DCU/Liberties Schools project watch Desert and Rainforest
- 15 May 2006

Liberties primary schools in the heart of historic Dublin have become high tech mini weather-stations monitoring the growth of cactus, palm trees and orchids in desert and tropical rainforest conditions.

Today, they are taking part in a unique DCU research project in collaboration with the National Botanic Gardens.

Daily, boys and girls at the schools can monitor the climate in three controlled glass houses at the Botanic Gardens, the Cactus House with dry desert conditions, the Palm House with a humid rainforest atmosphere, and the Orchid House, with shaded forest conditions.

In real time they can assess the growth of these exotic plants and compare the conditions for plant growth in their own school garden using original remote sensor technologies developed at DCU’s National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR).

The website uses dynamic new imaginative and creative graphics. Pupils can take a “themed” tour through the glasshouses to learn how people use plants, how different plants have adapted to where they live and how threatened plants are being conserved and protected.

The project is a “winner” with the young pupils. Every day, with great anticipation, they log onto their most popular website, Ecosensorweb, to make their daily assessments of progress in these glasshouses at the Botanic Gardens.

The Eco-Sensor Network will be launched by Ms Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, the current Rose of Tralee, and also Ireland’s Ambassador of the Discover Science & Engineering Programme which is sponsored by Forfás. Aoibhinn is a theoretical physics graduate and plans post graduate studies in bio-physics.

This is the culmination of a five-year research programme led by Professor Brian McCraith and Emma O’ Brien combining sensor platforms with learning modules in the primary school science curriculum. It is part of the Education and Outreach programme at DCU’s NCSR funded by the Higher Education Authority through the Fund for Digital Research.

The website, designed by a young Irish media company, Do-It-Media, contains lots of ideas for science-based hands-on activities aimed at creating a dynamic and exciting science learning environment.

The Liberties schools, St. Catherines, St. Audoens, and Scoil Treasa Naofa, who part of the Learning Initiative at the Digital Hub, are the first wave of this project roll out into schools. More Dublin schools in Ballymun and Glasnevin, and others around the country, will be introduced to the Eco-Sensor Network programme shortly.

ENDS