Virtuel Galathea 3 is a website containing teaching resources based on the tour around the world of the Galathea3 expedition in 2006-2007. The project is coordinated by DTU Wind Energy and ten years ago school pupils got access to the many observations from the project on the website
VirtuelGalathea3.dk.
The anniversary is celebrated with a new project: ”Virtuel Galathea 3 Jubilæum”. The project is a continuation of Virtuel Galathea 3 and just like the predecessor, it is based on observations and results of the Galathea 3 expedition. The expedition consisted in 50 research projects and a tour around the world which lasted almost a year. Subsequently, 94 teaching projects were developed for the website VirtuelGalathea3.dk.
A main purpose of the expedition was to increase children and younger people's interest for natural science and technology. At that time as well as today Virtuel Galathea 3 aroused great interest: since the launch of the website more than 777.000 users have visited the website, and statistically all Danish pupils from secondary school and upper secondary schools have visited the site. The website is filled with e-learning for this group of pupils. It contains research, videos, films, photos and exercises – all with emphasis on natural science, technology and exploration of exotic parts of the world.
The role of DTU Wind Energy
DTU Wind Energy is coordinating virtuelgalathea3.dk on behalf of hundreds of researchers from Galathea 3, journalists, teachers and former students, who all contributed to creating the material for the website. DTU Wind Energy was represented too, at the expedition ten years ago. Senior researcher at DTU Wind Energy Charlotte Hasager explains:
”Ten researchers from DTU Wind Energy were on board, and they measured CO2 and temperatures in the oceans and in the air around the world. Additionally we measured the altitude of the boundary layer all over the planet. During the expedition we collected thousands of satellite photos, in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), DTU Space and the Danish Meteorological Institute. All of the data are available at VirtuelGalathea3.dk.”
Wind energy is a subject at several projects of the teaching resources. The concept is letting the pupils work cross-curricular within their interests. Wind energy is typically seen in connection with the topics climate and sustainable energy.
Today, ten years after the launch of the website the researchers have had the time for envestigating and analyzing the data that were collected at the expedition. Thus, the purpose of the project Virtuel Galathea 3 Jubilæum is developing the teaching resources based on the new analyses.