Discovery

Learning All at Sea

Over 200 senior secondary school students from Whangarei to the South Island's West Coast are getting the chance to get a close-up view of marine research on board the 28-metre vessel Kaharoa. It's all part of the Sea and Learn Programme operated by NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).

The hands-on marine science experience sees groups of a dozen student from selected school spend a day on the research ship as it visits various ports throughout the country. It's not a pleasure cruise -- the students rotate through a series of activities involving sampling of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water column, bottom sediments and examining organisms caught in a bottom trawl.

On-board science teacher Graham Foster is working on developing a set of related teaching resources that can be used in the programme or in the classroom for those not lucky enough to be selected. For every school chosen to participate in this year's Sea and Learn, four others missed out, but if the enthusiasm of schools an students is any indication, the programme has a long future ahead of it.

Photo courtesy of NIWA