The Creek Detectives
This morning the children of Alveare (aka 'The Creek Detectives') made their way down to Merri Creek seeking answers to the many questions they had about our local creek. One of the main questions the children were interested in was, "Is the creek healthy?" We discussed how scientists may work to figure out the answers to such big questions.
As brilliant as the teachers of Alveare are (wink, wink) we were thrilled to have the assistance of Kate and her friend Marion, who is an aquatic ecologist, to help us with some initial investigations. On arrival at the creek the children were delighted to see Marion wading around in the water and catching bugs with her giant net!
A sample of the bugs in the creek was collected and placed in to large viewing trays where the children could crouch down and get a closer look at the creepy crawlies. They had spoons to scoop up the insects and tiny bowls to study them in. Once an insect was 'caught' the children looked closely at their physical characteristics and then marked them off as being 'present in Merri Creek' on their bug diagram sheet.
Our project is off to a flying start and the children are enthusiastic about designing more experiments that will help them determine if the creek is healthy.
Many thanks to Kate and Maz who donated their time and expertise to offer our children such a rich learning opportunity.
"I liked the big, fat fish that swam fast." Stanley
"I found out there are some animals that can live anywhere and some that are a bit fussy and only live in some places." Veronica
"I was surprised by all the different animals we found in the creek." Noah
"I liked it because we got to do some science." Kiki
" I caught a few backswimmer bugs and a golden tadpole with a golden face." Kaden
"One of the creatures jumped out at me and I was really scared! I dropped the entire bowl!" Oliver
"I thought some of the bugs were really cool. Some of the bugs weren't on the sheet and I wondered what they were. I never knew there were so many bugs in the one small space." Mohamed
"I really liked finding the bug that bit people. I don't think the creek is healthy because there was lots of brown stuff in there." Matilda
" I learnt that there were lots of types of bugs at the creek. I enjoyed looking in the tubs and hunting for the bugs." Louiza
" I think the creek is not healthy because I think the animals have been scraping dirt into it." Oskar
"There were a lot of different bugs I have never seen. I enjoyed working in a team and investigating about bugs." Alaura
"The tubs were full of weird animals. I caught three biting ones, one weird one and another black weird one". AJ
" I learnt that some bugs actually lived in the water. I thought that all of them lived on land." Alex
"I took my magnifying glass to the creek because I thought it could help the kids look at the insects." Lenny
"I learnt that there are fish and insects that like dirty water." Ed
"I found out that there are not very many backswimmers in the creek. I predicted this because there wasn't many of these type of bugs in the trays." Matthew
" I enjoyed going to the creek because it was fun looking at the creatures and testing to see if it was healthy water." Lola
