Elgin High to host biodiversity webinars starting Friday

Thousands of people from seven countries have signed up to be part of Elgin High School's National Biodiversity Teach-In, a series of free webinars starting Friday and running throughout this month.

The webinars are open to the public and feature more than a dozen scientists who will lead lectures on environmental topics - everything from dolphin behavior to Asian carp. Presentations run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. every Friday, with a special program focusing on children's authors Feb. 14. Registration is required at nationalbiodiversityteachin.com.

Roughly 60 students organized the event with help from environmental science teachers Deb Perryman and Brigid Trimble. Students research and schedule the presenters and topics. Each webinar will conclude with a discussion.

"They are using college readiness skills in a way that they have probably never used before," Perryman said. "They propose the presenters, and invite them to participate. They are using written and oral communication, tons of technology skills."

The goal of the webinars is helping people gain an understanding about the importance of biodiversity, "to connect people with science, offer them solutions and actual take action projects," Perryman said.

Perryman said since Wednesday registration went from participants in three states to 15 states and six other countries, including newcomers the Bahamas, Brazil, and Italy.

"This is the third year that we have presenters. Last year, we had over 35,000 participants," Perryman said. "Right now, we are projecting 25,000 users. The kids were hoping for 50,000 participants."

In 2016, participants represented more than 100 public schools, 15 colleges and universities and five countries.

This year's participants include students, research scientists, someone from the Discovery Channel, and just people who are interested in the environment, Perryman said.

"We have a broad base of people who are using this," she said. "The teach-in is aimed at connecting scientists, authors, filmmakers, and heroes who are doing work in biodiversity to classrooms. (Students) can actually interact with these people so they can ask them questions. We've got about 25,000 people signed up now and we are only at about 10 percent of our links capacity. There's about 300 people online at any time."

Registration is open until 8 p.m. the day before each webinar. For a complete schedule of webinars and to register, visit nationalbiodiversityteachin.com. Some sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the YouTube channel, National Biodiversity Teach-in.