European lobster in feed (Video)
INQUIRE for Students
INQUIRE for Students is a practical training program for secondary level teacher students. The aims of the course are the development of system competence, subject knowledge and methodological knowledge in respect to an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) [4].
15 teacher students joined the “INQUIRE for Students” project in the winter term 2015/16 and took part in a field trip to Helgoland (5.-9.October 2015), an island in the German North Sea. During this trip they gained practical skills about inquiry-based science education and received information on the ecology, economics, politics and the history of Helgoland. The focus was set on the context of climate change and the loss of biodiversity illustrated by the dramatic decline of the lobster population around the island.
The European lobster (Homarus gammarus) is the heraldic animal of Helgoland, an island in the German North Sea. Since the 2nd World War the population of the European lobster has dramatically decreased. The bombings during the war, the overfishing after the war and the climate change are considered as the main reasons for this loss . To avoid the extinction of the lobster, the Alfred-Wegener-Institute founded a breeding station on Helgoland.
The teacher students worked in two groups and applied the new informations to develop simulations games for 7th and 10th graders . After the field trip the simulation games were tested with two classes in the “Zoo am Meer” in Bremerhaven. The developed simulation games are based on the context of climate change and the dramatically decreased lobster population around Helgoland. During the simulation game the pupils take on different predetermined roles and discuss, if the breeding station should be government-financed furthermore or not. After a discussion at the beginning of the game, the pupils acquire knowledge about the impacts of climate change on the North Sea and the lobster with different experiments. At the end of the simulation game the different roles need to make an agreement, if the breeding station should be financed or not.