Petroica pusilla

Perfect ‘Disaster’ in HUMI-Suva’s 1st Data Collection

So finally we did it! We started collecting soil from around Suva. Mark the date because it was the 22nd of February. As I said to the students at the time, whatever we felt about the actual trip, the actual event was the first of a project that would last a minimum of five yearsContinue reading “Perfect ‘Disaster’ in HUMI-Suva’s 1st Data Collection”

Longitudinal Studies and this time Period (aka climate change)

HUMI-Suva is a project that is deliberately aimed as being a longitudinal study. The initial goal is to collect data for 5 years. Mainly as a settling programme and ensuring that our partners are in fact on-board with our data collection and so on. We think 5 years is a good goal to have regardless,Continue reading “Longitudinal Studies and this time Period (aka climate change)”

Citizen Science or Science for Citizens

Citizen science has some impressive success stories, where citizens collect data for scientists to analyse, normally under conditions that the scientists could not afford to collect as much data, or collect data from certain locations (or both). One of the more dramatic ones is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Although it started within NASAContinue reading “Citizen Science or Science for Citizens”

Is it the journey or the destination that counts?

One thing that is apparent to me is helping to set up HUMI-Suva is the expectation of what is important in terms or actually doing the project. I think I have a comment to make on this because although I am involved in this as the ‘education’ component of the venture, I am really trainedContinue reading “Is it the journey or the destination that counts?”

Why is science not taught in schools?

I guess I’ll get the ball rolling with this first blog post. My own education in science is instructive. I’ve gone from whenever the British system is supposed to teach science which was probably about when I was 11 years old, through to an undergraduate programme and beyond. I think I know something about howContinue reading “Why is science not taught in schools?”