Students from Brent Atkins grade 7/8 class had a great time trying to save a clear plastic house from a rushing river on November 22, 2018. The students from St. George School were getting their hands wet trying out LRSD's first hydrology table.
The table, which mimics the flow of water over a landscape, contains scientific instruments including a flow monitor and variously weighted plastic particulates that mimic a variety of sediment diameters. The result is a scientific modelling tool not usually found outside of universities that can predict erosion and deposition patterns and help Middle Years students answer big questions about the preservation and conservation of riparian habitats.
Sam Iromini is in grade 7. "I think that it's going to be good for us to experience what's going on in the world today," he says. "When we grow up we can figure out how to stop the flooding."
The hydrology table is one part of the St. George School Freshwater and Ecological Institute, which aims to engage students in authentic citizen-science projects and partnerships that contribute to watershed management. Students have been collecting data on the health of the Seine River since 2011 under their teacher Brent Atkins' watchful eye.
"It's really important for students to understand the sedimentary properties of Manitoba rivers and the flood cycle. Water is such a big issue in Manitoba. By providing students with rich academic research opportunities in the classroom, we hope to empower them to be citizen scientists, contributing made-in-Manitoba solutions to Manitoba problems," he says.
Alissa Thurston is in grade 8 and enjoys experiencing science first-hand at the hydrology table and doing fieldwork along the Seine River. "It's good that we get to do science because people care about the environment," she says, adding that pulling eight garbage bags an hour out of the Seine River was eye opening for her and her classmates.
Karina Dokupil is in grade 8. "I think it's very good for us to use the table now so we can use it later, in our jobs," she says, adding that understanding how water flows over land will be important "later in life."
Half the funding for the hydrology table came from the City of Winnipeg, primarily from the Community Incentive Grant Program.
Brian Mayes is the City Councillor for St. Vital. "I am pleased to start this new term as Councillor with this exciting initiative with the Louis Riel School Division. I have worked with LRSD on sports, arts and now environmental projects, and I look forward to further joint efforts that will help St. Vital families," says Mayes.
Michele Kading is the Executive Director of Save Our Seine and has been working with Brent Atkins closely on Seine River research. "It's a wonderful addition to what the school has already been able to achieve with its Freshwater Institute," she says. "It is going to allow [Atkins] to teach some very advanced concepts to students in a way that you can't with just words."
Trustees Robert Page and Chris Sigurdson attended the unveiling as representatives of the Ward.
Page says he hopes a future Minister of the Environment comes from St. George School. "It's one thing to be told about how a river flows and erodes and deposits sediments or to read about it, but to stand there and watch it happen and to try to make changes in the modeling soil and see what works and what doesn't is a very real life experience," he says.
Sigurdson loves the students' enthusiasm. "It's really fantastic that they are so engaged with the environment," he says. "It's great to see the school support this important project."
Since the Institute was formed in 2015, students from St. George School have partnered with Waterways (formerly Adopt-A-River), Save Our Seine, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, Trout United Canada, Fort Whyte Alive, the City of Winnipeg, the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium Inc., and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation to engage in watershed research and stewardship activities. The Institute received a Manitoba Excellence in Sustainability Award from the Province of Manitoba in 2016.
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