Hong Kong Global Geopark of China and English Riviera Global Geopark of the United Kingdom Co-host an interactive Global E-classroom Session for the European Geoparks Network

Linking up with the English Riviera Global Geopark of United Kingdom, Hong Kong Global Geopark of China co-organised a global e-classroom session on 17 October 2014. The e-classroom session brought together representatives from schools spanning five global geoparks in the European Geoparks Network and a natural park in France. Participating geoparks included English Riviera Global Geopark of the United Kingdom, Bergstrasse Odenwald Global Geopark of Germany, Gea Norvegica Geopark of Norway, Madonie Natural Park of Italy, Novohrad-Nograd Geopark of Slovakia-Hungary and Hong Kong Global Geopark of China.

Hong Kong Geopark staff demonstrated to the participants the unique formation of the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region and the Hong Kong Global Geopark Volcano Discovery Centre, which opened in July 2014.

“This global e-classroom session reinforced our partnership with the European Geoparks Network,” said a spokesman for Hong Kong Global Geopark. “It was encouraging to see so many geoparks benefiting from this e-classroom session and contributing to the global geopark movement with their bright, fresh minds. We hope our experience in running a number of e-classroom sessions can bring new perspective to networking and knowledge transfer in the Global Geoparks Network.”

The session formed part of fantastic week long EU funded visit of the students to the English Riviera Global Geopark where they were hosted by Churston Ferres Grammar School.  The Comenius programme is funded by the European Commission and managed in the UK by the British Council.  During their stay the students visited Kents Cavern and several other Geopark sites such as Berry Head.  A Geopark cruise also provided fantastic views of the Geology along the coast.

Maria James from Churston Ferres Grammar School said: “Under the project students from Churston have visited the Geoparks in Hugary, Scicily and Norway experiencing first hand the cultural and geographical experiences of the local communities.”

“Partnerships like this one not only help to build trust and understanding between peopleof different cultures but also broaden the pupils horizons, bring languages and other subjects to life in the classroom.”

“It also equips young people with the skills and understanding they need to become global citizens”