The aim of the project is two folded. The first one is to let pupils know the school system of partners’ schools. In this way the pupils will have the opportunity to compare similarities and differences among their countries and other countries in the European Union.
The second one is to let pupils do a mutually planned scientific research on Wild Orchids found in their region, and share results with their partners.
Students age: 12 - 14
Subjects:
• Foreign language, civil education (first part)
• Geography, geology, botany (scientific work)
• Email connections, electronic presentation tools, digital photography, digital imaging software (ICT)
Languages: English
Duration: 6 months, January-June 2007
School grade: Secondary
Following our first etwinning project “Comparing and Contrasting a Maltese Ecosystem with an Italian one”, this is a follow up. We enjoyed the first etwinning project so much, that we immediately agreed with the Italian and Danish schools to enrol on this project as well. In this way, we can continue organising fieldworks on Sunday mornings, and continue learning more ecology on location. We will be focusing on the wild orchids, that are very difficult to find, and in the mean time, the students are learning more and more Maltese plant species, by comparing the plants that we encounter to books to try to identify the species and hence we are learning their names and more information about them. If it wasn’t for such projects, my students won’t have the opportunity to learn so much about Maltese species.
AIMS
The students use English, a foreign language for all partners schools, in order to exchange information.
In the first part, about their school (building, subjects and timetable, liking and disliking in subjects) and about themselves (physical appearance, family and so on)
Exchanging this information they can better know the culture of the country of the partner schools.
In the second part, they’ll research and write about their region, geographical and geological descriptions of where wild orchids can be found and about wild orchids species.
As a conclusion, in the blooming period, if possible for all partner schools, each one will bring pupils on the field and they’ll do a simple research on wild orchids species found, number of specimens, approximate position of them, taking also pictures. These will be shared via email between all school partners.
In this way they can know better how to organize a work flow and communicate found results with the side result of discussing an enchanting subject, studied in an almost straight line south to north for about 2500 km.
They use the ICT and the group work.
The model of collaboration that has been chosen is the teacher team twinning and the cross-curricular option where groups of teachers work together on a common theme and discover that the world of education is one.
EDUCATIVE VALUE
The project gives the students a chance to get a general view of schools in other countries and of how pupils around Europe Union deal with a common task.
EDUCATIVE USE OF THE INFORMATIC TOOLS
Working on the project pupils improve their computer-related skills
• Digital cameras for recording work and digital imaging programs
• Word processors for writing down essays
• Electronic presentations of the work and pictures taken
• Emails in order to exchange such information, pictures and texts
DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION
December. Work done in advance, presentation text written to be sent later on. Pupils on the same class will be coupled and will work on the same sub-project (i.e. school presentation; school level…)
A. The partners
1. Presentation of the school. School level, school system, timetable, organization and so on.
2. Presentation of the pupils themselves
B. The preparatory work
1. Presentation of the Country and Region where each partner school is
2. Geography of the place where orchids are found
From January, real start of the exchange. Sending by email of the work so done.
3. Description, pictures, data, and so on of the places where wild orchids are to be found:
• geology of the locations
• what kind of land there’s (hills, plains…)
• rough sketch of the climate there
• kind of vegetation around places where orchids are to be found (trees, meadows…)
• orchids themselves (species, habitat, blooming season…)
From March on. Field work. Two to three trips with the pupils to where orchids are found.
C. The orchids
“Orchids Chase”. The pupils will be joined in small groups. Each one will receive a picture sheet of the orchids more probably found in the location, a registration sheet where enter name, approximate position and the numbers of orchids found, and they’ll hunt wild orchids for two or three hours.
Sharing the results of the “chase” emailing presentations with text, data and pictures.
During the same trips picture contest between pupils to be judged by partners school pupils.
June, till the end of term.
D. Discussion of the results between the pupils themselves.
Each other will write his/her impression of the work done.
In this project we are focusing on photography, comparing the plants to diagrams and pictures that we find in books, and learn more about them. The students are doing research about the orchids, and they are learning more about orchids found on the Maltese islands, and those found in Denmark and Germany.
