Pupils learn about clean streams
Young Kiwis are learning how they can tell if waterways are clean.
Palmerston North’s Winchester School pupils braved the cold yesterday morning to learn about water quality by observing bug life and collecting samples.
Armed with gumboots, nets and buckets, they set out into the wilderness at Bledisloe Park where Horizons Regional Council environmental educator Sarah Galley taught them about acidity, clarity and depth.
Parents as well as teachers examined flies and beetles that helped determine if Turitea Stream was healthy, as bugs such as mayflies only survived in clean waterways.
Kayla Adams, 11, said she wanted to learn about the different bugs that showed how healthy a stream was.
She liked fishing and often tested how deep the water was, but she was keen to learn new tricks, she said.
Galley, who takes dozens of schools on stream studies, said teaching children aged 11 or younger about water quality was important and they were always keen to learn.
It was all about getting children out of the classroom and making it an enjoyable experience, she said.
With topics such as acidity, it was important to use examples that children could understand, Galley said.
One way she taught children about acidity was comparing it to lemons and milk.
Milk was at the low end of the PH scale and lemons were the most acidic.
The water being tested should be at a PH level of about 7, which was close to drinking water, Galley said.
Winchester School teacher Matt Murphy said the children learned about water quality because it was a topic of national significance.
It was becoming more important to know when water was safe and how to test its cleanliness, Murphy said.