Helena, Amélie, and Leann-Marie from class 6L2 presented their ongoing experiment on the topic "Settlement of tits to combat the oak processionary moth." The project by the sixth graders is supported by the Saarlouis district as part of the "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD) campaign and is part of the district's own ESD initiative "Tits Nest Boxes for Ecological Pest Control of the Oak Processionary Moth on School Grounds." The expert jury honored the young researchers' commitment with a special award: They are allowed to spend an experience day at the Neunkirchen Zoo.
Background: Currently, there are trees at eleven schools managed by the district that are affected annually by the oak processionary moth. An ecological participatory project has been developed for these schools, which aims to reduce the oak processionary moth infestation through the settlement of tits. The corresponding nesting boxes for the birds were built by the students together with Reiner Petry, NABU representative and member of the district council.
The subsequent and recently awarded project by the three students of class 6L2 is as follows: They want to document which of the nesting boxes on the school grounds are actually inhabited and which animals raise their young in them – or which only use them for wintering. For this, they first examine nesting boxes of different designs and provide recommendations for characteristic dimensions. For example, they determine an optimal distance of the box floor from the entrance hole. In the second step, they then want to draw conclusions about whether chemical agents can be completely avoided in the future when combating the oak processionary moth on the school grounds.
“Hardly has our initiative with the birdhouses started, when the young researchers already win such a great prize with their project idea. This also makes us at the Saarlouis district very happy,” says Natalie Sadik, school development planner for the Saarlouis district and responsible coordinator of the initiative. Andreas Heine, the supervising teacher at SGS, adds: “Even though the experiment only began recently and there are therefore few results so far, the three want to continue their work and compete again next year in ‚Students Experiment‘.”
The students themselves greatly enjoyed participating in the event in Saarbrücken. Leann-Marie reports: "I enjoyed the competition, and we were able to talk a lot about our project." Amélie adds: "I liked that so many people were interested in our project and want to replicate many birdhouses in their gardens." Both are looking forward to the day at the zoo.
In 2021, the district of Saarlouis was selected as one of 50 municipalities nationwide by the BNE Competence Center Education.Sustainability.Municipality as a model municipality. Over a period of three years, the district administration is being structurally and personnel-wise supported in establishing cross-departmental structures and implementing concrete projects related to sustainability. “Titmouse nest boxes for the ecological pest control of oak processionary moths on school grounds” is an example of such a BNE project, which is implemented across departments by the school development planning and the Department of Real Estate Management. Michael Loew is responsible in the district for the traffic safety of trees and the maintenance of green spaces, while Natalie Sadik takes care of the school garden program. In the area of school gardens and the design of school grounds, Michael Loew and school development planner Natalie Sadik have been working together regularly for years.
