1.
Improving biodiversity
Learning about water bugs – An Early Years investigation into freshwater
environments as special places; assessing water quality by learning about
macroinvertebrates and making site improvements.
Contents
Big idea
Page 1
Overview
Page 2
Essential questions
Page 2
Goals
Page 2
Links to the South Australian Teaching for Effective Learning Framework – Domain 4
Page 2
Links to the Australian Curriculum
Page 2
Key words
Page 3
Learning activities
Page 3
Activity 1: Beginning the water discussion (classroom)
Page 3
Activity 2: Taking the discussion outside (classroom and outside)
Page 4
Activity 3: The Story of Danny the Drip (classroom)
Page 4
Activity 4: Healthy or unhealthy? Exploring the health of a waterway through ‘natural clues’ (classroom)
Page 5
Activity 5: Exploring freshwater creatures and what bio-indicator creatures are (classroom)
Page 6
Activity 6: Collecting and observing macroinvertebrates from a local site (outside and/or classroom)
Page 6
Activity 7: What is the quality of the water? Is it healthy or unhealthy for water bugs? (classroom)
Page 7
Activity 8: How healthy is our site and taking action to improve the quality of our local freshwater? (classroom)
Page 7
Extension activities
Page 8
Resources
Page 10
Attachments
Page 10
Attachment one - Make your own net
Page 10
Attachment two: Danny the Drip teacher notes and story
Page 11
Attachment three: Creek diagram
Page 13
Attachment four: Macroinvertebrate cut outs
Page 14
Attachment five: Macroinvertebrate recording sheet
Page 16
Attachment six: Local wetlands
Page 18
Big idea
Local waterways are special natural sites and need to be cared for. How healthy is a local pond, wetland, creek or river system?
By undertaking a macroinvertebrate survey you can assess the health of a local freshwater habitat. The range of water
macroinvertebrates is a good indicator of the health of a freshwater environment. In this series of lessons R-2 students
undertake investigations, report their findings and plan actions to improve the freshwater quality of their chosen site. Learning
activities are selected to engage head, heart and hands and for students to connect with and care for local freshwater habitats.
Teachers are encouraged to adapt the investigation to suit the interests and needs of their students.
2.
Overview
This investigation aims to build upon children’s intrinsic curiosity and assist them to make discoveries about their local
freshwater environments. It aims to incorporate many of the valuable resources available on the education pages of Natural
Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges’ website in a sequential and supportive way for teachers. Teachers and students discuss
and select a local freshwater habitat to investigate for water bugs. Students share local knowledge, observe and research sites
which will inform discussion. This website provides you with further local resources and information. Once the freshwater
invertebrates have been investigated it is important to return them to the site.
Essential questions

How are waterways special places and how can we care for them?

What does bio-indicator mean and why are fresh water macroinvertebrates bio-indicators?

What are some of the freshwater macroinvertebrates living in our local freshwater habitats?

What can freshwater macroinvertebrates tell us about the health of a freshwater environment?

Why are freshwater water macroinvertebrates important and why do we care about them?

What can be done to improve local, special places such as waterways?
Goals
Students will understand
The diversity of macroinvertebrate
species in a freshwater habitat is an
indicator of biodiversity health.
The importance of fresh water quality.
Actions can be taken to improve
freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity.
Students will know
What a bio-indicator is.
What biodiversity is.
What an ecosystem is.
The connection between freshwater
water quality and macroinvertebrate
types.
Some local macroinvertebrate species.
What is needed for a range of
macroinvertebrates to live in local
freshwater habitats.
Why we need to care for special places
and macroinvertebrates.
Students will be able to
Identify some local freshwater
macroinvertebrates.
Discuss ways to improve freshwater
water quality in their local area.
Take action to improve special places
such as waterways.
Links to the South Australian Teaching for Effective Learning Framework – Domain 4
Personalise and
4.1 build on learners’
4.2 connect learning to 4.3 apply and assess
connect learning
understandings
students’ lives and
learning in authentic
aspirations
contexts
4.4 communicate
learning in multiple
modes
Links to the Australian Curriculum - (teachers to determine specific links for year levels)
Learning areas
Science
English
Mathematics
Geography
Australian Curriculum - science links
Click here to go to the Australian Curriculum website:
It shows Foundation to Yr 2 Science with the General Capabilities and Sustainability cross curriculum filter applied. It provides
content descriptors for each strand and year level, along with achievement standards and science portfolio work samples.
This lesson sequence reflects many of the content descriptors from the Biological Sciences in the Science Understanding Strand
and also within the Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills strands.
Science assessment samples
At the above link there are science portfolio work samples at the end of the year level achievement standards.
The following pages from each year level provide some assessment ideas related to this inquiry you may choose to use with
students.

