HEIDELBERG, Germany - Students from Heidelberg Middle School and Paedagogische Hochschule got a jump start on some Earth Day related activities this year.
Earlier this month the group buried several items in "trash graves" for a project they are calling a "waste graveyard."
The hands-on project was designed to study the effects of decomposition. Some of the items they buried included a shoe, paintballs, a plastic bag, a Diet Coke can, a bone and sets of plastic cutlery.
The students will also pay a visit to the Heidelberg Reuse Center on April 22, Earth Day, to learn about recycling and they'll get an opportunity to guess how much the buried items have decomposed so far.
"The intention is to give young people a feeling of the time span for the decomposition of different material," said Kirstin Gerber, Paedagogische Hochschule.
"For example, how long does a piece chewing gum on the ground need to disappear completely' Children will become aware of the time that items thrown away carelessly will remain in nature," she said.
"The term "Waste Graveyard" is chosen consciously in order to reach scholars emotionally and to remind them that it's worth keeping the environment livable."
In addition to the environmental portion of the project, students are also documenting their experience by producing a short news piece for Panther News, Heidelberg Middle School's student news program.
"This isn't the normal thing that we film for Panther News - it's really fun," said Nefeli Supinger. Supinger is a second year Visual Arts student.
"Our school plays a big role in environmental activities and this is a great opportunity to learn, and expand on what we do. It's helping us for the future."
The group is planning to return to the site of their waste graveyard to exhume their buried items on May 18.
Social Sharing