CRIMPing in Castlemilk

Pupils from Hollybrook Academy took to CRIMPing last week for an afternoon of outdoor learning. Teachers Graham Munro and John Sharkey brought their class of 16 to the Castlemilk Burn (a tributary of the Cityford Burn) to try out some kick sampling. These  budding citizen scientists now have the opportunity to collect real life data for the Clyde River Foundation and SEPA. We were very pleased to find both caseless and cased caddis and some stonefly larvae in this urban burn. The CRF hope to engage the students as part of the catchment-wide citizen science initiative by collecting real life data that can contribute to environmental protection. CRIMP is ideal for science lessons in biodiversity and interdependence and riverfly monitoring can be used to form the basis of lesson plans and help bring learning to life. Hollybrook Academy’s participation in the project will help increase young people’s environmental awareness and sense of responsibility as they learn about how people’s actions can affect freshwater habitats whilst encouraging them to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and how it relates to their local environment. We’re looking forward to their follow-up survey next month and hope it’s as good as this month’s result!