the rivers of Navarra; as well as in the promotion of guided visits to the Park for the students of 4th year of Biology, within the subject "laboratory of Zoology", where the manager of care and maintenance of the fauna explained in depth the monitoring and care of the different species, their feeding, frequent illnesses, treatments, etc.