Nature Agents

Rationale

Kirsty Brennan (Environmental Scientist) came in on Friday 31 May, 2019 to work with a group of students (5) to enable them to enter the data from our Field Trip Study at Dudley Creek, online. This visit is a follow up session offered to us by Kirsty and post our Field Trip Study back in Term 1 February 27, 2019.

Student Voice

When we worked with Kirsty we first used a set of cards to get us warmed up, where we had to read the information on the back of the card to determine the word that went with the meaning. All the words were related to our stream study.

Then we moved on to looking at the Nature Agents data sheets of the information we collected on site at Dudley Creek under the headings of: site characterisation, water quality, invertebrates and habitat.

From there we used the data sheets to complete the activities in a booklet that was given to us by Kirsty, which showed us whether our stream health was Good, Medium or Poor.

As well as this, we also entered the information online onto a spreadsheet which then became evidence of what we discovered about Dudley Creek. The information online then formed statistical results needed to inform us about whether or not our stream was ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’.

Our next steps include: 

1. Another visit to our site Dudley Creek (Term 3) and

2. To see what we need to put in place to improve the health of our stream e.g. planting more native plants around the area near the water which will encourage more insects to come back to the water and see more higher quality invertebrates.”

3. Present as a group our understandings of the data and what it means for us.

Bird Squad Project (South New Brighton Estuary)

We started this project in Term 2, 2018 with a small group of year 4 children and we selected this year group because we wanted this project to be sustainable and ongoing, so that the new learning they developed will be passed onto younger children who follow in their footsteps.

The project is student-led with guided support from our Coordinator Sian Cavell, whom we teamed up with from the Children's’ Commissioning Foundation. The planning took over two to three terms to complete as we were given this project that focused on restoring a small section of the South New Brighton Estuary. We went from hydroslides and spa pools to later on “having a reality check” as Martin (9 years old) would say of bird homes, more estuary appropriate plants and signage.

The highlight along with many other moments of this project was not only did this group gain a lot of educational knowledge that they will forever have but it was the confidence and the mana they felt when they got to share their project, when they got to lead the project, when they got to direct what was put into the estuary and when/where it was going to happen and that it is a continued project that will grow. “Dear Jane, thank you for giving me the confidence to face my fears and to make a difference. From Mali” (9 years old) a letter written to Jane Goodall.

Student Voice

“It’s not all about the money and you. It’s about the animals that need looking after in the world.” Jordan, 9 years old.

“We can look after nature and animals in small ways.” Fiaoo, 9 years old.

“I feel lucky and grateful because being in an amazing group like the Bird Squad changed my learning. I never knew that birds are just like us humans. Like how our parents treat us is like how we should treat birds.” Sia, 10 years old.

“I learned that you shouldn’t stop loving what you’re actually doing because it could be a good thing to change the world in a small way.” Luciana, 10 years old. 

Mareta and Debbie are Within School Teachers from St James School, Aranui