Apart from the Biological point of view, the students are learning more how to communicate by emails, taking photos, and sending presentations to each other across countries. In their emails, they don’t only ask about the orchids, but about everything: the school system, the weather, their lifestyles, where they go out in the evenings, what they do during lent and Easter times, what they eat, customs, traditions etc.
Friday 27 April 2007
eTwinning Project - Looking for Wild Orchids
Looking for wild Orchids
Students from class form 4.2
etwinning project - Wild Orchids Around Europe
Progress of Work
Progress Card – etwinning project “Wild Orchids Around Eurpe”
A. The partners
1. Presentation of the school. School level, school system, timetable, organization and so on.
2. Presentation of the pupils themselves
• This part of the project was successfully completed. We prepared some power point presentations about:
a. the history of the lyceum
b. the lyceum today
c. information about the number of classes in each form (from form 1 to form 5); the subjects studied at each form; the number of students in each class; the time table etc. . .
d. a short video clip to show the Lyceum – this film is accompanied the song that the Lyceum choir interpreted.
e. Information about the Maltese students was sent both to the Italian students and the Danish students. The students included their own picture and some information about themselves.
f. e-mails have been exchanged between all students of all countries.
B. The preparatory work
1. Presentation of the Country and Region where each partner school is
2. Geography of the place where orchids are found
• Other e-mails have been sent to all other partners schools about point 1.
• About point 2 a general description of the place where wild orchids are found has been prepared and sent with pictures as well – we sent a power point presentation about the Maltese islands; and some information about the place (Buskett) where the first fieldwork was carried out. We will soon send more information about the other locations where the next fieldtrips will be carried out. We also sent photos of the place
C. The orchids
“Orchids Chase”.
I prepared handouts about the ‘Wild Orchids’ that are found in the Maltese Islands. I also prepared a power point presentation about these orchids. We had a familiarisation session, where all the students, parents and families analysed the photos, pictures and information about orchids, to prepare themselves for the “orchids’ chase”. When everyone was informed about what we were going to look for, we went for the chase. We took 2 books with us “Wildlife of the Maltese Islands” and “ Wild Plants of Malta”. We also took a chart to compare the plants that we find to the photos/ pictures / info that we have on the books and chart.
a. The students (together with their parents, brothers and sisters), were allowed to roam the Buskett garigue for some time. They were being filmed and photographed.
b. It was very disappointing that we only found 2 orchids of the same species “Ophrys fusca”.
c. The conclusions for finding only 1 species and only 2 plants of this species could be:
Lack of education – people see nice flowers and cut them to take them home. This leads to destruction of the species – these plants grow by seeds that are produced in the flowers. Once that the seeds find suitable ground on which they can germinate, they must first be infected by a fungus, otherwise they won’t germinate. So their germination isn’t as easy as the germination of any other plant. Therefore, if the people cut the flowers, that are the reproductive organs of the orchids, these will not produce seeds, and hence will not germinate new plants. This could be one reason why the number of orchids in Malta is on the decline
Not in season. Some orchids flower between January and February, therefore, they might have flowered, and now they are not in flowers any more. This makes it more difficult for us to identify their plants. Others flower later on during the year, so we might have missed these as well.
We measured the 2 orchids that we found. One was 16cm and the other 27cm. We photographed them, but since we only found 2, we cannot organise the photo competition as planned before.
We did another fieldwork in Wardija where we found numerous Maltese Pyramidal Orchids. Around 37 – measurements between 14 and 37cm.
We did another fieldwork on Dingli Cliffs where we found 19 Pyramidal Orchids that are still growing. The measurements are between 7 and 20cm.
We organised a fieldwork at Ghar Lapsi on the 14th April, 2207; a fieldwork at Pembroke on the 20th April 2007; a fieldwork at Salib ta’ l-Gholja on the 22nd April, 2007. We found hundreds of orchids of the types:
Brown Orchid
Common Pyramidal Orchid
Maltese Pyramidal Orchid
Scented Bug Orchid
Small flowered tongue Orchid.
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