The Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), together with students from Eusebio Barreto Secondary School in Los Llanos de Aridane, have launched an educational miniboat in the waters west of Tazacorte on the island of La Palma. This initiative, in collaboration with the European iFADO project, is part of the Educational Passages miniboat programme, which brings marine sciences to secondary school classrooms.
The miniboat is expected to cross the Atlantic Ocean, like other miniboats in the Educational Passages programme, the aim of which is to spread environmental literacy, particularly with respect to the ocean environment, by means of GPS-equipped miniboats that follow ocean currents and winds. Thanks to the programme, students of all ages can explore ocean phenomena while participating in transoceanic classrooms.
The mini-sailboat “iFADO-II” is equipped with a GPS transmitter and a temperature sensor powered by a small solar panel mounted on the surface of the boat.
Driven by the ocean winds and currents, it will follow a course that can be observed in real time via the Educational Passages website, so that students can learn more about the dynamics of ocean currents and winds in an interactive format.
The main goal of the programme is to introduce students to sailing and to engage them in collaborative learning through international cultural experiences, and to increase understanding of the value of the hydrosphere as a shared resource through ocean literacy. The programme brings the ocean into the classroom, whether it is on the coast or inland.
Prior to the launch, a talk was given to the students of IES Eusebio Barreto at PLOCAN’s headquarters in the port of Tazacorte.
iFADO: http://www.ifado.eu/ The Interreg Atlantic iFADO project aims to create marine services at regional and sub-regional scale, using the Atlantic waters of the European Union as a case study. Filling current technical gaps, iFADO will build on the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) to demonstrate the application of innovative products.