National Aquarium Napier Hawkes Bay Attraction
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Marine Parade, Napier
Phone: 06 834 1404
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Secondary

The National Aquarium runs the following Secondary School programmes:
 
Food Webs and the Micro-Marine World
Levels: 4, 5, 6 and 7
Science, Living World: AO: 4.4, 5.4, 6.4, 7.4
Find out who eats who for dinner!  Food webs are central to understanding how ecosystems function. Students will examine marine food webs and develop an appreciation of the interactions between marine organisms.  Observe the smaller side of life in the ocean.  Using microscopes, students will view the oceans tiny organisms and discover how they are connected to the food webs of the world’s waters.
 
Fish Biology
Levels: 5, 6 and 7
Science, Living World: AO: 5.2, 6.1, 7.2
Examine a fish inside and out!  Discover what it had for lunch the day it was caught!  Students will study how fish respire, reproduce, and sense their surrounding environment.  Conduct an investigation to discover the effect water temperature has on respiration rates.  Observe the organisms that call a fish their home, and learn how we manage these fish parasites in the aquarium.
  • Download: Fish Biology Workbook (won't load)  
 
Survival and Adaptations
Levels: 4 and 5
Science, Living World: AO: 4.2, 5.2
Aquatic life is enormously diverse.  Discover the biological and physical factors which affect an aquatic organism’s survival.  Observe how a range of aquatic animals adapt to survive these challenges.  Students will identify examples of structural, behavioural and physiological adaptations in aquarium animals to further develop their understanding and knowledge.
 
Pollution and Other Marine Issues
Levels: 5 and 7
Science, Planet Earth and Beyond: AO: 5.4, 7.4
Living World: AO: 7.4
Students work in role to investigate the effect of and clean up of an oil spill.   Learning how pollution affects marine ecosystems increases the students’ awareness of environmental issues which are, in most cases, ‘out of sight, out of mind’.  Other marine issues such as the introduction of unwanted marine organisms, and the worldwide protection of endangered marine species are examined.
 
Evolution – A New Zealand Perspective
Level: 8
Science, Living World:  AO: 8.3
How have evolutionary processes acted on New Zealand fauna?  Students will observe many examples of evolutionary outcomes to further understand how the processes of evolution have shaped New Zealand’s unique fauna.  Examine how types of natural selection and speciation have acted on National Aquarium animals.