Huy Nguyen Quang

Building an Insect Specimen Collection for Educational Conservation Activity for High School Students in Hanoi, Vietnam

Students are identifying insect samples using the color key poster and the insect collection (Photo of Dinh Thi Hai Yen).

Answering questions of students about identifying insects (Photo of Dinh Thi Hai Yen).

I am lecturing for the students (Photo of Dinh Thi Hai Yen).

The teacher from Hanoi high shool for Gifted students, Biology helping me to check the projector (Photo of Dinh Thi Hai Yen).

Regarding to the project’s title: “Building an insect specimen collection for educational conservation activity for high school students in Hanoi, Vietnam”, we aim to increase awareness of the importance of insect both as major components of biological diversity worthy of conservation and their impact, both positive and negative on mankind.

Insects possess the highest species number in the animal kingdom, with estimates ranging from 2 to 50 million (Stork, 1993). They play an important role in natural ecosystems and human life. They are essential parts of many food webs and contribute to farming productivity in both positive and negative ways.

Vietnam is a rapidly developing country. Recently, socio-economic growth has led to extensive damage of natural habitats and biodiversity loss. There is an urgent need to increase awareness of the need for natural conservation, which is essential for sustainable development. The youth of Vietnam, urgently need to be made aware, of why it is in their own interests that nature is conserved. It is true that many young people are concerned about biodiversity issues but our education system for high school students largely ignores such questions and I want to change this. In particular, it is important to convey the message that biodiversity is not just vertebrates but that by far the majority of animal species are invertebrates.

In this project, the target audience will be Hanoi high school students, aged from 15 to 18 years old, we consider that we will influence their life-long attitude about their and about mankind’s place in nature. Some students will become the active propagandists of natural conservation after the course.
The key activity will be a field project in Tam Dao National Park, to build an insect specimen collection. Insect images, paper – coloured posters, slideshow lectures and media files will be prepared for presentations the students. Then, we hold a class to give lectures of insect conservation and their essential role in nature and human life as well for Hanoi high school students.

The collection obtained from the project could be re-used many times for the conservation activities. Not just high school students because we plan to extend the project into a long-term program of extracurricular activities for high school students and an annual training course on the conservation of nature for local communities surrounding National Parks.

For further information contact huynq@hus.edu.vn