Grade 8 students at Algonquin Road receive national recognition

Grade 8 students at Algonquin Road Public School have received national recognition for their participation in supporting a local fish habitat and for taking part in a cross-district inquiry based learning study. They have earned one of three honourable mentions, awarded in Canada, for their entry in the RBC-Evergreen Watershed Champions contest.

Michele Henschel, Curriculum Co-ordinator for Science and Technological Studies, and Martha Walli, e-Learning Contact for Rainbow District School Board, led the cross-district inquiry based learning project in collaboration with Anna-Marie Boulding, Instructional Technology Consultant with the Simcoe County District School Board. The Algonquin students used iPad Minis and the Blended Learning environment to collaborate with students at Goodfellow Public School in Innisfil on the Grade 8 water systems science unit. 

Under the leadership of John Hazen of the Sudbury Game and Fish Protective Association and Algonquin Road Public School teacher Darren Foy, the students had a unique opportunity to work on the first spawning bed to be constructed in a landlocked lake in Ontario – Broder 23 (Wolf) Lake, which is located in the East Wanapitei River watershed. 

The outflow from another body of water, located above and to the east of the landlocked lake, was used to create the stream of moving water required for spawning and for oxygenating eggs. This source of moving water enabled the successful construction of the spawning bed and resting pool system.

“The students’ efforts were part of a series of steps taken to build the spawning bed and reclaim the lake, which had become acidic,” said Darren Foy. “The lake has been rehabilitated and is now a habitat for stocked brook trout, splake and rainbow trout. The spawning bed will create a self-sustaining fish population in the lake.”

Following their work at the spawning bed site, the students developed media presentations that explained how the system worked and how the construction process unfolded. The slideshow played for the entire March Break at the Sudbury Game and Fish Protective Association’s annual fishpond event and served to increase public awareness about local efforts to reclaim lakes.

Algonquin Road Public School will receive $500 through the RBC-Evergreen Watershed Champions Award. 

For more information, visit: http://www.evergreen.ca/downloads/pdfs/watershed_award_2014/Algonquin%20Road%20Public%20School.pdf

 

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Media Contact:

Michael Bellrose, Principal, Algonquin Road Public School

Rainbow District School Board, 705-522-3171