Citizen Scientists

Last Tuesday, a handful of keen citizen scientists made up of akonga and kaiako from Waterlea School headed the Litter Survey by the Mangere Boat Club. Waterlea School is just one of many kura who have taken responsibility for the different sides of the Manukau Harbour.

This mahi was possible due to our Kahui Ako's collaborative efforts with the charity organization, Sustainable Coastlines. This was the third time this particular set of Waterlea Students took part in the Litter Survey of our local beach. It was clear that these akonga were acutely aware of the contribution they were making to their community, they were thinking about the results of their survey, what it means for their place, and what actions they can take. The video below gives you a snapshot of their mahi and was put together by these kids.

Otis and Bella (akonga) pointed out that there were significantly more glass & ceramic items found in our survey in November, as compared to the high instances of plastic found in the April survey. Nathan (akonga) wondered about the role of the tides and how there were more plastic items found on one side of the harbour, as compared to the other side. All

citizen scientists wondered about the impact of the nationwide Lockdown prior to starting.

This was purposeful and authentic learning contributing to our local community. What steps will our akonga and kura take next? You can bet their actions will start in our own kura and new actions will be informed by the data they've gathered thus far. Keep an eye out for these citizen scientists. :)

Feel free to check out the results of the survey and explore the website to see results from previous surveys.

https://litterintelligence.org/data/survey?id=641