SOS Pollinators (Disseminating Educational Science)
SOS Pollinators aims at encouraging students and teachers to observe and study pollinating insects and their relationship with green areas in the Community of Madrid, Spain.
SOS Pollinators is an educational project coordinated by the Royal Botanic Garden and financed by Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT). It aims at encouraging students and teachers to observe and study pollinating insects and their relationship with green areas in the Community of Madrid, Spain.
This project is in line with the promotion of creativity and scientific vocations, as it promotes meaningful learning among schoolchildren based on the methodologies of Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) and works using the scientific method as a tool for the investigation.
Basic information
During the spring, students collected pollinators from the green areas closest to their educational centres, such as: orchards, parks, gardens etc. For this, they made observations that were registered through the Natusfera citizens’ platform and carried out surveys of various pollinators.
By analysing the data obtained in this way, it is possible to answer some questions from the starting point of the research process, including questions such as: Why do pollinators visit our green areas? Which plants are the most visited? Are different species of plants pollinated by different pollinators?
From this moment onwards, each educational centre can continue the project in their next school courses, maintaining the training and monitoring in the springtime in their work plan.
The following outputs are created as part of this project:
- Monitoring Pollinators.
- SOS Report Pollinators: Teacher's Guide.
- Application Pollination: Simulation Game.
- Didactic Brochures.