Natural Stocking of a New Pond: a Long Term Study

	PROJECT DESCRIPTION Primary school children were involved with the design and construction of a school pond and then followed its natural colonisation.	AREAS OF SCIENCE Astronomy Chemistry Computing Engineering / Technology Environment Interdisciplinary Life Science / Medicine Physics	WHERE School Other institution Field / Expedition WHEN In curriculum Extra curricular Work experience	SCHOOL TYPE Primary Secondary to 16 Post 16 Independent Maintained Sixth Form College Further Education
	PROJECT ORGANISERS Robert Dawson, Headteacher, Hodthorpe Primary School, Worksop. Dr Francis Gilbert, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, advises.

Project Participants

Thirty-eight children, aged eight to eleven, take part in the project in any one year. The project falls within the curriculum.

Science Programme

Graph of project data The original project was for primary school children to design and construct a pond and then investigate its natural stocking. After the pond design and construction phase in the Autumn of 1990, which involved not only the children but also a number of people from the local community, the scientific programme has developed to include:

Making weekly sweeps with nets to collect organisms and identifying them;
Measurement of pH and temperature;
Recording data in spreadsheets and databases;
Making comparisons with other local ponds;
Hypothesising as to the origins of the organisms and investigating these hypotheses;
Analysing patterns in stocking and hence predicting future patterns.

Within a primary school such a project can be linked closely with the wider curriculum and provide much reinforcement of the children's work (Dawson, 1994).

Personal Development

The project has fired the children's enthusiasm and that of their parents. It has enables older/able children to design experiments of their own and conduct them. The children have also acquired an expertise in identifying organisms and have found that their knowledge can sometimes match that of much older amateur naturalists. There is evidence too that children who have left the primary school and have entered secondary education are more involved and interested in science at secondary school and are achieving more.

Outcomes

Pupils and helpers fishing for fauna in the school pond Apart from the personal development and achievements of the pupils, the scientific outcomes have included the identification of about 90 macro fauna. A month after the pond was first filled in November 1990, pupils noted the appearance of protozoa and by March of the following year whirligig beetles and waterboatmen had arrived. New finds are now rare and children have moved on to studying seasonal patterns.

Another outcome has been that the school has been successful in a number of competitions, including a bronze award in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Trust's competition and first prize in Derbyshire County Council's 'Green Watch' environmental competition.

Project Origin

The project was designed initially by Robert Dawson and taken up with enthusiasm by the children, who also became involved in planning as the project evolved.

Resources

The time commitment has been high but very worthwhile. Pupils are involved on a weekly basis. It proved difficult to record all the diverse data within the software packages available in primary schools; much time was wasted in entering data on a computer and then 'losing' it, although all of it is also held on record sheets.
Small primary schools such as Hodthorpe, which has 150 pupils, operate on small budgets. Outside funding or help 'in kind' is needed to create a pond of the size that Hodthorpe has. Costs of equipment can be relatively high and again outside funding is useful. An average sum of £300 per year is needed to sustain the project. It has been funded mainly by the Scientific Research in Schools Scheme, as well as by the Derbyshire Environmental Association, English Nature and local natural history groups.

Contact

Robert Dawson, Headteacher, Hodthorpe Primary School, Queens Road, Hodthorpe, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 4UT.
Tel: +44 (0) 1909 720315.