Les and Maia: Ecological issue in our local catchment area website

Students are introduced to the Murder under the Microscope website and focus on the biodiversity of their local catchment area. They look at scientific terminology and create a word bank for their own use. They complete an online quiz that investigates cause and effect in ecosystems. Student pairs must also create a website that identifies an ecological issue in the local catchment area and educates others about this issue and why it is important to preserve and protect it. The website will include an Action Plan that shows others in the community what they can do to reduce their ecological footprint.

Les and Maia were part of a science enrichment group last term focussing on ecological issues in our local catchment area. Much of this project required the students to be self sufficient when researching and compiling information. For some students this was a challenge and others found the lots of fun though still hard work as they had to juggle other school work commitments etc. Enrichment projects require students to be self motivated and develop good problem solving strategies as the tasks require higher order thinking processes and self-regulation. For year six students projects of this nature are a great introduction into what is required in high school and two students in particular did a great job creating their website. Maia and Les ran with the task from the beginning, sharing the work load and discussing how they would approach certain aspects of the project. They only required teacher support initially when introduce to creating a Weebly website. They never argued, used the resources provided (and researched  much of their own) and ultimately have done a wonderful job 🙂

Here is a link to their website: Coffs Creek and Littering Don’t Mix

Maia has also gone on to create her own personal Weebly: My Aotearoa, with permission from her dad, and it offers some wonderful advice for other students on friendship, bullying and just being happy with who you are.  Brilliant work Maia 🙂

Here is an outline of the task.

Mrs Booth