Inquiry learning at school has led to a group of students getting practical about improving the quality of the water in the Manuherikia River.

A group of students decided to take their learning past the classroom and into their own environment, by planting trees that will help to improve the quality of water in the Manuherikia river.

And they’re not just walking away now it’s done – they’re keen on doing more.

Enviroschools facilitator Anna Robinson said the senior classes at Alexandra Primary School had been involved in an inquiry-based learning around the topic of water quality and health.

Inquiry-based learning begins by posing questions or problems for the students to investigate, rather than the teacher simply presenting facts. This particular inquiry really piqued the students’ interest.

“Through their inquiry learning, as naturally happens, they all discovered areas that particularly interested them.

“The group I’ve been working with were very interested in how riparian planting, or planting along the waterways, can help to improve the health of waterways.”

Stella Kimmey (11) and Dusty Pilgrim (11) get hands-on with planting.

So, Anna said, the group had visited the Haehaeata native nursery to learn how the community nursery operated, about eco-sourcing of native seeds, and had propagated some of their own native seedlings.

“We tested the Manuherikia River a couple of times throughout our studies to look at the health of that waterway,” she said.

“One of the things they identified was that in the areas they were testing, while the riparian zone had willows planted, there were no natives to encourage biodiversity.

“They had learned biodiversity was an important contributor to the overall health of the waterways.”

Anna said the students then contacted Contact Energy specifically about the Linger and Die area, as Contact Energy manages that area.

“There is some planting, but it’s quite patchy, and the kids thought, it’s close to school, planting is really something we could manage and it’s something we could do to help.”

Contact Energy quickly came on board and purchased appropriate natives from the Haehaeata nursery for the students.

Nursery manager Dhana Pillai said she had welcomed the students’ interest, and their wish to do something practical.

“It’s always a good thing to be adding more native plants into our environment to improve the area that we live in,” Dhana said.

“Natives definitely are good to improve water quality; they create shade and filter the water before it enters the water course, and overall improve the water quality.”

Last week, Contact Energy, Haehaeata, Anna and the students all came together and spent an afternoon planting native trees at Linger and Die.

“The really cool thing about it, it’s not just a one-off, the kids and Alexandra Primary School are really keen to maintain the trees and keep planting over the next few years, even those kids who are moving on to secondary school next year,” Anna said.

Connor Bruce (12) said he really encouraged everyone to give planting a go, because it is really healthy for the community.

Images supplied

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