Foundation, pg 3 Living Things are affected by their Environment

Year 1, pg 11 Minibeasts

Year 2 Daintree Pond Wetland.
Cross-curriculum priorities
3.
Sustainability
OI.2 All life forms,
including human life, are
connected through
ecosystems on which they
depend for their wellbeing
and survival.
General capabilities
Literacy
Numeracy
Key words
Key word
Bio-indicator
Biodiversity
Diversity
Habitat
Ecosystem
Habitat diversity
Habitat condition
Aquatic
macroinvertebrates
Species
OI5. World views are
formed by experiences
at personal, local,
national and global
levels, and are linked to
individual and
community actions for
sustainability.
Information and
communication
technology capability
OI7. Actions for a more
sustainable future
reflect values of care,
respect and
responsibility, and
require us to explore
and understand
environments.
Critical and creative
thinking
OI.9 Sustainable futures
result from actions
designed to preserve
and/or restore the
quality and uniqueness
of environments
Intercultural
understanding
Use
Biological indicators are animals, plants and other life-forms used to monitor the health of an
environment or eco-system. If an animal is an indicator, it is the first to respond to change; e.g. frogs
indicate the health, or otherwise, of a waterway, as they are one of the first species to be impacted by
pollution.
All living organisms (trees, plants, genes, ecosystems).
The number of different types (e.g. types of water macroinvertebrates) not the total number of
individuals.
A habitat is an area where a species lives and gets everything it needs; e.g. a pond is an ideal habitat
for frogs.
An ecosystem can consist of multiple habitats. A forest ecosystem may have a pond (for frogs), large
trees (for nesting birds), and logs (for lizards).
The number of different types of different habitats in an ecosystem.
The overall health of a particular habitat for a certain species.
Aquatic = lives in water. Macro = can be seen with the human eye. Invertebrates = animals without a
backbone.
Different types of an animal or plant etc are considered different species. For example magpie,
kookaburra and pigeon are three different species of bird.
Learning activities
Where does the water go when it rains?
This series of lessons is designed for R-2 students. It aims to build upon the children’s intrinsic curiosity and assist them in
making discoveries about their local freshwater environments. It aims to incorporate many of the valuable resources available on
the NRM Education website in a sequential and supportive way for teachers.
Preparation

Make copies of a map of your school, about 14 per class, including buildings and grounds.

A glass aquarium or large clear glass bowl for Danny the Drip interactive story.

Borrow a free macro monitoring kit from NRM Education which contains 10 nets, macro-viewers, trays, and other
useful equipment. Ideally you want one net per two students.

Or, Make your own nets (see attachment One) and use 6-7 white ice-cream containers, plastic spoons and print off the
macro identification charts.

Or, purchase nets from a known supplier.

Watch an instructional video by clicking here.

