AQUAlaboratory classes are shifting to new level
The internationally renowned zoologist, Vasily Radashevsky, conducted a class for the teens participating in the Growing up at the Aquarium project. Admittedly, the adult attendees listened to his lecture with intense interest as well.
“We use every opportunity to invite lecturers not only from the Aquarium departments but also from the FEB RAS (translator’s note – the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences),” said Lyubov Gliznutsa, an educator in the project and head of the AQUAlaboratory. “Among our collaborators are associate professors of FEFU (translator’s note – Far Eastern Federal University), scientists of the Far East Geological Institute and Botanical Garden-Institute but it is the first time we have hosted such a prominent scholar, world famous expert on polychaetes also known as bristle worms. This is certainly a new level for us!”
The AQUAlaboratory is an upper stage of the Growing up at the Aquarium project, which provides classes to high school students aged 14-17 years twice a week. The majority of the participants have chosen their future occupation, and thus they deliberately study marine biology. The first-year learners of the AQUAlaboratory are currently being introduced to invertebrate zoology: they have already become familiar with cnidarians, mollusks and arthropods. Their knowledge extends far beyond the typical school curriculum that is why the almost professional talk on morphology, biology and ecology of invertebrates, exemplified by annelid worms, was interesting and understandable to the children.
The class began with an hour long lecture, in which Vasily Radashevsky told about the history of studies of annelids, highlighted the difficulties encountered in the modern systematics of the group and discussed the anatomy and reproductive behavior of these animals in detail. A practical session with live specimens was naturally the most attractive to the teens: it was run by the scientist in the learning laboratory. The live material was collected specially for the class by scuba divers of the Diving Department at the NSCMB FEB RAS.
Educators in the Growing up at the Aquarium project are convinced that classes combining theory and hands-on activities facilitate knowledge acquisition and makes learning more enjoyable and easier for students. As far as the theme of the lecture is concerned, even worms can be an exciting topic to explore if they are spoken about by a passionate expert.
A note about the lecturer
Vasily Ivanovich Radashevsky has been a scientist at the A. V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology FEB RAS since 1980. He is a graduate from Lomonosov Moscow State University and holds a PhD in Biology. Vasily Radashevsky is a foremost authority in the systematics and morphology of spionids – sedentary polychaetes of high biological and commercial importance, the author of more than 100 scientific publications and a Kussakin Prize winner.