Armed with magnifying jars, clipboards, checklists, guidebooks, and a whole lot of curiosity the students of Year 6 spent two mornings roaming the gardens surrounding Salem Castle’s Junibau. In conjunction with their science curriculum’s unit on insects, our students took part in the nationwide „Insect Census 2021” sponsored by the German environmental organisation NABU (Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union).

There are more than one million different species of insects humming and buzzing around the whole world, including over 30,000 in Germany. Due to their diversity and unbounded habitats, small crawling insects are just as fascinating as they are important for the environment. Insects are indispensable for the equilibrium of our ecological systems. Data collection projects help to maintain continuous record-keeping about the diversity of insect species and their frequency in Germany. For years there has been a dramatic decline in insect populations.

In the greenery surrounding Salem’s Junibau students did not need to go far to see a lot of insects. Their patience and close attention were rewarded with excellent observations and an amazing list of species. Students in Year 6 not only exercised their ability to recognize of the insect orders they had already studied, but also practiced how to use their senses actively, observe things closely, and put aside any fears of closer contact with these six-legged animals.