Optional: Videoflex TV Microscope or Smart Board microscope.
Activity 1: Beginning the water discussion (classroom)
Materials: pencils, paper cut in the shape of a cloud for writing ideas, and a smart board.
Duration: 20-35 minutes.
4.
Divide children into small groups for the purpose of a discussion and sharing. Pose the question ‘Where does water go when it
rains?’ Children work in small groups to share what they know about rain and where it goes when it falls.
Groups of 3 or 4 are given paper from a roll cut out in a cloud shape. They draw, write and share ideas in their groups for 5-10
minutes. Each group shares one idea with the rest of the class and they can circle an idea once it is shared. Do 2 or 3 rounds
until all their ideas are recorded on a Smart Board.
Providing students with knowledge about where rain goes is a good starting point for your inquiry. Display the clouds in the
classroom. Explain to the students that next lesson you will be finding out where the water goes when it rains at school. Suggest
they may want to talk to their families about where water goes at their house and street. Encourage them to investigate and
share what they find.
Tip: the clouds could be made into a learning piece that can be put on display around the classroom
Activity 2: Taking the discussion outside (classroom and outside)
Materials: map of the school and the grounds that children can record on, clipboards, recording sheet, chalk
Duration: 5 minutes to set challenge leading up to the activity which will take between 20-35 minutes.
Set students a challenge called ‘where does the water go when it rains?’ the day or week before the lesson to find places on
buildings and in the school grounds where water collects or runs when it rains. In the classroom before you explore the school
grounds, put a copy of the map on your Smart Board.
Before heading out explain they are going to be detectives searching for anywhere that water travels through or is stored (such
as down pipes or gutters). It doesn’t matter if it hasn’t rained, there will be clues. Identify some of the possible clues (such as
gutters and low points in the school).
Together help students to orientate their map so they know where they are before you leave the classroom. On the hunt mark
these clues with a cross or a line on the map as you walk around. Allow students to take turns to share their knowledge and any
recess or lunch research they have done. When they get back to the classroom count how many different rain collection points
they found. They can do a simple recount of what they did using the map. Once this has been done students can add the water
collection points they found to the school map on the Smart Board. This can be saved and printed off for your classroom
display.
Tip: to assist students, you can do some research before the lesson to find down-pipes, water channels, underground pipes and any
low lying wetland areas.
Activity 3: The Story of Danny the Drip (classroom)
Materials: Danny the Drip teacher notes and story (Attachment 2), large see-through bowl or aquarium to fill with water, props
such as dirt, dye, chip packets, and plastic. Or click here for teachers’ notes and information pack. The activity requires a letter for
parent/caregiver (Attachment 2) to encourage students to bring in something for the lesson and to begin the discussion at
home. Ensure all can contribute by having spare ‘props’.
Duration: Reading time in preparation for lesson 20 minutes, sending a letter home prior to lesson for students 15 minutes,
lesson 45 minutes to 1 hour.
This story helps students understand what makes freshwater healthy and unhealthy. Prepare the class for Danny the Drip by
discussing with students the concepts of water catchment areas and pollution. Display the Water, Learning and Living poster or
a map of your local catchment and explore the definition of a catchment i.e. an area of land that catches water and drains it to
the lowest point; usually a creek, river or ocean.
Ask students to name things we will find in the local catchment. List these as NATURAL, such as plants, animals, hills and creeks
or ARTIFICIAL/HUMAN-MADE, such as, buildings, roads, cars and boats.
Explain that rain travels across or past all these things on its way to the river; some things may become polluted as they get
washed along with the rain water. Organise students to bring in the pollutants for the story (refer to the accompanying pollution
preparation notes)
The Danny the Drip session outline
Step 1 Interactive story telling
1. Students sit with their container of pollution in front of them (don’t shake or open).
5.
2.
3.
4.
A clear container of water is placed at the front of the class.
Before reading the story instruct students to remember each type of pollutant mentioned in the Danny the Drip story,
take note of how it gets into the river and think of ways it can be prevented.
As each pollutant is mentioned, the student(s) who have that pollutant in their canister are invited to come out to the
front and pour it into the container of water (stir if necessary).
When finished, share in small groups or get the children to reflect on why Danny was so sad at the end of the story. They could
also write and draw about the story. Encourage students to ask questions about the story. Following students’ reflections,
explain you have a new challenge for them. They can be detectives again and find out about all the Danny in their local
waterways, wetlands, or places in their back yard. Next lesson they will explore where the Danny goes once he has fallen at
school, home, and everywhere else in the community.
Clean up
1. Ask students to think of the best way to dispose of the polluted water and the containers used to collect pollution.
2. Use rubber gloves or a sieve to remove solid waste and sort into rubbish or compost.
3. Pour liquid onto the garden.
4. Wash then reuse or recycle jars and film canisters.
Tip: students can document their learnings as a written or art-based piece to enable a greater understanding of the topic.
Tip: When being detectives encourage students to take photos – these may be used in a class collage or in parent newsletter.
Activity 4: Healthy or unhealthy? Exploring the health of a waterway through ‘natural clues’ (classroom)
Materials: Smart Board or a way to record student ideas in a table/chart
Duration: 45 minutes.
Ask students to identify the features of the waterways and discuss why these natural places are special and need to be taken
care of. With students, create a chart/poster ‘what makes a freshwater site healthy or unhealthy?’ (example below).
If needed the following questions may help with students' responses:

If you painted a healthy picture of creek what would you include?

Would we find animals in a healthy creek? What types of animals?

If you were an animal in a creek what would you need to live?
What makes a creek healthy or unhealthy?
Healthy?
e.g.

lots of plants and animals around

the water is flowing

lots of frogs

fresh water
Unhealthy?
e.g.

