A team of Maltese participants, including two teachers, six secondary school pupils and Mr Johann Galdies (Research Support Officer within the Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Science), travelled to Trieste, Italy between 2 to 5 March 2023 to present the work that has been carried out in two Maltese schools in relation with the BlueSchoolsMed Project, which is funded within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme. The pupils were able to showcase their Blue Challenge project to other pupils, teachers and project partners from Greece, Italy and France.
The Maltese pupils, who attend Maria Regina Secondary School (Mosta), and who were accompanied by their teachers Ms Fiona Vella Ciangura and Ms Alana Fenech, presented their work at the Istituto Comprensivo Margherita Hack in Trieste.
Their Blue Challenge project involved them working on Kahoot! quizzes pertaining to research done on the sea, mainly: pollution, corals, sea mammals and sea maps. Conversely, another Blue Challenge project, which was done by pupils attending St Aloysius’ College (Secondary School) and who unfortunately couldn’t make it, tackled the topic of fishing and fish consumption.
The teachers and pupils taking part in this BlueSchoolsMed event were involved in workshops and field activities supported by the educational teams of the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) and the BIOMA Museum (both located in Trieste). Apart from bonding and sharing of ideas and experiences amongst other participant countries, all involved were able to visit the Grotta Gigante and the Miramare Castle Park.
Finally, Mr Johann Galdies linked the presented projects and BlueSchoolsMed-related work carried out in Malta to the project’s overarching outputs, highlighting that we should link the sea, marine biology, food and fisheries science, economy, tourism, biogeography and biodiversity to help us all reflect and think blue, so that we can encourage ourselves and our companions to live in a more ocean-literate way.
The BlueSchoolsMed project is financed by the ERASMUS+ programme and is being coordinated by ACTeon (France). The University of Malta is a project partner with Prof. Alan Deidun as the Principal Investigator, and seeing the active participation of Prof. Mark C. Mifsud and Dr Adam Gauci. Prof. Deidun and Dr Gauci are resident academics within the Oceanography Malta Research Group (Department of Geosciences) whilst Prof. Mifsud directs the Centre for Environmental Education and Research (CEER) within the Faculty of Education.
