Lions Robotic Designers

Dorian 11 years oldFrench : CM2UK Year: 6th

Claire 11 years oldFrench : 6èmeUK Year : 7th

FLL Project

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If You Do Not Know First Lego League

The goals of this presentation are:● To identify a problem in an interaction

between a human and an animal.● To propose a solution to this problem,

which can be new or can improve an already existing one.

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Our Problem : Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes can spread dangerous diseases, such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika. 

Females' bites cause itches.

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World Health Organizationwww.who.int

Mosquito-borne diseasesMosquitoes cause millions of deaths every year

Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world. Their ability to carry and spread disease to humans causes millions of deaths every year. In 2015 malaria alone caused 438 000 deaths. The worldwide incidence of dengue has risen 30-fold in the past 30 years, and more countries are reporting their first outbreaks of the disease. Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever are all transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. More than half of the world’s population live in areas where this mosquito species is present. Sustained mosquito control efforts are important to prevent outbreaks from these diseases.

Mosquito Borne Diseases

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The Diseases

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'Zika Mosquito' – Tiger Mosquito In France

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The Mosquitoes' Life CycleEID : Etablissement Interdépartemental pour la Demoustication

The EID is the official mosquito control expert in France

The larva lives in water and then metamorphoses and lives in the air.

The adult female bites to lay eggs.

It spreads diseases by biting.

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Mosquito Control

Mosquito control is mainly chemical using insecticides or by removing stagnant water.

Some other methods include:

- ultra sound repellents (not really effective)- natural repellents (Lemongrass,citronella...)- mosquito nets, clothes

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Mosquito Control

Each stage of the mosquito's life corresponds to a dedicated way of controlling its population. There is no ''miracle solution''.

We decided to work on a natural way : ''predation'' also known as ''biological control''.

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Mosquito Predators

● bats● birds● spiders● batrachians● dragonflies (larvae/naiads and adults)● fish (they eat mosquito larvae)

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Our Solution : Dragonflies

● Dragonflies are natural predators of mosquitoes.

● We thought that we could use them. Furthermore, in certain regions of France dragonflies are becoming endangered.

Dragonfly eating a mosquito

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Dragonflies Are Endangered In France 

A French Government sponsored National Monitoring And Action Plan is still in effect.

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Dragonflies' Disappearance

● Dragonflies need humid zones ● Man is often at the origin of these zones

and they are not taken care of nowadays● Drying up marshy or swamp areas on

purpose.

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Dragonflies Are Endangered In France 

The French Red Data List

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Dragonflies Are Endangered In France : Red Data List

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Journal Le

Monde

March 2016

Out of 89 dragonfly species, around

twenty are endangered and two are already extinct.

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Raising Dragonflies In Class

Students could discover dragonflies in class, and, using a kit, raise them to make scientific observations. Each year, schools would set them free to :

● Control the mosquito population● Repopulate / help increase the populations

of endangered dragonflies

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Recommandations of the French Department For Education

Raising insects in class is encouraged by the French 'Ministère de l'Education Nationale' to introduce Scientific Observations

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Educationnal Ponds(mares pédagogiques)

● Some Educationnal Ponds Projects are already implemented (Académie = administrative Zone, 5 total in France)

● Strasbourg Zone publishes a guide

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How To Make An Educationnal Pond● A real life example in Rouen (in a Secondary School

UK system)

● specific advice for Odonata

● Partly sunny

● Mix deep and shallow areas

● List of recommanded plants

● Mix steep and slow slopes

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Raising Dragonflies At Home

● At home, children could also raise Dragonflies by buying kits that include a voucher to get the larvae by mail, exactly like what already exists for Ladybirds and Butterflies.

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Buying LarvaeLarvae are already available for sale from various companies for other types of insects, same could be done for dragonflies.

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Our Solution's Limits

● The correct dragonfly species must be sent to the right place (per country, we could use the postal code)

● Releasing too many dragonflies would create the opposite problem as they would predate on other species (tadpoles for example).

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Our Solution's Advantages

● It will reduce the mosquito population.● The solution we are proposing is not very

expensive.● It will help repopulate some some species

of dragonflies.

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February, 8th 2017 Interwiew

● We met Mr. Martin JEANMOUGIN entomologist at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (equivalent of the National History Museum in London)

● He is a specialist of Animal Conservation i.e. how to best help preserve species

● He gave us a lot of interesting advice and comments on our project.

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Interview : How To Make It Happen

● It would be a lot easier to send dragonfly eggs than larvae, as larvae are more fragile.

● It is possible to use educational ponds: even a small one is sufficient. There are even dragonflies in Paris, they only need water.

● The larvae can be fed with daphnae or isopods

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Interview : Limits

● It would be interesting to collect measures on the impact of the project on mosquito control.

● Most of the mosquito population is made of larvae, the longest part of the dragonflies' life is also spent as a larvae(naiad).

● The pond should be priviledged rather than the aquarium, even if using an aquarium is possible, it is often used by non-profit organizations for example.

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Interview : Limits

● The extinction of certain species is linked to their particular and hard to reproduce habitats.

● For example, certain species need specific plants and/or a stream (and not stagnant water). This is clearly beyond an educational pond, and would need, for exemple an action on a National Park.

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Interview : A ''Real'' Project

● It cannot have a negative impact on dragonfly conservation, and will only help these magnificent insects.

● In France, the reverse study is currently made to measure the effect of bacterial mosquito control on dragonfly population.

● Our idea creates a bond between society (school,children) and nature. For example it could be applied to the French project ''vigie-nature-école'' which means ''nature-school-vigilance''.

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''Vigie Nature Ecole''

This program is made by the ''Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle'' and proposes experiments from 1st to 13th year (UK system).

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What About The UK ?It could be just a question of time before 'Zika mosquito' also invades the UK

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What About The UK ?Dragonflies are also endangered

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Red Data List in UK

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Raising Insects In UK Schools● We could not find any official information from

DfE about raising insects in class.

● The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea publishes a 35 pages Teacher's guide to build Wildlife Gardens

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To Sum Up

● Mosquitoes spread dangerous diseases and are responsible for thousands of death per year,'Zika Mosquito'(a.k.a Tiger Mosquito) is invading France, it carries some of these diseases.

● Dragonflies are some of mosquitoes' natural predators, plus, in some regions of France they are in the Red Data List.

● We are proposing to raise dragonflies in class and at home.

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Sharing

This presentation was shared with the CM2 (6th year) class at Lycée International junior school in January 2017.

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Sharing

This presentation was shared with the 6eme (7th year) class at Marcel Roby secondary school in March 2017.

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Sharing

This presentation can be downloaded from :

http://www.lions-robotics-designers.team

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Thank You !