More than 50 secondary school students attending the Otago Science Academy were taken on a field trip to study the effects of an urban environment on wildlife in the Leith as part of zoology freshwater sciences Prof Ross Thompson’s session on freshwater ecology.
"What we would have expected to see was that some of the pollution-sensitive invertebrates that we find further up the Leith Valley might have disappeared by the time we got down in front of the university registry building.
"And indeed, we did find that, so there was signs that by the river having gone through a bit of the city, that had had some negative effect on the invertebrates."
He said it was a good opportunity to encourage the future University of Otago students not to throw shopping trolleys, scooters or other rubbish in the Leith.
"Certainly, it was a good chance for the students to talk about what can happen in urban streams and why it’s a bad idea for things to get chucked off bridges.
"Indoctrination? Yes, it’s a permanent selling scheme for sustainability."
The Otago Science Academy is a year-long programme focusing on students from rural/provincial, small and formerly lower decile schools around New Zealand.
Academy director Steve Broni said all of the year 13 students attending the academy had been nominated as having the potential to excel in science.
They would attend week-long science camps in January and July, attend seminars, lab sessions, short three-hour elective projects covering subjects not generally taught at school, and science communication workshops.
And between the January and July camps, the students would work in groups on a science communication project, he said.
At the same time, a four-day professional development workshop for teachers was held to provide support for the teaching of science at schools, he said.
