Diving Beneath the Surface
Term 3 kicked off with an amazing virtual reality learning experience for 180 Year 7 and 8 tamariki.
Glenis started with a karakia to set the intensions for the session.
Glenis Paul from the NZ Marine Studies Centre led six sessions that took students on a virtual dive beneath the waves. They explored some of Aotearoa’s unique marine habitats and the creatures that call them home.
St Mary’s students – It feels so real you just want to reach out and touch what is in front of you.
There were plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” as the headsets went on and tamariki and accompanying teachers suddenly found themselves surrounded by the underwater world. They watched stingrays glide elegantly past and explored large meadows of kelp providing shelter for smaller fish species.
Tamariki then visited two very different, but equally beautiful, marine reserves. The first was in the North Island and other in the South Island. These healthy, diverse ecosystems were compared with kina barrens and other less diverse or polluted marine environments. This prompted lots of discussion about what can affect the health of our moana.
Tamariki saw close up the results of overfishing and what can happen when the predators of kina dissappear
Bringing the learning back home, we talked about marine reserves here in Marlborough and the types of pollution and pressures our local marine environment can face. In small groups, tamariki brainstormed what contributes to issues such as pollution and overfishing. They then considered the small actions we can all take to help protect our moana.
For their final “dive”, students experienced something pretty special coming face-to-face with a huge male sperm whale and hearing his calls echo through the water. It was a beautiful way to finish an incredible experience. One that many of our tamariki are unlikely to forget for a very long time!