Posted on Wednesday 13 March 2019

3,000 school students discover marine science with LEARNZ

In early March, 7 Sustainable Seas Challenge researchers were involved in a 3-day LEARNZ virtual field trip to Nelson for school students.  

More than 3,000 primary and secondary school students representing 134 classes were enrolled in the trip Sustainable seas – essential for New Zealand’s health and wealth, which was timed to coincide with Seaweek.

Topics included ecosystem-based management, kaitiakitanga of the marine environment, ecosystem services and tracking plastics in our oceans. 

The students had background materials, daily videos and diary updates. There were daily web conferences, where researchers were quizzed by students on threats to the world’s oceans, New Zealand marine ecosystems and whale strandings.

On the final day, Hampden Street Primary School students joined Dana Clark, Regan Fairlie and Sam Thomas on the Nelson estuary. The students learnt how to sample, measure and count cockles, and explored the role of cockles in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.

This trip was made possible with contributions from researchers: Rebecca McMullin, Clara Schielman and Sam Thomas (University of Otago); Dana Clark, Ross Vennell and Heni Unwin (Cawthron Institute) and Regan Fairlie (Manaaki Te Awanui). As well as the live web Q&As, the researchers  worked with the LEARNZ team to produce 13 short videos.

Online resources

LEARNZ virtual field trip 2019