lots of litter

not many plants there

the water is still and smelly

polluted water
Refer back to the story of Danny the Drip and what made the water unhealthy for further ideas. Explain and reinforce with
students that the variety (diversity) of plants and animals living in a place is a good way of deciding if a creek is healthy – this
diversity is known as biodiversity. Some may also know that frogs are sensitive to pollution and can be a good clue that water is
healthy if they can be heard or seen.
Ask students to identify and represent one of the elements in and around a waterway e.g. trees, reeds, insects,
macroinvertebrates, sun, water. With students standing in a circle, throw a ball of wool from one person to another as they each
identify the links between the elements in the waterway. For example, the trees provide shade to the water; the water is where
the macroinvertebrates live. This activity provides a visual picture of the interconnected nature of the waterway. Explain to
students that this represents the ecosystem of the waterway.
Explain to the children that we cannot tell how healthy water is by looking at it. Animals that give us a clue that an environment
is healthy are called bio-indicators. Bio meaning natural or living and indicator meaning clue. An easier way to describe bioindicators may be to use the term ‘natural or living clues’. Water bugs are natural clues to knowing if a creek is healthy. Tell
students that looking at water bugs is exciting and the next few lessons will cover this.
Tip: There are activities and information around frogs that may work in well with establishing a connection to the local waterway.
6.
Tip: Students may also make posters or drawings to represent healthy and unhealthy waterways (Attachment 3 provides a sample
creek diagram).
Activity 5: Exploring freshwater creatures and what bio-indicator creatures are (classroom)
Materials: Copies of the Junior Aquatic Invertebrate ID chart (see resources) for each group, a class set of cards with 24
individual, named macroinvertebrates (Attachment 4).
Duration: 45 mins-1 hour.
This lesson will introduce students to the features and names of individual macroinvertebrates and how their level of tolerance
to pollution levels tells us how healthy or polluted the water is.
Discuss the importance of healthy waterways to people, plants and wildlife. For example, water is important for plants to grow
on the side of the creek, wildlife to drink from and also plants and wildlife in the water. From the last lesson we started to discuss
water bugs. Water bugs are also called aquatic macroinvertebrates. Write this term on the board and explain what
macroinvertebrates means.
Give out a card with a macroinvertebrate on it to each student. Organise students into groups of three or four so they can talk
about what they like or think is interesting about their creature. Compare water bugs and talk about differences between them
(i.e. are their legs different? are their body shapes different?).
Rotate the groups so they can see the different creatures that they may find. If students feel comfortable ask them to share with
the whole group about what they liked about their creature. Show the diagram of a creek in attachment three that has different
habitat zones (homes) for water bugs. These include the surface of the water, in the water, bottom of the water, between or on
the plants, still water, fast-flowing (not seen in diagram), shallow and deep water, and under rocks.
Ask students to look at their creature and to see what colour the name is. Some
may have already noticed the Pollution Sensitivity rating on the Macro ID Chart
(right). Go through each of the colours asking students to put up their hand when
their colour writing is called out. Ask them if they know what the colours might
mean, give them a minute to talk amongst themselves. Bring up the Junior ID
Chart onto the Smart Board and share the pollution sensitivity rating section.
Explain those with green and blue ratings are sensitive to pollution and if they are
found in freshwater samples it means the water is fairly healthy and there are low
levels of pollution. Conversely orange and red means that the bugs don’t
mind/tolerate living in unhealthy water.
Tip: these colours do not mean the creatures are good or bad (i.e. green bugs aren't better than red bugs) they simply indicate a
bug's ability to survive in polluted water.
Activity 6: Collecting and observing macroinvertebrates from a local site (outside and/or classroom)
Materials: Borrow a free macro monitoring kit from NRM Education which contains 10 nets, macro-viewers, trays, and other
useful equipment. Ideally you want one net per two students. Or Make your own nets and use 6 -7 white ice-cream containers,
plastic spoons and print off the macro identification charts OR purchase nets from a known supplier.
If taking back to the classroom from a waterway off-site you will need two buckets with lids to transport (lids are essential as
they will spill in vehicle). If walking back to the school and taking water back several buckets will be needed and only quarter full
(as they can get heavy). Macros must be taken back to the site. If you are new to water sampling, watch the clip before you go to
your site and/or read the NRM Education teacher info pack on how to conduct macro invertebrate sampling.
Collecting for students: If getting students to a site is not possible then you can collect them yourself and bring to class. You
will need access to a freshwater site, a net and 2 buckets with lids. Note: If you are new to water testing, click here to view an 8minute video on techniques. See attachment six for a list of local wetlands that you might like to visit to collect
macroinvertebrates. The NRM Education information pack (13 pages) provides all the information you need for sampling
macroinvertebrates.
Duration: collecting with students and assessing results on-site 1-2 hours, collecting with students to take back to the
classroom (30-40 minutes), collecting for students (15-20 minutes).
7.
If you collect the water yourself: take photos of the waterway. Show these photos to the class. Explain to students that you have
collected macro invertebrates to determine how healthy a local waterway is. If you can, draw and discuss the site and some of
the animals and plants you see (see diagram). Explain where in the waterway you collected the bugs from and link this to the
different places bugs live.
If you go on a class excursion: Explain to the students that we will be collecting macro invertebrates to see how healthy a local
waterway is. Ask students where are they going to scoop their nets? We want to collect bugs from all the different places that
they live. Ask the students what are we going to need to be careful of? Begin the sampling!
Set up the water samples from your site in trays so students can easily collect and place them in bug viewers. They can use
spoons to catch creatures to place in bug viewers. If back at school set up your school's videoflex camera or Smart Board camera
so you can share the creatures that students find. Put out some laminated copies of the Junior ID Chart for students to use if
interested in creature identification.
Remind students to be careful with the bugs as we are respectful and careful with living creatures. Always have enough water in
the viewers. Make sure the students are only using spoons to pick up the bugs (not fingers or pipettes).
Provide students with time to explore the water in the trays to see the variety of different animals they have collected.
Encourage them to describe the creatures using language from their descriptions in the previous lesson e.g. fast, tiny, crawling,
with legs, tails, feelers. Ask students to take notice of how many of each type of bug there is in the tray, 1 to 3, 4 to 10, or more
than 10. Move around the groups asking students to point out different types of bugs. Collect them in an ice cube tray.
To finish this lesson, bring students together and share the creatures found using the television / Smart Board / ID chart
(depending if you are in the classroom or on site). Explain to the students the different features and behaviours and how these
help the creature find food, catch its prey or keep it from being caught. Ask the students if they found 1 to 3, 4 to 10, or more
than 10 of this type of bug? Graph the results. Explain the next lesson will be spent trying to work out if the water collected was
healthy or unhealthy and the data collected so far will help to work this out.
After the class, record what they found and the number of creatures in the sample. If there are hundreds of tiny creatures record
this too. You can use this data in a number of ways to demonstrate diversity of creatures found.
Activity 7: What is the quality of the water? Is it healthy or unhealthy for water bugs? (classroom)
Materials: 24 Macro invertebrate cards, smart board, photocopy recording sheet for each student (attachment five), ID chart,
and colouring pencils
Duration: 20 minutes.
Using the 24 water macroinvertebrate cards and data collected from your water samples you are going to determine the quality
of the freshwater habitat. Identify which creatures you found and their numbers in the sample. Have copies of the recording
sheets on the tables.
Water bugs are a bio-indicator for the health of a creek. We are going to analyse what we found at our local waterway to decide
if the waterway is healthy or not. To decide if the water was healthy or unhealthy look at all the evidence: Ask the students to
look at the ratings on the ID chart. Ask them if they can remember what the colours mean. Remind them that green and blue
ratings are sensitive to pollution. Conversely orange and red means that the bugs tolerate/don’t mind living in unhealthy water.
Ask the students to colour in the bugs with their associated rating colour. Once they have done this, ask the students to count
how many are from each colour rating.
Together look at the collection of creatures found from your freshwater site and those that we know will leave if the water is
unhealthy. Ask the students were any of these sensitive creatures found i.e. green and blue? What does it mean if these were
found and what might it mean if these weren’t found? Also ask the students how many bugs in each category were found? Were
there more sensitive bugs or tolerant bugs? Students can talk in pairs or small groups and record what they think. Each group or
pair is given the opportunity to share their ideas.
Ask the whole class do they think their local waterway is healthy or unhealthy?
Activity 8: How healthy is our site and taking action to improve the quality of our local freshwater? (classroom)
Materials: Danny the Drip book, what makes a site healthy or unhealthy? Posters and recording sheets.
8.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Helping students to be aware of their local freshwater sites and the positive actions they and others can take promotes an
optimistic approach to caring for special places in the natural environment. Being able to respond through action to discoveries
and investigations empowers students and gives them confidence that their actions can make a difference.
Ask students to refer to the ‘What makes a site healthy or unhealthy?’ poster/table. Did they notice any of these things at the
site? Ask students what could we do to make the creek healthier? Start a list of ideas.
Remind students of what materials were put into the waterways with the Danny the Drip activity. Ask students how could we
stop these materials from going into the waterways?
Ideas include:

Gutter Guardians activity

litter pick up

campaign and bag provision to encourage people to pick up their dog’s poo

education around fertilisers and detergents and better alternatives for our waterways

contact local community Landcare groups to see if they would like some student assistance with revegetation projects
at freshwater sites.
If you are unable to take action in the waterway, consider actions that can be undertaken in the school grounds. Ideas include:

Planning a group activity for World Environment Day, Clean Up Australia Day or National Water Week to help clean up
pollution in the local area.

Share pollution solutions with the school community through a poster display.

Designing a frog pond or bog garden. This would be a great student initiated project. Students could put together a
proposal and seek the approval of the school community.

Investigating the opportunity to make a mini-wetland. There are guidelines and funding grants available through NRM
Education.

Grow some local plants to be planted near or in the local waterway.

Contact local community Landcare groups to see if they would like to assist in some of the students' initiatives at
school.

Checking if the school already has an action group and a School Environment Management Plan and joining in with
their actions.
Collate the students’ ideas and have a vote for the most popular (and practical) actions. Seek support from the school
community to action them.
Ideas for sharing their learning and seeking support from others include:

Writing an article for the school’s newsletter about caring for special places, discoveries made and the actions the
school community could take to improve the quality of the water going into drains and local creeks and wetlands.

Preparing an item for school assembly to share student investigations and proposed actions people can take to care
for places by improving the quality of water in the local community.
End of lesson sequence reflection: Provide students with an opportunity to reflect on what they enjoyed, their investigations,
discoveries and actions they have taken, or plan to take as individuals, as a result of their learning. You may choose to do this by
providing a reflection sheet for them to complete. Students could also be interviewed answering a question and these could be
compiled together and shared. You could use your assembly item and/or school newsletter article as a way of reflecting on this
learning sequence.
Extension activities

Explore water pipes [includes spoken instructions] – Click here to view the Scootle resource

TLF ID L18 This is a Scootle Resource and can be explored on a Smart Board as another way to see where water goes when
it leaves rivers, wetland and dams. This interactive and talking resource traces a city's water supply and wastewater

Students can collect and test water samples from a dam, treatment plant, pumping station, house, sewage treatment plant
and creek outfall. They compare the water clarity and purity at each location

Explore dreaming stories that relate to water. Thukeri is a local story about caring for the environment. Thukeri - A
Ngarrindjeri Dreaming Story – Click here for a transcript of the story as told by Leila Rankine as well as a lesson plan by
Carolyn Gyss
9.

