Students travel by videoconference

WESTFALL - On Tuesday, November 14th, Delaware Valley High School’s 9th grade honors biology students invaded schools in Michigan, North Carolina, and New Jersey with their invasive species presentation. The best part was that students did not have to leave the school once to visit other states. High-tech equipment at the school and the other schools allowed students to communicate by videoconference. The medium provided students with the opportunity to break the barriers of the classroom and learn in an exciting high-technology environment. A species is regarded as invasive if it has been introduced by human action to a location, area, or region where it is not native; becomes capable of establishing a breeding population in the new location without further intervention by humans; and becomes a pest in the new location, threatening the local biodiversity. The school in North Carolina presented “Nutria,” and the school in New Jersey presented “Asian Longhorn Beetles.” Michigan was represented by three schools presenting “Zebra Mussels,” the “Emerald Ash Borer,” and “Purple Loosestrife.” Delaware Valley students felt they had the most creative exhibition with their showing of the “Northern Snakehead,” an Asian predator fish. Teachers, Mark Nebzydoski and .... Sweeney supervised the event. Five honors biology students; Shawn Chen, Willy Zenes, Jordyn Horning (a substitute for Tricia Forgit), Nancy Shi, and Josh Reyes were chosen to present their project at the conference.