Mayo schools have been invited to take part in this year’s Greenwave project after 10 local schools took part in the project last year. The participating schools in 2009 included Quay National School, Quignamanger; Creggs Road, Ballina; Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Brid, Ballycastle; Holy Family National School, Glenhest Road, Newport; Corclough National School, Corchloch Beal An Mhuirthid; Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Feichin, An Crois, Claremorris; St Joseph's National School, Greenpark Road, Killala; Newtownwhite National School, Ballysokeery, Ballina; Cloonlyon National School, Charlestown; Killocraun National School, Castle Hill, Ballina; and Scoil Náisiúnta Chluain Luifin, Ballinrobe.
Greenwave, a mass science experiment, encourages students to get involved in tracking the movement of spring across Ireland. Under the programme, students are asked to log their sightings of the six species that are indicators of spring on the Greenwave website. Launched in 2007, the programme has proved very successful with more than 800 official sightings of spring and 500 observations submitted from around the country in 2009.
An increased focus on maths will be incorporated into the project this year, as students will be asked to measure the wind speed at their school. Students will learn how to build an anemometer, a device to measure how fast the wind is blowing, and will be asked to record speeds during the course of the project. This subtle investigative approach will help participating students relate maths to their everyday lives.
The Greenwave project is based on the fact that during springtime, buds on trees and hedges begin to open up. This creates a green wave which can be viewed from outer space. This green wave begins in the south of Europe in February and as the temperature rises, it moves up across Europe travelling at approximately four miles per hour; similar to the speed at which a human walks. According to this, it would take three weeks to walk across Ireland from Mizen Head to Malin Head.
Students are asked to log their sightings of species including ash, horse chestnut, hawthorn trees, the primrose, the swallow, and frogspawn. Students are also asked to record wind speed, rainfall, and temperature. The results are mapped onto the Greenwave website to see whether spring moves from north to south or inland from coast to centre.
The information obtained from participating students’ logging of sightings will be valuable in determining whether or not climate change is causing flowers to bloom earlier and, as a result, how Irish wildlife is affected. The data will be plotted on the Greenwave website www.greenwave.ie, where visitors will be able to view the findings and track nature’s progress over time.
Students who participate in the experiment will be in with a chance to win some great prizes by submitting photos of their sightings on www.greenwave.ie The photos will be judged by Eanna Ni Lahmna and Gerald Fleming and the winning school will receive a digital camera and printer.
Schools wishing to take part in this year’s Greenwave experiment can register online at www.greenwave.ie The project also caters for Gaelscoileanna, with materials available in Irish on the website. All schools taking part in the Greenwave project will earn credit towards the Discover Primary Science Awards of Science and Maths Excellence.