Buddy opportunities – Work with a buddy class, either with the local Kindy/Preschool or older buddy classes. With younger
buddies, students can go to a local creek or wetland and share their investigations. They can collect water samples and
come back and investigate what they have found using the bug viewers. This could be an end of unit activity where
students share their investigations and learning

Card and board game activities – Available through the NRM Education catalogue – click here to view the games. The card
games cover topics such as identification and classification, lifecycles, feeding strategies and pollution sensitivity of aquatic
invertebrates

Interview a macroinvertebrate – Students research a macroinvertebrate each, prepare notes and then interview each other
or create a ‘This is your Life’ series for these. This would allow life cycles to be investigated and stories to be shared about
what happens if water is polluted or healthy

Crossword puzzles – Make macroinvertebrate or wetland crossword puzzles using Puzzlemaker. These are excellent for
teachers to create or older buddies where crosswords can be made to support learning around key themes

Multiple intelligences and blooms taxonomy – Click here to view the unit study of frogs. Substitute water
macroinvertebrates for frogs. Provides 42 different activities using the seven ways to be smart and the six thinking levels

Use graphic organisers to explore macroinvertebrates including Venn diagrams to compare different FW
macroinvertebrates, find similarities and differences

A fun Smart Board Scootle interactive with a spoken version is Where do frogs lay their eggs? TLF ID L17 | Years F–2.
Students examine permanent and temporary bodies of water. They learn about native frog life-cycles and consider the
suitability of these water bodies as places where a frog could lay its eggs.

If the students are interested to find out more about the aquatic creatures, print off a set of Water Macroinvertebrate A4
Big Cards with text. These cards are more suited to older students, but there will be EY students wanting to know more and
these are a great resource to have in the classroom for further investigations and questions that may arise. Click here to
view the cards.
Extension activities for Danny the Drip

