Eighth grader James A. gazed at the photos displayed on the wall of the Kooyumjian Photo Gallery. Amazed at the detail and depth revealing the inner workings of nature, James is one of four students in his class who documents their own nature findings.
James is one of the students from The College School who traveled to Webster University on Oct. 8 to view the new photos taken by Noppadol Paothong displayed in the gallery and to hear a lecture from a resident bee expert at Webster, associate professor Nicole Miller-Struttmann.
The students are currently learning about ecology and conservation in their curriculum, taught by their eighth grade teachers, Mary Crawford and Darrett Thompson.
“They were really, really taken back by the colors, the closeness with which they got to observe nature, and also the beauty that he was able to capture and portray was phenomenal,” Crawford said.
Thompson said the ability for the students to see the animals in their natural settings reinforced what they were learning about ecology and the various species they are studying in class.
Paothong is a photographer who grew up exploring the outdoors in Thailand. He began his photography journey in high school as a photojournalist, but now takes photos for the Missouri Conservation Department.
He finds joy in informing people about lesser-known species and environmental conservation. His goal is to teach the next generation about animals and nature photography.
“Even if I can inspire just one kid to continue to do what I do, or care about what I care about, that to me is the power of photography,” Paothong said.
The exhibit also included photos from Miller-Struttmann and her program, Shutterbee. Miller-Struttmann has taught at Webster for eight years teaching ecology, evolution and botany. The photos include contributions from “citizen scientists” — people who aren’t trained as scientists, but help monitor bee populations by photographing them in local gardens.
“Anything that you can do that sparks a kid’s interest and engagement is important. If it’s in science, if it’s in photography, that is what we strive for as educators, to help kids find that spark,” Miller-Struttmann said.
During her talk, she discussed ecology and bee species and included an interactive activity where students learned about different kinds of species that pollinate their favorite plants and a scavenger hunt with the photographs in the gallery.
Miller-Struttmann tries to help people understand how many different types of bees there are and how important that is to ecology and conservation.
“Dr. Miller-Struttmann is so enthusiastic about her work, her level of knowledge, the way she is able to explain her work to our students was just fantastic and we’re extraordinarily grateful to have her just down the street,” Crawford said.
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