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Local Students Learn About Amazon Rain Forest Via Skype

FOX CHAPEL (KDKA) -- A group of students from Pittsburgh is spending two weeks in the heart of the Amazon Rain Forest.

The group in Brazil is on a trip with Planet A To Z.

Nine students from Shady Side Academy used Skype to share their experiences to classmates back in Fox Chapel during an assembly.

"I thought it was cool how they each got to ask some questions to see what is going on and everything," Alicia McMahon, a middle school student, said.

"My favorite part was when the kids pushed the instructor into the water," Cooper Kann, a seventh-grader, said.

Staff members from the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium brought rain forest animals into the school for the kids to meet as well.

Meantime, school officials say the trip presents a unique learning experience for all of their students.

"To be able to experience places that are far away in a virtual way is just an amazing experience for the kids -- taking them out of the textbooks, out of the pictures, just the standard ways of obtaining information," Tom Gangiano, president of Shady Side Academy, said.

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