In the context of a social project the students in Hennstedt learned to assume social responsibility. For three months, we took care of animals. The project was prepared and accompanied by additional lessons.

Before the four gerbils (Mongolische Rennmäuse) came to our class, we startet by learning about their needs. What should their home look like? What to they eat and drink? When do they need action and when is the time to sleep? Many more questions were asked by the students and answer in the following lessons.

Before the gerbils arrived in the class, the students had to build a cage essay in tech class, which looked like this: http://www.rennmaus.de/typo3temp/pics/5db96f9979.jpg

This took us one month, but the essay was just perfect. You have an aquarium for the litter, where the gerbils can build and hide - and you have the essay, where you can feed and watch them. You can find the german construction manual here: http://www.rennmaus.de/informationen/tooltime/bau-von-terrarienzubehoer/aquariumaufsatz/

We used www.rennmaus.de a lot to learn about their behavior and needs.

In this project, the students learn to take responsibility according to parental responsibility to children. Daily reports of the activities and duties had to be written down. Every student had a task, e.g. feeding, giving fresh branches, destroying carefully the passageways the gerbils have built in the night, collecting food which was not eaten.

Every day during class time a "social hour" in which the students can share their experiences and problems or questions will be answered. After all, the students learned a lot about reliability and sureness which will be beneficial to their parenthood in the long run. And competences in handicrafts are always welcome!

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