We headed out at 8:20am and walked to the entrance to the bush, down the fire trails, until we reached the Woronora River. Once we got there, we split up into our class groups and headed to our first activity. We all got the chance to go dip net fishing and this was a lot of fun. After a time of questions and preparation, people were in the water with their shoes off. The class got super involved, almost everyone had the water up to their knees. As a whole, my class caught 3 macro organisms. After dip net fishing, we had morning tea where everyone chilled out and ate their morning snacks. We then used quadrats to observe a particular area of the environment and the natural living organisms in it. This was a lot of fun and people were finding all sorts of fun creatures, insects and bugs. After the quadrat activity, we headed to do some pH testing The group tested 3 pH's - the East Side of the weir (the moving water), the West Side of the weir (the still water) and normal bottled water. After this activity we walked back to school and started an early lunch. Overall the day was super fun! It was an amazing time to enjoy a day in God's wonderful creation with friends, while also learning about the environment. We learnt many things about how certain indicators can affect the natural aspects of the environment including; pH of water, amount of sediment in water, human impact to the environment and human impact to ecosystems.
Jayden Dundas – Year 10 Student
While on our excursion to The Needles, by the Woronora River we did some hands-on and engaging activities. We tested the pH of water using pH strips and learned about the importance of water movement. We also did dip net fishing, which helped us understand what type of organism lived in the river at The Needles. Everyone especially enjoyed this activity because we could get a little wet and explore more of the river and find cool creatures. Lastly, we observed the environment through using quadrats. By using a small area to investigate and observe, we could really study and notice the organisms that lived around the area. Many people caught lots of bugs and small insects. Throughout this whole experience, I learned that human actions always affect the environment, whether positive or negative. In addition, I learned that the environment and ecosystem is constantly changing and connected to everything. Therefore this ultimately showed me how important our role is to protect the environment around us. Overall, the day was fun, engaging, hands on and educational. It was so nice being outside the classroom and being able to connect what we have been learning inside the classroom to the outside world. It made me appreciate the local environment more.
Alana Young – Year 10 Student
On our excursion yesterday we walked down to The Needles, by the Woronora River.
When we got to The Needles we met with some rangers who would be our guides and walked down a long hill to the river bank.
In our classes we participated in 3 activities to observe and evaluate the health of the river and the surrounding ecosystems. The first activity was dip net fishing. This included using a net attached to a stick to collect bugs and creatures from the Woronora River. This was really fun because we were able to take our shoes off and explore the river. As a class we found a number of different water bugs and shells which were interesting to see.
In the second activity we used quadrats to isolate random areas of the river bank and search for animals. During this activity, as a class we found lots of different creatures including spiders, flys, ants, cicadas, tadpoles and other unknown critters. By searching for animals throughout the river bank we were able to evaluate the biodiversity of the river ecosystem and use that to evaluate the health of the ecosystem.
Finally our class used pH testing to determine the acidity of the river. After gathering samples of water from the moving east side and the stagnant west side, both water samples were found to have a pH of 6.5.
Overall this was a fun and educational day out in God's creation, and we determined that the ecosystem around that part of the Woronora River is currently healthy.
Noah Vines – Year 10 Student
