Greenwave project

Greenwave Europe 2011 is launching on 01 January 2011 on greenwave-europe.eu!

"Scientists tell us that if we look at Europe from outer space we will see a green wave moving up across it in spring­time. This is caused by the opening of the buds on the trees. It begins in the south of Europe in February and it moves up across Europe as the temper­a­ture rises. It moves at the same speed as we might walk - four miles per hour".

Greenwave Europe is a collaborative science project for primary schools around Europe (age-range: 4-12) aiming at observing how exactly spring arrives and moves across Europe. Does it begin in the south and move northward as the temperature rises or from west to east? At which speed?

The Greenwave Europe project is a practical way of doing science. The students have the opportunity to develop the following skills: observing, classifying, recognising patterns, estimating and measuring, recording and communicating, while also helping advance their ICT skills.

With a multilingual website and up to 375 classes selected over 15 countries for 2011, Greenwave provides an opportunity to participate in a European-wide project. All the countries involved are members of the Fibonacci project: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom and Sweden.

Students and teachers will have the opportunity to register on the website and to record sightings of common species which act as very early indicators of the arrival of spring throughout Europe.

Species followed:

• 2 common animal species for all the countries: the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) and the common European frog (Rana temporaria, frogspawns)
• 2 local vegetal species selected by the partners (e.g.: ash, chestnut, almond or birch tree, etc.)

They will have the option of measuring the temperature on a daily basis, as well as rain precipitation and wind speed. The results will be mapped in each country and for the whole of Europe, analysed, then discussed in the classes by the students and compared to their initial predictions.

For more information and for taking part : please check the Greenwave Europe website - greenwave-europe.eu