On the 15th February, the Year 12 Biology class headed down to Smithfield Rocky Shore to gather data for our ecology internal.

This trip allowed us to think more critically about what we had learned in the classroom and gave us hands-on experience with the organisms living in the (crab infested) rock pools, such as Mussels, Limpets, and Chitons. We even got the opportunity to dissect a few of these creatures, which gave us a broader understanding of adaptations and the abiotic and biotic reasoning of their placement. Collecting our data was a bit of a struggle with the wind resisting us, and our tape measures stretched over 56m of rocky shore, but after a few laughs and some of us getting a little wet, we managed to do so successfully. My personal highlight was finding a tiny live crustacean species swimming around inside of a mussels shell when I opened it up.

Keely and Ruth, the educators from the South Canterbury museum accompanied us. They were extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject. This helped us gain more knowledge and made the experience more enjoyable. 

Thank you to Miss Williams who organised the trip and Miss Edzes who accompanied us as well.