Spring in Georgia by Irma Svimonishvili (March, 2002)

Hello, Spring!

Brief one-sentence description of project:

Students observe and study wildlife and nature throughout the Springtime, sharing the results with students from other countries.

Full description of project:

Students will observe changes that take place in the Nature during Spring. They will study bird and plant species and learn to identify them in nature - plants by appearance and flowering, birds by song and appearance etc. Participants will also learn how to find information on nature and species in the Internet, they will listen to bird and frog songs from special web-sites and try to remember the sounds to recognize them in the Nature.

Students will write descriptions of and stories about the species they have proposed to be the Spring indicators at their location. Through that the participants can learn more about the nature of each others countries. Another area or topic for writing essays and drawing pictures will be traditions, sayings and beliefs of local nationalities from ancient times concerning the Nature and seasons.

Through following these activities students will get deeper understanding of biological and climatological diversity, about influence of geographical location in progress of Spring (as well as other seasons), and about how important place the Nature has in different nations beliefs and old traditions.

Age/level of project participants:

All ages, in Estonia mostly 7-14 years of age

Timetable for the 2001-2002 school year:

January 15 2002 - May 31 2002

Possible project/classroom activities:

• Students take field trips and identify the species of plants and animals that indicate the arrival of Spring in their country
• Students compile the descriptions of the species and create web-pages with stories, pictures and sounds where possible
• Students, observing the indicator species in Nature, enter the date of their arrival or appearing (flowering) to the project web-based database. All results of observations will instantly appear in the web in form of maps or tables and can be followed by anyone interested.
• Students will
  • write about national customs connected with the arrival of Spring in their country
  • write Spring poetry - in their own language or in English
  • write about problems, caused by influence of the people to the Nature in their country - about what are the biggest problems and where can students themselves do something for the Nature.

Expected outcomes/products:

• Database of observation results what can be used by all students and teachers and anyone interested
• web-pages created by participants with their project-work

Project language(s):

English, Estonian, some activities could be done in any language

Curriculum area:

Biology, Science&Environment, Creative and Language Arts

Name and email of facilitator(s):

Terje Tuisk - terje@ise.ee

Janika Ruusmaa - janikar@ut.ee

Viktor Muuli - viktorm@ut.ee

Val Rajasaar - viridis@online.ee

I*EARN forum/newsgroup where it will take place or is taking place:

iearn.environ But there will also be email list for the project and some of the activities will go online

WWW page of project:

hello.spring.edu.ee