Education E-update

New and Improved

This month, we’re including two new features in Education E-update. Our monthly ‘PlantEd Poll’ will gather your thoughts on a key plant-based education topic or issue. We’ll ask an engaging question, you click on your answer, and we’ll report back on the results in the next issue. We’re also including an interesting or provocative book each month in our ‘What We’re Reading’ sidebar. If the book looks interesting to you, simply click on the featured link and you can buy the book from BGCI’s online bookstore. We’re always looking for new ideas to make Education E-update more useful to you. If you have a suggestion to share, please be in touch.

Best wishes,
The BGCI Education Team
education@bgci.org (for general education enquiries to BGCI)
e-update@bgci.org (for Education E-update enquiries)

Education News from Around the World

Fairchild Challenge expands to new sites: Seventeen participants from seven institutions (including BGCI) recently attended the fourth Fairchild Challenge Satellite Partners workshop at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, USA. Held over two and a half days, the workshop provided participants with a thorough understanding of how to initiate and run the Fairchild Challenge at their sites. A training manual was presented to each participant along with samples of materials given to students. A panel presentation involving Fairchild staff and local school officials emphasised the significance of the programme to the garden, the local community and students. Fundraising strategies for the Fairchild Challenge were also discussed, and each participating site created an action plan for bringing the Fairchild Challenge to their site. The programme, now in its sixth year, engages more than 40,000 students and 1,600 teachers. To date, there are several active Fairchild Challenge satellite sites, including Chicago Botanic Garden (USA), the United States Botanic Garden, and the Organization for Tropical Studies at la Selva (Costa Rica).

Director’s Tour debuts at Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park: Visitors to the Cayman Islands’ Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park are now able to learn about the wonders of plants from the garden’s director. The new two-hour ‘Director’s Tour’ is led by General Manager Andrew Guthrie, who has managed the park since March 1995. The tour takes place on the second Saturday of every month.

Merida Botanic Garden grows education programmes: Merida Botanic Garden (Venezuela) has been awarded a grant to raise awareness of the importance of the paramo, a series of ecosystems that occur at high altitude above the montane forests of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Despite the paramo’s rich biodiversity and high floristic endemism, it is highly threatened by agriculture and other economic activities. In an attempt to address some of these issues, the Garden will launch the Fairchild Challenge in September 2008. It will begin by offering six challenges to ten local schools, with the aim of growing the programme over the next three years.

Children’s garden coming to Cheyenne Botanic Gardens: The Friends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens was recently awarded a $250,000 grant by the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation to build a new children’s discovery and learning centre. The project will begin with the renovation of a 1930s historic shop and yard into a science centre and walled garden. Children will learn about sustainable living practices, ecosystems and water quality while surrounded by whimsical landscapes that encourage interactive, imaginative play. The Children's Garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens is the largest project undertaken by the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens in its 30-year history.

Project Budburst takes off: As of 15 February, citizen-scientist volunteers in the United States are now able to help track climate change by observing and recording the timing of flowers and foliage. Project BudBurst, operated by a team of partners including Chicago Botanic Garden, allows U.S. students, gardeners and other citizens to enter their observations into an online database that, over time, will give researchers a more detailed picture of global climate change. The project will operate year-round so that early- and late-blooming species in different parts of the country can be monitored throughout their life cycles. Project BudBurst builds on a pilot programme carried out last spring, when a thousand participants recorded the timing of the leafing and flowering of hundreds of plant species in 26 states. An article all about Project BudBurst will appear in the forthcoming issue of BGCI's Roots on climate change, published in April.

Even more news online! Check out even more botanic garden and plant-based education news on BGCI’s website. You will currently find stories about a new celebration of Chinese plants at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Scotland) and plans to redevelop the botanic garden and zoo in Nagoya, Japan. You can also sign up to have weekly news updates from BGCI delivered straight to your email inbox.

Share your news with plant-based educators around the world! Send us news from your botanic garden or education site, and we'll include it in the next issue of Education E-update.

PlantEd Poll

It’s easy and fun! Read this month’s poll question and click on your response. We’ll publish the results in the next Education E-update!

This month's poll: What is the one most significant contribution your botanic garden or education site is making to address climate change? Click on a response below to cast your vote!

We are reducing our carbon emissions.

We are offsetting our carbon emissions.

We are running special programs to educate about climate change.

Tools You Can Use

Euro-Mediterranean Youth Forum: As part of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue Between Cultures in collaboration with Piedmont Regional Government and Paralleli Euro-Mediterranean Institute are organizing a Euro-Mediterranean Youth Forum in Turin, Italy, May 20-25. This project is part of the ALF ‘1001 Actions for Dialogue’ Campaign. The Forum will focus on three specific themes: Water, Heritage and Intergenerational Dialogue; Water, Spirituality and Emotion; and Water, Sustainable Development and Civil Society. Applications are now being accepted for participation.

Zoo Plant Wiki: Recently endorsed by the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the new Zoo Plant Wiki compiles information about plant toxicity and the use of plants in zoos. The project was set up as a Wiki, which means all registered users are encouraged to contribute by editing the document online.

What's in your toolbox? Send us your most valuable tools or resources, and we'll include them in an upcoming issue of Education E-update.

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