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Hi all, just went to the sustainability fair at Ewa Makai Middle School and was so motivated by the things that are going on there. I am anxious to build a small aquaponics garden at my house and maybe will build one at the school to teach kids about self sustainability, environmental/health/cost benefits of. Found this resource there happyponic.com, [email protected], (808)386-6206 Talked to the lady yesterday and was so helpful. I am planning to go down there and look at the different set ups she has in a couple of weeks. She also said she can help me build one and has tons of resources for cheap materials. She said she is also willing to have the kids come over and check it out. Will fit in perfectly with our science unit. We are going to do an ecosystem in a bottle. Any other resources?

Also, I'm not sure how to post pics, but I would really appreciate seeing some pics of what other people have built to get some ideas for my own. Gardens included!

Thanks for the information along with the website! I recently attended an Aquaponics workshop at the Boys and Girls club directly adjacent to our campus! It really is awesome and the kids can get really engaged... I have thought about incorporating aquaponics into our 6th grade classroom, but it is still in the works. One thing I have done in the past that is a mini type of ecosystem is have a worm bin in the classroom, where students are responsible to bring foodscraps from lunch or home to feed the worms and watch the process of nutrient recycling! Another idea you may wish to incorporate.

Hi Nicole, Mindy Jaffe at Waikiki Worms is amazing. Our classroom received a mini-grant through the Kokua Foundation to pay for the bins and two visit from Mindy to introduce and help harvest our bins six months later. Harvesting the worms always became a smelly event. We kept the bins for three years and then retired them since the upkeep of the bins over summer break was arduous. Nonetheless, my students collected scraps from the cafeteria. We used the vermicast tea and vermicastings to feed our small garden. Recently, the City and County took away our recycling bins from our school due to costs. We are looking for another recycling company to service our school. Any good companies on Oahu?

If you want to see an aquaponics system that is up and running you can visit Aquapono. They do aquaponics in the back of their house and allow people to come every first Sunday of the month from 2pm-4pm to check it out and ask questions. They can answer any question that you may have. If you want to know more about Aquapono, they have a website: http://aquapono.com/ If you need any more resources, you can visit this livebinder that has some general information about aquaponics and it also highlights the different schools that are using it in Hawaii. There's also some unit lessons that you can go over with your class. I hope this helps!

WOW! So many resources! I also heard UH is doing a community outreach where they are installing hydroponic units in homes to promote healthy eating. This was a homestead property so I'm wondering if there is a income limit. Also, writing plans for the life lesson and decided to do a ecosystem in a bottle. There are tons of lesson plans out there that support this. We may visit an aquaponic farm as part of this unit.

I know that Aquaponics is a cool thing and would love to know more. A former assn't principal was getting into it for his home garden. I had never thought about incorperating into curriculm. Thanks. I love the worm/compost idea and wish we could compost our lunch remains but with almost 900 kids- it needs a big hand in it and I hadn't thought about the summer issue- thanks.... I will percolate on it though because, I know there is great learning on many levels. In fact there is another local elementary that does composte and gardens as part of curriculm- it is very cool. They use math to figure out what yield and how big a plot and area, circumference etc on the garden plot, and it ends up with kids that love their veggies- again food learning. They use the veggies at school for school lunch...Its a win/win they were trying for zero landfill status not too long ago as well. Kids were encouraged to only bring lunches in no refuse containers and they recycled what they could and then there was the compost. It was awesome. I just wished my own children could go there!

I know that Aquaponics is a cool thing and would love to know more. A former assn't principal was getting into it for his home garden. I had never thought about incorperating into curriculm. Thanks. I love the worm/compost idea and wish we could compost our lunch remains but with almost 900 kids- it needs a big hand in it and I hadn't thought about the summer issue- thanks.... I will percolate on it though because, I know there is great learning on many levels. In fact there is another local elementary that does composte and gardens as part of curriculm- it is very cool. They use math to figure out what yield and how big a plot and area, circumference etc on the garden plot, and it ends up with kids that love their veggies- again food learning. They use the veggies at school for school lunch...Its a win/win they were trying for zero landfill status not too long ago as well. Kids were encouraged to only bring lunches in no refuse containers and they recycled what they could and then there was the compost. It was awesome. I just wished my own children could go there!

Here are some of the resources I found online to create a ecosystem in a bottle

Attachments

Eco_system_in_a_bottle.pdf (1.37 Mb)

picture_of_ecosystem_in_a_bottle.jpg (0.46 Mb)

Great discussions going on here. I myself are at a crossroad with aquaponics. I think its a great project based learning idea that hits many areas and standards. Could this be considered a STEM project? If so, what ideas could you come up with to tie it into STEM. At Makaha, we have a farm adjacent to the elementary school, Hoa Aina O Makaha, and fortunately the teachers have use of the farm for activities and science projects. There is an Aquaponics system there and it's great for the children to see this technology. We pondered on the idea of an aquaponics as a project but haven't taken the leap to commit. We researched some ideas for field trips and hopefully this helps: http://www.marisgardens.com (Mililani) http://www.hawaii.edu/malamalama/2011/04/aquaponics/ (Windward) http://www.olomanagardens.com/aquaponics.htm

Hey, I'm teaching aquaponics right now as an elective class and it definitely falls under the STEM category. Students have designed systems for the garden, designed the parts using CAD, assembled the systems, conducted experiments, tested water quality, produced informative videos and commercials, conducted research, presented at symposia, grown 'thank you' plants for the teachers, taught other schools how aquaponics works, and educated administrators and community members on the garden. They've learned food safety practices, biogeochemical cycles, plant biology, and about bacteria. They're also trying to grow food to donate and also come up with a way to make money to keep the garden running. It's such an amazing opportunity for students!

Hello Everyone! I got a bunch of equipment to begin an aquaponics system for my classes. However, I am having trouble setting up a curriculum for the project. Can anyone give me tips and ways to start the curriculum? Where do I start? Currently I have made it more a student-center, project based learning. I told the students that they have all the resources in the room and around our ahapuaa, what they have to do is research, plan and act to get the system up and running. Any advice is much welcomed and appreciated.

Very new to aquaponics, though I have a friend that is involved with the group here on Kauai. At Kauai Community College they recently started an 8 week aquaponics course back in August 2012.

I am looking for curriculum for this with middle school - but I can adapt.

In response to Becky Carwile and her mention of composting at schools. I find this to be an excellent idea. I just found out today at a local supermarket that they compost food from their locale. It is then offered to a larger composting process, as the mix makes its way onto becoming soil. The market I found this out about is Whole Foods. It is definitely a good move for Whole Foods to do this since corporate and educational entities are shifting towards more sustainable practices across the board. Enacting this at schools and having students understand the implications of pollution and landfill looks promising. This trash can be used in a composting process within a school garden or greenhouse. Serving as a prime example of how to keep the flow of matter continuous in our environment.