Pupils delve into wildlife workshop

GRADE 5 pupils from Barwon Heads Primary School recently carried out some detective work delving deeper into natural worlds.

During a Barwon Estuary Project science day, students took part in a Barwon Coast run workshop where they learnt about some of wildlife’s unique abilities to survive in the local area.

“Students started at grass roots, studying a particular animal to list its visual features, discussing how these adaptations assist the animal in its daily life,” Barwon Coast community liaison and education manager Maddie Glynn said.

“They then worked through classification, providing additional information for students to develop a dichotomous key for the species they were working on.”

Ms Glynn said as most of the wildlife was nocturnal and generally not seen during the day, it was challenging for many to know what may be out there.

“Students learnt field techniques that they could apply in the school yard, at home or while visiting the coast to identify what animals may have been in the area during the night.

“These field techniques included, nest structures, skull identification, reading tracks in the sands and the wonderful world of poo; scat analysis.”

She said the Barwon Estuary Project schools program provided unique opportunities for students to delve deeper into natural worlds, providing them with skill sets that lead to making informed decisions that will lead to positive change.

If you would like to learn more about the Barwon Estuary Project and how you can contribute to citizen science initiatives, head to barwonestuaryproject.wordpress.com/about-the-barwon-estuary-project.