There's been something fishy happening at some Hamilton-area schools over the last few months.

Twenty McMaster students have been helping six classes of grade four, five and six students raise salmon fry in a unique effort to teach them more about environmental sustainability and conservation issues. Part of McMaster's Let's Talk Science outreach program, the initiative came to a successful close last week when the fish were released into Bronte Creek.

“It's so rewarding to see so many kids excited about science,” said Aditi Khandelwal, a biology student who volunteered at Strathcona Elementary School. “It's also a great opportunity for hands-on learning, which means that students end up looking forward to going to class. It's a great way to teach students about the environment.”

The program saw classes look after six tanks of approximately 80 fry which were released during an event held at Burlington's Lowville Park organized by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. Aquatic ecologists took the students through a number of educational activities.

The elementary students, however, weren't the only ones to gain valuable experience through the program. For Meghan Dodd it was an opportunity to get involved in both science outreach as well as education. The PhD candidate in biomedical engineering designed a journaling program for the students she worked with, a process she said helped to reinforce the connection between the youth and what they were learning.

The project was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) Promo Science Program.

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