Save The Med returns to school after exciting times at sea!

With summer coming to an end, the Save The Med education team are getting ready to go back to school!

To date more than 7000 students from all over Majorca have participated in Save The Med’s “Dos Manos School Programme” during which they learn about marine ecosystems and plastic pollution, conduct beach clean up surveys and come up with solutions to reduce the use of single use plastic.

Together, the participating students have removed, categorised and counted more than 250.000 plastic objects from beaches all around the island as part of a citizen science activity included in the programme.

Save The Med in the Balearics

Meanwhile, hundreds of students from the Balearic Islands have gone even further, participating in Save The Med’s Changemakers Project by developing their own ideas, projects and campaigns to reduce the use of single use plastic in their homes, schools and communities.

Each year, the teams behind the most impactful projects join Save The Med onboard our research expeditions, during which they helped the crew to monitor spectacular marine life such as dolphins, whales, devil rays, turtles and more, learned about marine protected areas and help remove plastic pollution at sea.

SV Rafael Verdera

This summer, two teams joined a week long expedition onboard the beautiful sailboat Rafael Verdera, the oldest active vessel in the Spanish fleet, which was launched all the way back in 1841 and has a remarkable history!

Together with the amazing crew and Save The Med educators, the students practiced boat handling skills, sampled microplastics, conducted surveys of marine fauna, participated in presentations on marine related topics ranging from identification of sea birds and marine species to underwater photography and marine regeneration.

Other teams explored coastal marine protected areas onboard the solar powered boat Stenella and Save The Med’s research vessel Ondine and got a joyful visit from a family of dolphins!

New Project

While initially the Changemakers Project was only available for students aged 15-18, this school year, younger students aged 8-14 will be able to join the movement too, though an adapted version of the project called Changemakers Junior, which will be open to participation for all students in Mallorca.

Learn more about each of the projects below and help us spread the word so that we can reach even more young ocean lovers!

The Dos Manos project:

Together with Save The Med’s educators students learn about plastic pollution and our throwaway culture as well as its effect on the marine environment and our health. They conduct an excursion to the beach that includes clean up and citizen science survey. We talk about solutions to the problem and brainstorm what we can all do to reduce our use of single use plastic. The collected data is used in Save The Med’s work to reduce plastic production and waste generation.

The Changemakers Project:

This is a project which will launch 1st of October and which the participating teams carry out independently, with the possibility of receiving an optional virtual introductory session for the whole class about the project and key guidelines for participation, as well as email support from Save The Med as needed.

Save The Med Requirements

To participate, students aged 15-18 (must turn 15 by 31/12 2022) will form teams of 4 classmates and will work over the course of several months to develop and implement of their own projects and / or campaigns to reduce the use of single-use plastic (including plastics called bioplastics and biodegradable plastics), always following the 3 R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse.

Students will plan and document their work, measure the results and submit their project to Save The Med via email before the deadline. Through their work, participants help ignite a positive wave of change in their communities.

All teams will receive a diploma. The five projects with the greatest impact will be selected. Two of the teams will be invited for a week-long scientific expedition at sea with Save The Med and three teams will join one-day excursion during which they will help monitor marine ecosystems and pollution at sea. In addition, the classes of the five teams will be able to use an endowment of 500 euros to invest in an environmental activity, excursion or project.

The new Changemakers JUNIOR Project

In contrast to the senior students who work in small teams, the Junior students is for students aged 8-14 who will form one big team with their entire class to work on the development and implementation of their own projects and / or campaigns to reduce the use of single-use plastic (including plastics called bioplastics and biodegradable plastics), following the 3 R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse.

As in the original project, students will plan and document their work, measure the results and submit their project to Save The Med via email before the final date.

Due to age restrictions students will not be eligible for expeditions at sea, however all Junior classes will receive a diploma and the most impactful projects will be selected. Their teams will be provided an opportunity to learn what it is like to work as a scientist at sea and to participate in a mini-documentary with the Save The Med’s multimedia team.

At the end of the school year, all teams, of all ages, will be invited to a fun community event where they will have a chance to present their projects, get to know other Changemakers, become inspired and inspire each other!

Visit savethemed.org for more information and feel free to contact edu@savethemed.org with any questions you might have about our education programme!

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