2012 Student Training Program

Batumi Raptor Count and the Acopian Center for the Environment proudly present the 2012 “Autumn Course in Environmental Teaching” and “Autumn Course in Conservation Research” organised for students of the Caucasus and Black Sea region.

Course Details

In this 2-week course, participating students will get a short introduction to the scientifc work of ACBC through active participation in the Batumi Raptor Count. Monitoring protocol and results of current research projects on BRC data will be presented, followed by group debates on the methods used. Soon participants start to work in small groups on a questions that interests them about raptor migration ecology or behavior, based on 4 years worth of data collected by BRC. There will be daily moments of full-group feedback to discuss on ongoing projects. Students will frame their question of interest in the international literature which will be easily accesible to students. At the end, students present their findings in English to the international team of volunteers in the BRC monitoring team.

Autumn Course in Environmental Teaching                14^th Sept - 27^th  Sept              
In this 2-week course, participating students will be offered a strong lecture series on effective teaching methods after which they will get a chance to learn to apply these skills by actively preparing and implementing a real-life classroom lesson or a field trip about nature conservation at a regional secondary school. These classes will be integrated into an official curriculum for school education designed by ACBC in cooperation with the Acopian Center for the Environment (ACE) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) and is held for the first time in Georgia during autumn 2012, in cooperation with local secondary schools and the Ajaran State University.

Professional migration researchers or educators will be present to coach students throughout their projects. Participants’ projects will be framed in a broader context through field trips (e.g. ringing sites, botanical garden) and we organize guest lectures by important regional conservationists. Above all, students will learn together with professionals and amateurs from neighbouring and more distant countries that share their interest in conservation.

The Program of the Student Exchange 2012 will be held based on the following principles:

• one group of 10-12 students will participate in either course held at the BRC project
• students of three countries in the Caucasus are explicitely involved: Georgia, Armenia and Turkey
• every group will stay for a period of 12 days, including 2 field trip days
• students stay with and work in an interntional team of ca. 20 professional and amateur conservationists during their stay
• dependant on the course of choice, students will have the following activities during their stay:

• ​2-3 days of introductary sessions to the background of the BRC project, general principles of migraton monitoring and research activities at BRC
• partly overlapping: at least 4-5 days of on-site practical excercise in identification of raptor families and migration monitoring
• 5 - 7 days of case-study in teams. Students will prepare a small presentation on a chosen species or topic in raptor ecology, migration, conservation or related fields. BRC Team will provide a list of possible subject and some relevant literature, inlcuding prepartaory reading the the course. Students will use what they have gathered from their experience in Batumi and their case-study by making suggestions on open questions in raptor or migration research, possibly directed on bird populations from their countries of origin.
• 2 days of field trips to ringing sites and cultural trips

• 2-3 days of introductary sessions to the background of the BRC project, general principles of teaching and in specific environmental teaching. guest lectures on challenges for environmental education in the Caucasus 
• partly overlapping: at least 6-8 days of demonstrations of secondar school education program of BRC and in cooperation with the BRC Education Working Group: preparing in teams a course for 12 - 14 year old school children on raptor migration ecology or conservation related topics
• 2-3 days of team-based lectures for at regional schools. Students will present their lecture for a real class with back-up support of the Education WG. students will be able to choose to organize either field trips or class-based lectures
• 2 days of field trips including visits to ringing sites and cultural trips

The Application Procedure:

• Link to the application procedure -- Deadline for 1st application round is June 1st 2012 !!!
• Students will generally be formally invited to apply for a BRC 2012 Exchange through a guest university in their country. 
• However motivated students who feel they can arrange for practical support through their own university (e.g. travelling costs, materials, ...) may also apply freely. Note however that the number of places for students is limited and priority can be given to students from offical ´BRC partner universities in the wide regioN (i.e. countries of the Caucasus or the Black Sea Basin)