6th Graders Use Aquaponics System to Learn about Food Security

As part of their unit on food security around the world, Lisa Swanson’s 6^th Grade Geography students visited the Math & Science Center on Tuesday, April 16^th to learn more about the aquaponics system in the School’s Environmental Systems Lab.   

In the aquaponics system, a large “grow bed” of lettuce sits atop a 300-gallon water tank stocked with tilapia. The basic principle of the system is that fish waste is pumped up from the tank and serves as a source of water and nutrients for the plants, which are not grown in true soil. The plants essentially filter and clean the water, before it drains back down to the fish, and the cycle continues.

On Tuesday, the students planted lettuce and discussed the pros and cons of the system as a way of addressing global food security issues.