At the end of April, at the Liepaja Municipal Education Departments co-creation space, Nature House of the Science and Education Innovation Center (ZIIC) an installation called “Ant House” was opened. The installation has been developed within the Norway Grants project “Development of the Innovation Center in Liepaja City”. The installation will be supplemented with interest education programmes and lessons to promote the interest of pupils in the field of environmental sciences and STEM.
The installation displays a live ant nest that houses a tropical species of Australian weaver ants with their mother, males and working ants. In the “Ant House” anybody can observe life, natural diversity and natural processes such as the insect’s developmental phases, feeding, habitat building, colony organization, etc. It also represents the Madagascar hissing cockroach family, as cockroaches are an integral part of the ant feeding process. The installation aims to allow visitors to understand the importance of nature conservation, revealing how amazing different species are, how delicate work is invested in creating each habitat.
“Ant House” is not only a part of the exhibition but it will also be used for demonstration in workshops, for educating preschool, primary and secondary school children, teachers of educational institutions. The study process includes a licensed lesson about ants “Ant Researcher”, which involves teachers’ stories, visual demonstrations, creative tasks, interactive games, thus supplementing the content of the school programme. The aim of the lesson is to stimulate students’ interest in STEM and environmental sciences, as well as to motivate them to choose a career in environmental and other natural sciences.
The lesson “Ant Researcher” is intended for children and students of two age stages: preschool groups and 1st-grade students, as well as 2nd – 4th-grade students. In this lesson, students gain knowledge about the structure, appearance, food, habitat, the role of ants in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and their mutual hierarchy. Children have the opportunity to watch the ant nest online in real-time, watch close-up video clips of the ant nest and participate in interactive activities to gain new knowledge creatively and with satisfaction.
The project “Development of the Innovation Centre in Liepaja City” is funded by the European Economic Area and Norway Grants programme “Research and Education”. Its total cost is EUR 986 049.00, of which EUR 754 327.40 is co-financing of the Norway Grants, EUR 133 116.60 is co-financed by the State budget of Latvia and EUR 98 605.00 by Liepaja City Municipality.
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