Last February 21, 2019, the Institute for Environmental Conservation and Research (INECAR) sponsored two events for the Alternative Class Program (ACP) of the Ateneo Supreme Student Government (SSG). The ACP is a semestral program being offered to college students to provide an alternative way of learning and gaining new knowledge that cannot be obtained from the usual classroom set-up.
“Becoming a Citizen Scientist” was the first event conducted by INECAR for ACP 2019. It was held in the morning at the REGIS Hub Laboratory of INECAR and attended by 23 participants. It involved orientation sessions on the basic concepts of Citizen Science and followed by a demonstration of the basic field data gathering techniques. Participants also experienced geo-tagging techniques and other environmental observations within the university campus. At the end of the activity, participants were encouraged to take part in future citizen science projects in the country to help Researchers, Scientists, as well as ordinary citizens, discover new knowledge that could be helpful for the environment and the society. Staff from the INECAR served as the Resource Speakers for the said event.
In the afternoon event, BANHI for Environmental Sustainability, a co-curricular organization of BS Environmental Management students together with the INECAR conducted the “Eye in the Sky: Getting to Know the Philippine Microsatellite Program and the Future of Space Science in the Country”. Engr. Arvin Joseff Tan served as the Resource Speaker. He is the current Science Research Specialist at Project 1: Micro Satellite Bus Development at the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Micro Satellite Program. It was attended by 56 participants coming from different colleges of the university. The discussion was brief but concise and provided the participants with basic knowledge on the current initiatives of the government in developing our homegrown satellites as well as future prospects on the said endeavor. Several questions were raised during the open forum and responded accordingly by the Resource Speaker. It was held at the Multipurpose Room, 3rd Floor, James O’Brien Library.
The two events used paperless registration, evaluation, and certificate distribution through a computer program developed at the REGIS Hub of the INECAR.
by: Jay P. Abawag