Lesieli Kolo and Hugh Clearkin show us some sponges they have in their classroom. (Photo: Amy Shanks)

Emily Webster holding a northern tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus punctatus) during her visit to Little Barrier Island. (Photo: Sally Richardson)

When is a sponge not a sponge?

Do you know what sponges are?
Plants.
Sponges.
Things with holes in them.

Do you know what this is? (I show the children a rock-like fossil sponge.)
Dinosaur sponge.
Sponge bones.
A stone.

What would happen if I put this SPONGE in the water?
It will float.
It will fill up with water.
It will drown.

What would happen if I put this FOSSIL in the water?
It will sink.

Tell Dr Kelly what a ‘consequence’ is.
It’s something that happens when you decide to do something (from Isaiah, a budding young scientist).

Wow, I thought, amazing understanding from a six-year-old. And so began my hour of discussing being a scientist and sponge specialist with the class my daughter teaches at Mangere Bridge Primary School. The children were studying materials and matter and the concept of consequences: If you do this, what will happen? What is the consequence of this action?

Sponges are filled with holes. That’s why they fill up with water. BIG holes in the sponge make it fill up really quickly. Sponges with small holes float at first. The fossil doesn’t float. Why? No holes.

It will be interesting to see how much the kids ABSORBED and what came out of their writing session following my visit.

Q. So, when is a sponge not a sponge?
A. When it’s a rock.

For further information, contact:
Dr Michelle Kelly, 09-375 3847, m.kelly@niwa.co.nz

Eyes on the prize

Emily Webster, from St Cuthberts College in Epsom, was the 2006 winner of the NIWA Auckland Science Fair. Her project examined the efficiency of different tree types for converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, and the work is now on public display at the NIWA offices in Auckland.

As part of her prize, Emily had a tour of the NIWA aquaculture research facility at Mahanga Bay in Wellington, as well as a day trip to Little Barrier Island.

Emily’s interest in global warming issues focuses her attention on finding ways to reduce atmospheric carbon concentrations through carbon sequestration. The trip to Mahanga Bay inspired her project for 2007: investigating shellfish farming as a way to sequester atmospheric CO2. She will experiment with shellfish samples from the Coromandel Peninsula, where she lives and where there are many mussel and oyster farms.

For further information, contact:
Drew Lorrey, 09-375 2055, a.lorrey@niwa.co.nz