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Uruguayan "Schoolyard Butterflies" Fly to Denver for the GLOBE Annual Meeting

Aug 21, 2023

Paloma and Carmella presenting their poster at the 2023 GLOBE Annual Meeting (image courtesy Dario Greni Olivieri).

Between 17 and 20 July 2023, two students, Paloma and Carmella from a rural school (Rural Public-School No. 88, "Alfred Nobel" in Las Violetas, Canelones, Uruguay) had the opportunity to attend the GLOBE Annual Meeting in the city of Denver, Colorado and share with this great scientific community their research project about the relationship between the presence of butterflies in their schoolyard and environmental variables such as temperature, cloud cover, humidity, wind speed and direction.

This project, which began collectively back in 2020 when children had the motivation and need to do science in our school, decided to study these living beings. They began to carry out a data record with more than 145 field trips in three and a half years. This research involves four groups of 6th year (11-year old students) throughout these four years of work.

Being able to present this Project at the International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS) is a great opportunity to show what is done but also to receive feedback that enriches the work done. But this year, they were selected to represent their region at the GLOBE Annual Meeting, something that has happened previously. While watching the event in which the winners were announced, students gained an institutional memory: seeing their project be selected. It was the trigger for a great celebration which became a systematic work process in which students Paloma and Carmela began their preparation for more than two and a half months.

Field trips, work with the English teacher, and creation of their poster were milestones prior to the event -- milestones that both students carried out with a commitment and dedication worthy of being highlighted. They were the school's ambassadors representing not only their classmates, but also each of the children who in this period of four years have worked enriching this research. That is how that long-awaited moment arrived: traveling to a new country with the teachers, meeting new colleagues, students, members of GLOBE and all those who are proud to be part of this scientific community.

For the education of Uruguay it was a point of pride since two students from a public rural school were there, explaining all the work done, the methodology used, the observations made and the conclusions obtained. Countless participants passed through their stand dedicating time to listen to them and also to give them advice and how they could further enrich their work.

That day was extremely important since ties were established with other members of the GLOBE community who, in the future, will work collectively on this research, a work thought collaboratively back in May 2020 with Andrea Ventoso (Country Coordinator, Uruguay), Claudia Caro (GLOBE Teacher, Peru) and Marta Kingsland (Country Coordinator, Argentina).

After that event full of expectations, some nervousness, commitment, dedication and passion for the work to be done, the students participated in two days of integration with students from other parts of the world with whom they visited different places in Denver and Boulder (Colorado, USA), applying different GLOBE protocols and generating a joint investigation which was presented on the last day of the event. Here, another great challenge was working collaboratively, obtaining data, analyzing them, and presenting them to the entire community present there in a language that is not their native language -- English. Again, the students showed why they were there: their passion for science made it possible for this presentation to catch the attention of each of the attendees.

Education Working Group member Dario Greni Olivieri says, "The fact of being able to participate with our students in this annual meeting has made it possible for GLOBE to be even more on the educational table in Uruguay, since we have been interviewed in several television, radio and written press programs. In each of these spaces, the importance of The GLOBE Program when it comes to doing science and carrying out different collaborative works has been told."

He continued, "Opportunities like this are extremely valuable since it positions your educational center within the scientific community worldwide, giving it the space and recognition that each of our students, throughout our planet, deserves since you can see there the committed, dedicated and high scientific content work that is carried out."

For the two students, Paloma and Carmella, this event will be a milestone in their lives, for their families a unique opportunity and for the education of Uruguay, a national pride, and an example that when working in this way, recognitions of this type can happen to us. Developing research, sharing results, establishing ties, and living science are aspects that only GLOBE brings together and that, as teachers, we must take advantage of for the benefit of each of the learning processes of our students.

The students and their presentation at the 2023 GLOBE Annual Meeting has been documented on various news outlets: