Seventh-grader Nigel Schilling and other students from Chicago's Francis W. Parker School study the behavior of animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Regenstein Center for African Apes last month. The work is for a program done with students in the African country of Niger. (John Kortas, Lincoln Park Zoo photo)
Stroll along Chicago's lakefront or tour the city's leafy neighborhoods and you may glimpse an eastern cottontail rabbit or a ring-billed gull.
Walk by the riverbank of Niger's capital city in Niamey and you're more likely to spot a lizard or a hippo standing by the water's edge.
Wildlife isn't all that divides the two cities separated by nearly 6,000 miles. But a team of students and teachers from Chicago and the African country hope to bridge the distance as they share a lesson in conservation education.
Seventh-grade students at Chicago's Francis Parker School have partnered with a handful of Niger teens to study animals that dwell in each environment, observe each animal's behavior with the precision that a scientist might and share their findings when the yearlong project wraps up.
The North Side students also plan to study African species on exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo like the hippo, lion or chimpanzee that Niger students also might observe.
"In order to conserve our environment, we have to get everybody interested in the wildlife around them," said Maryanne Kalin-Miller, who teaches middle school science at the elite Parker School.
The connection began when Lincoln Park Zoo partnered with the National Museum of Niger Boubou Hama last summer to bring together students in both countries. They were bolstered in the effort by a $95,333 federal grant awarded by the U.S. State Department and the American Association of Museums to explore conservation research across borders.
Zoo officials invited Parker students to participate, while in Niger, students at High School Excellency and Mariama High School joined in.
The effort in Niger extends the zoo's conservation efforts in other areas of Africa, whether studying gorillas and chimpanzees in the Congo or vaccinating dogs against diseases such as rabies and canine distemper in the Serengeti.
Leah Melber, Lincoln Park Zoo's director of student and teacher programs, said the project also works to teach children in different cultures how to think scientifically, sharpen their research skills and then compare notes across cultures.
"It's about building capacity," Melber said. "As educators, we're working with (Niger) to build understanding, to build observation skills among students in the country."
Next month, a team of educators from the zoo and Kalin-Miller will travel to Niger to visit the schools, share Parker students' work and install trap cameras that take pictures upon any hint of movement.
They already planted a trap camera in a garden on Parker's grounds that recorded a rabbit and squirrels for students to study.
The grant funds equipped students with field guides, camera traps and even the high-speed Internet connection required for kids to share notes during Skype sessions or email exchanges.
The teens got their first glimpse of each other last month.
In a blend of English and French, they chatted through Skype about everything from Chicago sports to pizza and school uniforms.
Talk of giraffes, sand cats and hamerkops would come later.
"We wanted kids to connect as people first," Melber said.
Seventh-grader Josh Kaufman said he wanted to know how the students lived day-to-day in Niamey. The results surprised him.
"They have dogs and cats. … We have dogs and cats. But in the river by their school, there are hippos," Josh, 12, said.
With an assist from a French teacher at Parker and an English-speaking counterpart in Niger, students talked for 60 minutes about books, sports and music (teen phenom Justin Bieber is big no matter the continent, it seems).
"I've always liked science, but it makes it more interesting to hear what other kids around the world are doing too," Josh said.
Zoo officials plan another face-to-face session this month. This time, the team of Chicago educators will participate with students in Niamey.
Come spring, the team of Nigerian teachers plan to visit Chicago. They hope to attend the end-of-year presentation that each Parker student will make about their animal of choice, drawing on their own observations and research.
"This really is a digital classroom without walls," Kalin-Miller said.