“Not all students thrive within classroom settings and classroom-based learning, so being able to offer hands-on learning in a meaningful way was incredibly powerful.”
- Alex Daniel, Enviroschools Facilitator
Enviroschools Facilitator Alex Daniel, left, helps students with their macro-invertebrate score sheets.
A new Enviroschools initiative has successfully inspired its first school to join the programme.
Morrinsville College is a recent addition to the growing network of schools involved in the Enviroschools Waikato programme, thanks to ‘Friends of Enviroschools’ and a water monitoring field trip involving 80 geography students.
The Friends of Enviroschools initiative allows schools to access Enviroschools resources and a trained facilitator for one-off projects to see if they like being part of the programme – and before making a long-term commitment which includes funding support by the regional council and respective territorial authority.
Waikato Regional Council Senior Education Advisor Michelle Daly, who manages the Enviroschools programme, says Friends of Envirschools is about building relationships and showing schools what the programme can offer.
“We’re increasingly able to support NCEA curriculum in science, social science and the relatively new education for sustainability subjects.”
Earlier this year, Morrinsville College – as a friend of Enviroschools – asked for hands-on practical support for the geography students to complete their NCEA assessment needs.
Students assess health indicators of the stream.
Enviroschools Facilitator Alex Daniel helped the school design a field trip to assess the impacts on the Waihou River, with the regional council providing water quality testing kits and equipment.
“Not all students thrive within a classroom setting and classroom-based learning, so being able to offer hands-on learning in a meaningful way is incredibly powerful,” says Alex.
She says the students collected water samples at the source of the Waihou River – the Blue Springs near Putaruru – and at Te Aroha, 20 kilometres downstream.
“They measured water clarity, velocity and temperature, and monitored habitat and macroinvertebrate communities. They looked at land use along the waterway and what activities may be contributing to human-induced climate change.”
Morrinsville College geography teacher Callum Flynn says the field trip was an invaluable experience for his students.
“It was an environment where all the students were highly engaged. They were all interested in analysing the awa and loved using the equipment, which they had never seen before."
Morrinsville College Social Sciences Learning Area Assistant Charlotte Osbourne says the school became an Enviroschool to support its strong focus on environmental sustainability.
“We thought it’s all very well teaching and learning about it, but we want our students to bring about change and develop their own social action skills.
“We have loved the variety of resources provided by Enviroschools and the support given to help our students’ work towards implementing some small school initiatives.”
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