Ever wondered what lives in our freshwater reserves?

Kids exploring the wetlandsStudents go pond-dipping to identify a range of stream invertebrates and explore the wider food chains and life cycles.

They consider the importance of our biodiversity eating nutritionally and appropriately, as well as investigating the impact of human choices on the sustainability of our ecosystems.

Year level 3 to 8
Curriculum level 1 to 5
Availability Year-round
Times 9.30am to 11.45am or 12.30pm to 2.30pm
Site The Groynes
Cost Free
Number of students Maximum of 35
Special requirements None
  • Biodiversity and life cycles.
  • Interdependency of plants and animals at the Groynes.
  • Sustainability and the consequences of human impact on our waterways.
  • Personal responsibility for action

Students will be immersed in the history and ecology of the Groynes as they investigate what lives in and around the streams in this area.

Students will get up close and personal with some local bugs as they carry out an aquatic invertebrate investigation and learn about the effects of water quality and what they can do about it.

Students become water creatures as their learning is reinforced with an action-packed role-play game.

We are learning to:

  • Identify some invertebrates living in our waterways.
  • Describe one or two aspects of the history of the Groynes.
  • Explain how the choices we make as humans affect the quality of life of organisms in the ecosystem.
  • Identify actions we can take to sustain life in and around our waterways.

Thinking

Students are encouraged to display intellectual curiosity by suggesting ways of reducing pollutants in our waterways, in order to improve the water quality and support greater biodiversity.

Managing self

Students will manage their learning and think and act independently in an outdoor, near-water environment

Participating and contributing

Students will participate in an aquatic invertebrate investigation by helping to collect specimens, handle them respectfully and identify what has been found.

Relating to others

Students will interact effectively with others throughout group activities; they are afforded the opportunity to be involved in competitive and collaborative tasks.

Curriculum area Strand and level Objective
Science
Pūtaiao 		 Nature of Science
Levels 1 to 4		 Investigating in science
Communicating in science
Participating and contributing
Living World
Levels 1 to 5		 Life processes
Ecology
Evolution
Planet Earth and Beyond
Levels 1 to 4		 Earth systems
Interacting systems
Social Sciences
Tikanga ā-Iwi		 Levels  2 to 4 Place and environment
Continuity and change
Health and Physical Education
Hauora		 Healthy Communities and Environment
Levels 2 and 3		 Societal attitudes and values
Community resources
People and the environment