RBG Kew and the Wellcome Trust sow seeds for The Great Plant Hunt
14 July 2008
One of a number of projects funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of Darwin 200, The Great Plant Hunt promises to offer children hands-on experience of what it's like to be a plant hunter.
In March 2009, the RBG Kew will be sending the UK’s 22 000 primary schools a Treasure Chest full of free resources to be used in the classroom, online and in the great outdoors. With exciting missions to discover plants in the wild (from the school playing fields to weeds growing in the cracks in the pavement), The Great Plant Hunt also gives children the chance to be part of the UK's biggest ever school science project.
They will be invited to take part in a unique experiment to help Kew's Millennium Seed Bank build the world's largest collection of seeds from a single species.
Teachers are invited to register their interest in the project by visiting The Great Plant Hunt website.
Dr Steven Sinkins, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, says: "Charles Darwin, perhaps the most influential scientist of all time, made meticulous observations of nature and maintained an open mind in interpreting what he found. His methods were low-tech, but his science has revolutionised our understanding of the world and of our place in it. Children in schools across the country can readily follow his inspiring example."
RBG Kew's Professor Angela McFarlane adds: “People often forget how young Charles Darwin was when he set out for foreign shores on the Beagle. We all know him as this bearded old man but in actual fact he was a mere stripling of 22 when he started his travels overseas.
“As the world wakes up to the tremendous responsibility we all share to protect this incredible planet of ours, we hope The Great Plant Hunt will introduce the nation’s children to a lifetime of caring for the natural world. Who knows, we may find the next Darwin.”
