Myth or Truth
by Ray Huff
February 02, 2012
Does the Groundhog really have a talent for predicting the coming of Spring or a longer winter? Kindergarten students at SVCA are one of many classrooms that are participating in the online Project Groundhog to answer that very question.
SVCA Kindergarten students will collect data about the daily temperatures and sky conditions in our corner of Kansas for the six weeks following Groundhog Day. We will share that information weekly with the other five members of our groundhog teams via email. Over 7000 student across the United States and Canada will be collecting the same information in there towns and sharing all the data with the Project Groundhog website.
Project Groundhog was created in 1994 by a group of seven Newfoundland teachers trying to figure out a way to put the World Wide Web to use in their classroom. The project in 1994 was based on emails between seven teachers. Bill Jansen, one of the original seven teachers involved in 1994 coordinates the project. Today Project Groundhog has evolved to a data project that now includes 392 teachers from the USA and Canada, but anyone anywhere is welcome to join.
Six weeks is an eternity in the life of a Kindergarten student, but finding out whether to rely on the expertise of the weatherman to predict the weather or just the little groundhog makes their efforts worthwhile.
Your curiosity is peeked isn’t it? Check back to find out the results.
