InnovPlantProtect (InPP) is organizing a paper chase game in Elvas Municipal Garden, for local 10th graders to explore, identify and marvel at the garden’s diverse trees and their differentiating characteristics. Put together with D. Sancho II Secondary School, this event, with which the Municipality of Elvas associates itself, will take place in the morning of May 18, 2021 – Fascination of Plants Day. The Municipal Garden is the biggest green space in this small city of the Alentejo region where InPP is based. It holds specimens of Judas trees, lime trees, olive trees, cedars, orange trees, horse chestnut trees, mulberry trees, Casuarina, ash trees and carob trees, among many others.
The activity will start at 8:30 AM and will be divided into 3 (three) 90-minutes time slots, for three different 10th grade classes from D. Sancho II School:
- 8:30 – 10 AM
- 10 – 11:30 AM
- 11:30 AM – 1 PM
InPP researchers and teachers from the school will be on site to assist the participants. A different class, from the audiovisuals area, shall also participate, reporting on the event. At a later date, a similar activity shall be proposed to the class from the professional technical course in mixed farming.
The theme of Biodiversity is taught in the 10th grade in Portugal. As a result of this activity, InPP, D. Sancho II Secondary School and the municipality of Elvas will continue collaborating to develop a physical signing system for the trees, with respective common names, scientific names and a QR code. The QR code, once read by a visitor’s smartphone, will give access to a complete data base about the trees of the Municipal Garden, including their identification, description, curiosities, history and mythology. This data base/ digital brochure is to be built by InPP researchers and the school’s students and teachers, and made available to the Municipality and all its secondary schools, in a project that should last until 2022.
More about the event online
https://iplantprotect.pt/2021/04/chasing-elvas-municipal-gardens-fascinating-trees