Use the Danny the Drip picture series as you tell the story and stick them on the board. Start the lesson by drawing a
catchment on the board (include hills, creeks flowing into a river and then wind this river through a town or city and then
out to the sea). As you read through the story and mention each kind of pollution stick each picture with blue tack onto the
board in an appropriate place e.g. in the hills or in the city). At the end of the story ask students to think of ways that we
can stop each of the kinds of pollution from entering waterways.
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Develop your own class Danny the Drip story. Ask each student to prepare a page describing how their kind of pollution
entered the river.
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Demonstrate the importance of water to all living things using a variety of media e.g. posters, plays, models.
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Create a poster or PowerPoint presentation illustrating the journey of water from rain to households and then to rivers and
seas.
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Use dance and music to tell the story of human impact on catchment water quality.
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What might fast food packaging look like in the future? Design your own.
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Make daily/weekly observations of your school yard to record the types and amounts of litter. Represent your results
visually and share them with other classes.
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Use brainstorming and group techniques to generate pollution solutions then create a Top 10 list of actions to reduce
water pollution.
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Create role plays to explore different views on who is responsible for pollution.
10.
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Create your own catchment care performance to explain water catchment and pollution solutions to others.
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’If I had a Waterwatch Magic Wand.’ Present/create a story to describe what changes you would make to improve water
quality in your catchment.
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Draw the kinds of things people do that impact on water quality.
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Design a ’Waste Coat’ using materials you would find floating in the river.
Resources
 Junior ID charts, click here
 Danny the Drip, click here (1.4Mb pdf) + Danny the Drip Teachers Notes (80Kb doc)
 NRM Education has a great range of resources that can be borrowed and purchased to support your inquiry into
 freshwater habitats and water macroinvertebrates. Click here to view the resource list or for purchasing click here
 Water – click here to view the Learning and Living poster. This poster has been designed to depict the range of water
and catchments issues in South Australia
 Catchment education teacher information pack. Click here to view the information pack. Click here for a helpful resource
to read before beginning this lesson. Pages from this pdf are referred to during some lessons and can be shown on
Smart Board. It is designed for PY students but is a valuable reference for EY’s teachers
 Catchment Capers activity from Waterwatch Adelaide. Click here to view the activity.
 The water education toolkit has a search filter by state/region, year level, topic, type or resource, key concept and key
words for hundreds of water resources. Click here to view the toolkit.
 Discovering wetlands in Australia is a curriculum resource for primary school students in Years 3-6. Click here to view the
resource.
 Global Education South Australia. Click here to view the website. There are water kits to borrow. There is free book
resource available titled Water on Earth, A Primary Schools Water Resource with activities, resources and Australian
Curriculum references. Chapter 3 Water for all Living things is most supportive of this topic
 SA Water’s Brave Wave program, library with DVDs, interactive CDs, games, books and posters, online resources and
information can be found by clicking here.
 Primary Connections: Foundation, Staying alive; Year 1, Schoolyard safari; Year 2, Watch it grow.
Attachments
Attachment one - Make your own net
Attachment two: Danny the Drip teacher notes and story
11.
Danny the Drip is an interactive story that describes a journey from the top to the bottom of the local water catchment, looking
at land uses and the potential pollution they produce. During the story students are invited to add their 'home-made pollution'
to a water filled aquarium. By the end of the catchment journey the water is very smelly and visually polluted. This story names
the River Torrens; however it can be adapted for any river in the Adelaide, Mount Lofty Ranges region. The teacher notes
provide discussion points and extension activities.
Materials:
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Clear container of water (aquarium)
Stick or spoon for stirring
The story text
Pollution (See: ‘Pollution Preparation Notes’)
Lined rubbish bin
Cleanup cloth
Rubber gloves
Danny the Drip story pictures
Danny the Drip – the story
1. This is the story of Danny the Drip, a drop of water- and his journey down a very special river, the Torrens River, all the way to
the ocean. Along the way Danny sees many things which pollute the river and it makes him angry. Will you remember all the
things that happen?
2. Danny the Drip journey starts his journey as a tiny drop of water that falls from the sky when it rains. Yippee! As Danny lands
with a thud, he realises that he has reached the land. Danny falls in a small town way up in the hills where the rain runs off the
slopes and hills and into the river.
3. Up here, the river is small, like a creek, and the water is clean and clear. Danny is having a great time going around bends, past
trees and over rocks.
4. Then he starts going past farms where there are lots of cows, The cows are walking around, in the river, drinking the river
water and eating the river plants. While they are eating and drinking, the cows are pooing straight into the water!
5. The farmers have also been fertilising the pasture to help it grow for the cows to eat. After the rain, a lot of the fertiliser got
washed down into the river.
6. One of the farm dogs has also done a big poo, which has been washed by the rain into the river. Yuck! All that fertiliser and
poo is food for algae which grows and grows and grows. Poor Danny the Drip, his water is now green and smelly!!
7. After lots of bends, past lots of hills, Danny the Drip finally reaches the edge of the city of Adelaide. There are many street
trees and, instead of raking up the leaves and putting them into a compost bin, people are letting the rain water wash them
straight down the drain. This water goes underground in the stormwater pipes and comes out into the river. All the leaves are
making the water brown and Danny’s friends, the fish, are finding their gills are getting clogged up with little bits of leaf.
8. Danny the Drip notices one of the factories near the river has a pipe coming from it that leads straight into the river. When he
takes a closer look he sees that there are all sorts of toxic chemicals coming out the pipe. “This is just terrible,” thinks Danny
“don’t people realise what they are doing to my home?”
9. As he continues his journey to the sea, Danny the Drip sees a group of people enjoying a picnic at a park on the edge of the
river. The people have not been bothered to put their rubbish in the bin so the next gust of wind blows some of the rubbish
down into the river. Danny is really sad now. He can’t believe how careless some people can be- it would have been much better
