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Tuesday, 17 April 2007 |
 Lorna Nickson-Brown, UKThe Celebration of Teaching and Learning attracted thousands of educators from around the country, all keen to attend the large array of workshops hosted by speakers with the same mission: science and global awareness.
An impressive opening to the conference included Greg Marshall’s discussion on his latest production of a 13-part scientific adventure series called Wild Chronicles' Crittercam, presented on PBS by WLIW21. Mr. Marshall is a marine biologist and head of National Geographic’s remote-imaging department.
The session provided an in-depth look at the crittercam, a cutting-edge technological invention enabling unobtrusive study of marine wildlife. The device, made up of a combination of video camcorder and an environmental data-logging system, can be attached to a marine animal and provide us with a truthful display of its daily life and responses to its environment, which up until now, we have been unable to observe.
The Crittercam, invented by Mr. Marshall himself, has featured in many stunning video productions, which were first televised on National Geographic EXPLORER in 1993. The long and arduous field expeditions required to produce such remarkable natural history footage were televised on National Geographic’s "Sea Monsters: Search for the Giant Squid" and "The Great White Shark," both awarding Marshall with Emmy Awards for his work. This extraordinary invention has featured in over 50 National Geographic programs and notably, in the Oscar-winning documentary "March of the Penguins."
While discussing his work, Mr. Marshall was keen to highlight the invention's unobtrusive study of animal behavior. Many questions from the floor debated the same issue and questioned the device's interference in animal behavior. He was quick to defend the invention, stating that it can be "remotely released from the animal at sea."
"It floats to the surface, and the animal moves on unharmed," he said.
Wild Chronicles Crittercam was one in many sessions hosted by National Geographic, with the mission to "inspire people to care about the planet." Mr. Marshall’s enthusiasm for his subject was clearly evident and he was keen to express his belief that visual wildlife imagery plays a key role in enabling young people to become more geographically literate.
As he emphasised, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."
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