Ex-BED student brings biodiversity and evolution closer to people with blindness and visual disability
Former BED MSc student Telma G. Laurentino (class of 2012/13) funded an outreach project for the multi-sensorial transmition of fundamental evolution concepts (evALLution). The first activity focused on people with blindness and visual disability , taking them on a multi-sensorial trip through the tree-of-life. Several ex-BED students (Leonor Rodrigues, Sara Carona, class of 2010/11) and professors and colaborators (Margarida Matos, Pedro Simões, Francisco Pina-Martins) of the BED MSc programme acted as volunteers. By following a textured phylogenetic tree on the floor, participants experienced the several taxonomic groups, represented by real specimen or models. Biodiversity was felt through touch, hearing, smell and taste, while discussing common ancestry, adaptation and extinction. This event was funded by the Society for the Study of Evolution and by the Associação Portuguesa de Biologia Evolutiva. To know more about this project, follow: fb.me/evALLution