/// OUTREACH AND TRAINING

Educational boats

Educational Passages is a project aimed at disseminating environmental learning and knowledge and in particular that of the ocean environment.

Based on small GPS-equipped sailing boats capable of tracking winds and ocean currents, it allows students of all ages to explore oceanic phenomena while developing transoceanic educational classrooms.

Its main objective is to introduce participants to the world of sailing, to engage students in collaborative learning through international cultural experiences, and to increase understanding of the value of the hydrosphere as a shared resource through knowledge about the ocean environment. El programa permite llevar el océano al aula, ya sea que estés en la costa o tierra adentro.The programme allows you to bring the ocean into the classroom, whether you are on the coast or inland.

Educational Passages works together globally with the aim of connecting and educating students by building, launching, tracking and (hopefully) recovering these small sailboats.

The initiative was created and is led by a multidisciplinary consortium of US institutions, including NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and several high schools. PLOCAN has been involved as an organising entity in the Canary Islands since 2014, when it introduced this educational project in Spain with the launching from the island of Gran Canaria of two boats built by high school students from the state of Maine, USA.

Our ships

Glenna

  • Riley Day School
  • Gran Canaria
  • Start of journey: 2014-02-26
  • This boat was made by the Riley Day School in Rockport, Maine (USA). It was launched by students from the island of Gran Canaria together with technicians from the Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias in waters to the south of the island in the hope that it will sail towards the East coast of the United States.
  • End of journey: 2014-08-04
  • Brazil

Canarias II

  • IES Garoe
  • El Hierro
  • Start of journey: 2016-11-05
  • The Canarias II was built at PLOCAN with the collaboration of the secondary school IES Garoé located on El Hierro. The launch, which took place on the island of El Hierro, involved many students, and on the same day a skype session was held with high school students from New Jersey and Maine (USA) also involved in the project. The Canarias II disappeared on 20 December 2016 after sailing in the Caribbean Sea. It later reappeared on Akumal beach in Tulum, south of Cancun.
  • End of journey: 2017-03-12
  • Mexico

Canarias IV

  • IES Amurga
  • El Hierro
  • Start of journey: 2018-05-02
  • The Canarias IV boat was launched from the island of El Hierro in May 2018. This boat has been sponsored by the students of IES Amurga (secondary school located in Gran Canaria). In addition, the design and capabilities of this mini-boat have been extended by the integration of a temperature sensor and parallel satellite telemetry.
  • End of journey: 2018-06-24

Canarias I

  • Lycée Français de Gran Canaria
  • Gran Canaria
  • Start of journey: 2015-05-05
  • The Canarias I boat has been built by PLOCAN in cooperation with students from the French Lycée René Vernau in Gran Canaria. It was launched 30 miles southeast of the island of Gran Canaria by members of the frigate l’Hermione, after starting its voyage between the Canary Islands and the East Coast of the United States. This mini-boat was sailing along the African coast before it stopped transmitting. In December 2015 and after several months without transmitting, he reappeared in a neighbourhood east of Dakar, Senegal. In June 2016, it was located in the house of a fisherman who used it as a decorative table.
  • End of journey: 2015-06-30
  • Senegal

Canarias III

  • IES Garoe
  • El Hierro
  • Start of journey: 2016-11-30
  • The Canarias-III boat, built by PLOCAN in cooperation with students from IES Garoé on the island of El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain), was launched in the vicinity of the port of La Restinga on 30 November 2016. More than a hundred students, teachers and authorities of the island witnessed the launching of this new educational boat unit, the third one built in the Canary Islands.
  • End of journey: 2017-06-07

IMAGES OF EACH LAUNCH IN:

MAP IN REAL TIME:

Educational Boat Building Manual

Video Presentation of the Educational Passages initiative

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