Kyabram Fauna Park is reintroducing VCE programs that cover biology, psychology, environmental science, outdoor educational studies and geography.
Within each one of those subjects, the park has quite a few topics that cater to the study design units.
Students will come to the park for a 30-minute classroom session where the presenter will use animals to discuss: how adaptations can enhance an organism’s survival and enable life; classification of biodiversity; conservation of species; and interdependencies between species and ecosystems.
The park offers incursions as well; however, students will get the most out of the program by attending the park.
Park education co-ordinator Katelyn McIntyre says students will have a worksheet that they can fill in, while also getting to interact with some of the animals.
One of the animals the students will be able to interact with is Paddy the Tasmanian pademelon in the biology unit where they discuss adaptations of macropods, which include animals such as kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons.
Psychology students will be introduced to one of the park’s pythons in discussions around phobias.
Currently five schools have shown interest in the program and Katelyn hopes more schools in the area get involved in the program.
“We’d love every school in the area to get involved in this program, and students get the most out of the classroom sessions,” she said.
With a dedicated education officer at the park, education programs have been able to run since 2020, starting with the primary schools, and now secondary schools are being reintroduced.