Planning pathways using Love Rimurimu and Science Learning Hub resources.
This interactive groups Mountains to Sea Wellington’s Love Rimurimu and Hub resources into key science and teaching concepts. It provides a selection of pathways that allow for different approaches and starting points. The aim is to assist educators with their planning of lessons and units of work on seaweed biodiversity, human impacts and restoration. Click on the labels for links to supporting articles, media and student activities.
The article Love Rimurimu – an ocean of potential for seaweed provides an overview of the year-long inquiry.
Background image courtesy of Nicole Miller, Project Baseline.
Transcript
Love Rimurimu
Love Rimurimu – an ocean of potential is an education and restoration project co-ordinated by Mountains to Sea Wellington (MTSW). The project is supported by experts and technical advisors from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Victoria University, Experiencing Marine Reserves, Te Aho Tū Roa and the Wellington Underwater Club. See the Love Rimurimu website.
The full education programme is a year-long inquiry that focuses on:
- seaweed diversity and its importance in the marine environment
- human impacts and climate change
- seaweed solutions and marine restoration
- taking action, sharing knowledge and reflection.
Educators can choose a shorter inquiry option and/or tailor the programme to meet student needs. In regions where the Experiencing Marine Reserves programme has co-ordinators, this can also be integrated with marine field trips and snorkels.
This interactive planner includes links to MTSW and Hub resources that will be beneficial in developing background knowledge and when planning for and taking action.
Image: Mountains to Sea Wellington
Food webs
Rimurimu is a primary producer and is the basis of many coastal and marine food webs. As a producer, rimurimu is able to convert energy from the Sun into food energy through photosynthesis.
Related articles
- Marine food webs
- Understanding food webs in Fiordland
- Love Rimurimu teacher preparation – term 1: Seaweed biodiversity and its importance in the marine environment (PDF, 839 KB)
Related activities
Related media
Image: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
Te ao Māori
He hinonga tēnei e hono ana i te taiao moana ki te taiao tangata. E mahitahi ana a Te Aho Tū Roa me Mountains To Sea Wellington ki te kawe i tēnei kaupapa kia whai mana ngā tirohanga Māori, tirohanga ā-iwi, kia whiria hoki ngā mātauranga o te ao whānui. He taonga nui whakaharahara te rimurimu hei oranga taiao, hei oranga tangata. Tihei rimurimu!
Rauemi
- Tautuhi Rimurimu – Te whānau rimurimu kei Te Upoko o Te Ika (PDF, 37.7 MB)
- Hopi paura pakō (PDF, 3 MB)
- Paraoa rimurapa (PDF, 5.1 MB)
Ataata
- Tihei Rimurimu | Te Ūpoko o Te Ika
- Tihei Rimurimu | Te Ūpoko o Te Ika (English subtitles)
Photo by Te Kawa Robb.
Habitats
A habitat is the area where an organism or group of organisms live and breed. Kelp forests are biogenic habitats. Biogenic habitats can be compared to underwater forests with different species living together in thriving communities. You could think of biogenic organisms – in this case rimurimu – as the architects and construction workers who turn the seafloor into living cities.
Get to know your local rimurimu species with a visit to your coast or from home or school with identification guides and online resources.
Related articles
- Marine habitats
- Habitats in the Bay of Plenty
- Marine organisms and adaptations
- Love Rimurimu teacher preparation – term 1: Seaweed biodiversity and its importance in the marine environment (PDF, 839 KB)
- Kelp forests after the Kaikōura earthquake
Related activities
- Seaweed harvesting and storage guide (PDF, 794 KB)
- Seaweed pressing method (PDF, 910 KB)
- Growing rimurimu experiment (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Seaweed photosynthesis experiment (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Beach visits – habitats and food webs
- Where do I live?
- Changes on the beach
Related media
- New Zealand marine habitats – interactive with infographics
Rimurimu identification guides – Wellington region
- Love Rimurimu seaweed identification guide – Wellington’s top seaweeds (PDF, 3.2 MB)
- Wellington Underwater Club seaweed identification guide (PDF, 7 MB)
- Wellington Underwater Club infographics in te reo Māori and English (PDF, 1.8 MB)
Marine identification guides – whole of Aotearoa New Zealand
Photo by Nicole Miller
Human impacts
Human activities have major impacts on the sea and its inhabitants. Some of these impacts can happen directly – if there is an oil spill or physical damage from trawling or dredging. Other impacts can come indirectly from the way we interact with the environment or from the changing climate. Such threats do not exist in isolation – they accumulate and multiply, making it difficult for marine species to adapt quickly enough to cope.
Related articles
- Human impacts on marine environments
- Investigating marine and coastal tipping points
- Love Rimurimu teacher preparation – term 2: Human impacts and climate change (PDF, 904 KB)
Related media
Related activities
- Identifying marine stressors
- Modelling marine stressors and tipping points
- Nutrient impact experiment
Image: Cawthron Institute
Developing a rimurimu restoration plan
The first step in protecting and restoring local marine ecosystems is knowing what seaweed species live in your local area and the roles they play in the marine environment. Students can use this data to inform subsequent restoration action.
These articles feature students’ efforts to monitor, plan for and create change in their local environments.
- Sediment and seashores – monitoring Otago Harbour
- Down the drain
- Bringing back the birdsong
- Students help restore mauri to the Oruarangi Stream
These resources are useful in helping students and educators plan for restoration.
- Environmental thinking and planning with ecosystem-based management (EBM) provides a framework (in Word) to consider how a local area of significance could be managed. It can form the basis for planning a local environmental project.
- Inquiry and action learning process uses freshwater monitoring as the context for inquiry, but the learning process, pedagogical suggestions and questions to consider can be readily adapted for the marine context.
Photo by Joe Warmington
Taking action and communicating
Taking action enables students to feel empowered and able to make a difference. Taking action is different to participating in activities, as action leads to a result/change/impact as well as learning.
It enables students to participate and contribute with science in an authentic context. It enables them to develop science capital – science knowledge, attitudes, skills and experiences. It also provides students with the opportunity to see themselves in science.
Combined with action is communication about the information students have gathered during the planning stage and while they are carrying out their action. Communicating information is an effective means to engage with their community and to potentially get others involved with ongoing or future action. It also provides cross-curricular opportunities in speaking, writing and presenting
The recorded professional learning session Taking action for conservation models a process of student inquiry in conservation, focusing on how to support students to put into action what they have learned through a process of inquiry.
These articles detail some of the actions taken by schools and kura who were part of MTSW’s Unlocking Curious Minds project. They contain examples of action and communication, which can inform and inspire.
- When kelp needs help: saving our sea forests – Mana College
- See the latest annual report and strategic plans on the Mountains to Sea website.
Reflection and critical evaluation are a key part of action and inquiry. Encourage students to evaluate the effectiveness of their planning and action and whether it had the desired impact on the issue. Students can also self-evaluate their learning, individual efforts and/or change in attitude or perspective.
Photo by Jorge Jimenez
Acknowledgment
The Love Rimurimu project was funded in 2020 by Unlocking Curious Minds with support from the Henderson Trust, Wellington City Council and Experiencing Marine Reserves. The journey continues in 2021 with thanks to WWF and the Wellington Community Trust.
