With the first group of classes about to attend their first classes in the new Biology Discovery Centre at the Flinders University, the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Ian Menz points out how the building will immerse students in a new learning experience.

Surrounded by greying architecture designed in the 1960s, the sleek, black Biology Discovery Centre instantly steals the scene.

The three storey building is equipped with state-of-the-art, transformable class rooms, fitted with multimedia hubs and wireless teaching devices to allow students to view individual experiments throughout the class rooms on retractable projection screens.

But it is not what is contained within the walls of the building that has the Dean most excited.

"What makes us completely unique is our ecosystem at the end of the building," Associate Professor Menz said.

The area, running the height and width of the building, will be home to a variety of bird and animal life, including five pairs of little penguins from the Granite Island Penguin Conservation Group, with hopes to establish a breeding colony.

The penguins will be neighbours to a variety of lizards and song birds.

"We'll be able to wire that space with sensors that will collect a whole lot of data like audio feeds, video feeds, temperature, weight of animals, etc that will then be collected via a computer server and then published live to websites."

Students would be able to monitor the animals in their pseudo-natural environment, and observe the habits and changes in a variety of locations including breeding boxes.

The $8 million centre will host its first round of students this week, with the completion of the ecosystem and introduction of animals not expected until later in the year.