for the people to put the rubbish into a bin.
10. As Danny the Drip passes through the suburbs on the other side of the city he notices some new houses being built. The
shrubs and grass have been scraped away and when it rains, the top layer of soil washes straight into the river, making it dirty
and muddy. Danny also spots someone emptying their saltwater swimming pool straight down the stormwater drain. With all
this mud and salt Danny the Drip can’t see where he is going anymore. He bumps his head on rocks and gets tangled up in the
leaves and branches. This is very scary for Danny and he wishes people were more careful.
11. Further downstream Danny the Drip spots a truck. The truck needs a service because the engine in leaking oil directly into
the lake. “Oh dear”, thinks Danny the Drip, the ducks & other birds are going to be in trouble when that smelly, black oil sticks to
their feathers.
12.
12. Further along, there are houses right next to the river and Danny can see a person mowing their lawn, but they are not
putting their grass clippings into a bag, instead they are shaking the clippings all over the fence and they are washing straight
into the river! Oh no! Thinks Danny, when grass sits in water, it breaks down and uses up all of the oxygen and many of my plant
and animal friends will die.
13. People who have spent the day at work are now starting to drive home. The roads are full of traffic. Petrol drips out of the
cars and if they brake in a hurry, their tyres screech and leave black rubber behind on the road. Every time it rains the petrol and
rubber are washed off the road down the stormwater drains and straight into the river.
14. Danny the Drip is feeling very sick from all the pollution coming into the river but he still continues his trip. He notices
someone washing their car in the driveway. All the detergent they are using is getting hosed straight into the gutter and running
into the river. The detergent has chemicals in it that hurt Danny's friends and is poisonous for the tadpoles. Why couldn’t they
wash their car on the lawn?
15. After one last bend in the river Danny the Drip finally arrives at the sea. Look at the water that flows out to sea with him. It is
full of smelly, disgusting, poisonous pollution. The pollution is going to hurt all the animals and plants that live in the ocean.
What can we do to help make our rivers cleaner? Danny needs your help.
Pollution preparation notes - an exciting journey through the catchment
Telling the story of Danny the Drip requires a little help from your students! Students will need to
prepare small amounts of imitation water pollution. We suggest that you use small jars or film canisters
to hold the pollution and emphasize the importance of not collecting the actual pollutants in certain
cases such as; petrol, poo and toxic chemicals.
Below is a list of the different types of pollution mentioned in the story and how to prepare them. You
may like to give each student a type of pollution to prepare for homework or ask students to bring in
the materials and then prepare them in class.
Making imitation pollution
Pollution
Ingredients
Preparation
GRASS
Lawn clippings
Collect
LEAVES
Fallen leaves (preferably non-native)
Collect
ALGAE
Lettuce
Soak in hot water
ANIMAL POO
Play dough, mud or chocolate topping
Not the real thing please
SALT
Table salt
SOIL
Dirt or fine sand
Collect
RUBBISH
Litter – plastic chip packets, paper etc
Collect
FERTILISER
Tea leaves and sugar or sago
Mix together
DETERGENT
Dishwashing or laundry liquid
CHEMICALS
Mustard or Tomato sauce
Mix with water
OIL
Soy sauce and cooking oil
Mix
PETROL
Vinegar
RUBBER
Rubber bands
13.
Danny the drip
Dear Parent / Caregiver,
Our class will be reading the story of Danny the Drip. This is an interactive story describing a journey from
the top to the bottom of the local water catchment, looking at land uses and the potential pollution they
produce. During the story students are invited to add their 'home-made pollution' to a water filled aquarium.
By the end of the catchment journey the water is very smelly and visually polluted. We would like your help
in preparing small amounts of imitation pollution for this interactive story.
_____________________________‘s pollution is _____________________
Materials needed to make it are ___________________________________
Please return imitation pollution in a labelled jar or film canister by: ________
Thank you for your help.
Attachment three: Creek diagram
14.
Attachment four: Macroinvertebrate cut outs (Images adapted from ‘Critter Catalogue: a guide to the aquatic invertebrates of
South Australian inland waters (2004 EPA)’.)
Click here to view PDF’s of the illustrations below.
15.
16.
Attachment five: Macroinvertebrate recording sheet
Macroinvertebrate
very tolerant
(1-3)
freshwater snail (1)
back swimmer (1)
leech (1)
mosquito larva (1)
mosquito pupa (1)
flatworm (2)
diving beetle (2)
segmented worm (2)
water boatman (2)
non-biting midge larva (3)
scud (3)
shrimp (3)
damselfly larva (3)
Tally
17.
dragonfly larva (3)
water scorpion (3)
tolerant
(4-5)
yabby (4)
biting midge larva (4)
sensitive (6-7)
water mite (6)
very sensitive (8-10)
caddisfly larva (8)
mayfly larva (9)
stonefly larva (10)
not rated (NR)
water flea (NR)
seed shrimp (NR)
copepod (NR)
18.
Attachment six: Local wetlands
Torrens Catchment
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Breakout Creek Wetland – Henley Beach Rd, Lockleys
Apex Park Wetland – Burbridge Rd, Henley Beach
St Peters Billabong – River St, St Peters
Barker Inlet Wetlands – Salisbury Highway, Wingfield
Range Wetlands – Bedford St, Gillman
Magazine Wetlands – Hanson Rd, Wingfield
Roy Amer Reserve – Ross Smith Drive, Oakden
Northgate Reserve – Folland Ave, Northfield
Patawalonga Catchment
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Allan Scott Park – Morphettville Racecourse Wetland - Morphett Road, Morphettville
Warriparinga Wetland – cnr Marion Rd and Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
Urrbrae Wetland – Cross Rd, Netherby
Frank Smith Wetland – Frank Smith Reserve, Coromandel Valley
Onkaparinga and other Southern Adelaide catchments
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Brodie Road Wetlands – Brodie Rd, Morphett Vale
Port Noarlunga Wetlands – River Rd, Noarlunga Downs
Byards Road Wetlands – Byards Road, Reynella East
Woorabinda Wetland – Woorabinda Drive, Stirling
Mt George Wetland – Mt George Conservation Park picnic grounds, Mt George
Clarendon Recreation Ground – Nicolle Road, Clarendon
Northern Adelaide and Barossa
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Greenfields Wetland – Salisbury Highway, Greenfields
Little Para Wetlands – Port Wakefield Rd, Bolivar
Whites Road Wetland – Globe Derby Park
Kaurna Park Wetland – Waterloo Corner Rd, Direk
Salisbury North Wetland – Happy Home Reserve
The Paddocks Wetland – Bridge Rd, Para Hills
Pine Lakes Wetland – Springwood Ave, Parafield Gardens
Clonlea Park – Gawler
Stebonheath Road Wetland – Andrews Farm
Lake Windermere – Holstein Drive, Salisbury North
This resource was developed by a teacher with the support of the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources
Management Board through its NRM Education program. Your local NRM Education Officer provides support for sustainability
initiatives at your school. These include learning more about sustainability, environmental auditing, and developing
biodiversity, nature-play or food gardens. Click here to view our website.
Please note: due to current updating of our website some of these links may not work at the time you are trialing them. We
apologise for any inconvenience and will ensure the links are working once the units are reviewed and uploaded to the new
site.