Tellus Mission Web Project - Western Europe

The Tellus website provides information in a way that is intended to make learning about agricultural activities fun. It shows how crops are grown, describes landscapes, gives the history of different farming methods, describes jobs in farming, and includes a section on art and literature in relation to rural life. The site, which is available in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish, also contains information on the geography and agriculture of each European country. One theme emphasised on the site is the increasingly large role that space is playing in agriculture. To that end, the site features a comic strip called "Mission to Tellus" that describes the journey of four children and a robot dog to a "Tellus planet" to set up a farm - complete with plants and animals - that enables astronauts to live in an inhospitable environment. The strip also includes a description of space missions and life in space. The idea is to help children see the link between space and agriculture; the site details how satellites can help farmers in their work by providing information on the weather, pinpointing crops, estimating harvests, and guiding tractors.

To foster the work of schoolteachers, a Tellus information pack may be downloaded from the site or ordered from local distributors. The pack includes six information booklets for students on agricultural production, the forestry sector, and fishing and aquaculture; three worksheets for primary school children; an instruction booklet for teachers; and the comic strip.

Agriculture, Children, Technology, Education.

A century ago in almost all of the countries of Europe, most primary school children lived in rural areas. Teachers used the children's daily experiences to teach them about agriculture. In contrast, today many people live and work in large towns and cities. Farming is no longer based soley on subsistence agriculture; the distances between the areas where food is produced and where it is sold and eaten are increasing; and agricultural produce is subjected to a great many more industrial or other processes before being placed on the market. According to organisers, these factors have led to ignorance by producers and consumers of one another's role.