My week started with a day in Wellington with an introductory day and a chance to meet the other Teacher Fellows. There was a lot to take in but I flew back excited about begining a new way of working. Two bits of advice we were given were: "Thinking is working. Reading is working." They are proving to be true already.
Tuesday was a meeting with Elise Smith from the Nga Motu Marine Reserve Society. Elise has a background as an ecological scientist and we talked about some of the things I can be doing.
Wednesday was a meeting with Erin Zydervelt frm the TRC. We talked about science and what sort of things I could be doing.
These two discussions were quite different but there was enouigh commonality that I needed time to pull them togeher in my head. Taking the advice that "thinking is working" I went for a walk at the Back Beach end of the Marine Reserve. Unfortunately, it was high tide but taking the cliff top walkway gave me a chance to walk and think. I climbed Paritutu for a view of the whole Marine Reserve. That's when my camera battery died.
On Thursday morning, low tide was at 6:47 am. I met Erin and we went to Tapuae end of the Marine Reserve. Looking in rock pools I learnt things like how to identify the three types of barnacle most commonly found, some different types of limpets, and the scientific names for things.
We talked about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it. While I found those answers fairly easy, I wasn't immediately able to answer, why am I doing it? and what is the objective for doing the field work? After some research in the afternoon and some thinking about those questions I submitted a proposal to Erin. This is the first thing I have noticed: In the classroom we would probably do something just for it's own sake, but in the real world a field study is carried out to meet an objective. At the planning stage this is something I need to involve the class with more - why are we doing this? and not just for the WALTs (We Are Learning To). It will give lessons (not just science) greater meaning.
So far, there are three types of barnacle (that I know of) in the Tapuae Marine Reserve. Here are photos of them and one of the view from the southern end of the reserve.
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