Iimbovane hosts workshop for Nature Connect educators

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On the 12th of October 2022, a group of thirteen environmental educators from Nature Connect visited the Iimbovane team to learn how ants can be used in biodiversity education.

The workshop started off with an overview of ants, their ecology, and the variety of ants found in South Africa. Throughout the lecture, the Iimbovane team highlighted areas in the school curriculum where ants can be used as an example for explaining principles in ecology. Due to their high diversity and being easy to identify, ants also lend themselves as model species for explaining morphology, taxonomy, and dichotomous keys.

After giving each educator a microscope, the Iimbovane team taught them how to identify ants and how to make their own dichotomous key. Educators also tried their hand at pinning and after a few lopsided ants, they were able to pin the ants they brought along, and in doing so, started their own reference collection.

At the end of the workshop, the educators shared their appreciation and excitement about their newly gained skills:

I thought I knew ants, but this workshop blew my mind. It was very interactive and fun. Pinning the ant was the hardest part for me however I enjoyed exploring and using a very different new skill. Thank you, ladies.”

The entire day was filled with so much valuable information that I never expected to learn. From the presentation to the identification of the ants, to the pinning was excellently explained. Really hope we could do more experiments with the facilitators. Thank you so much.”

“The highlight was definitely pinning the ants. It was great to learn a new skill that I can hopefully perfect in the future.”

Nature Connect is a Cape Town based organisation which supports the preservation of Cape Town’s unique and biodiverse natural heritage through their education, training, and conservation initiatives.

Iimbovane Education Outreach Officer, Londiwe Msomi, explaining how to use a identify an ant species using a dichotomous key on a tablet.

Environmental educators from Nature Connect learning how to include ant diversity in biodiversity education lessons.