Glasgow-Trinidad froglinks

Froglife trustee Roger Downie is involved in a British Council-funded Global Schools Partnership link between schools in Glasgow and Trinidad (West Indies). Here he tells us more about what this project is up to...

"Running over three years, a major theme of the link is biodiversity, and it’s been decided to concentrate on birds, gardens and amphibians. The aim of the link is to help children to learn about each others lives and environments through the development of new learning materials and experiences."

Roger and his Glasgow University students have been visiting Trinidad for many years, mainly researching frog and turtle biology, so they are well placed to contribute to the link.

The incredible male stream frog....

"This year, the Glasgow students are presenting a short play to Primary Schools in Glasgow and Trinidad. Called ‘Manno the stream frog’s great adventure’, the play tells of a stream frog’s quest to find a suitable stream for the tadpoles he is carrying on his back. Based on research done by Glasgow students, Manno encounters many hazards on his way including tadpole-eating fish, snakes and cannibalistic tadpoles."

...storing tadpoles on his back!

For secondary schools, Roger and his team have developed a ‘treasure-trail’ style exercise where pupils will learn about biodiversity in both Scotland and Trinidad, the similarities and the differences. Despite its small size, Trinidad has many more species of plants and animals than Scotland (over 30 species of frog, for example). The ‘trail’ will be tested out at this year’s Glasgow Science Festival which also includes Froglife events run by the Glasgow Living Waters team.

You can find out more about the Glasgow Science Festival here

You can find out more about Froglife's work in Scotland here

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