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Innovative learning through aquaponics at South Dallas high school

It is not every day you hear about fish being used to fertilize the food you eat. At Skyline High School in Pleasant Grove, that is what some students have been learning about all semester.

It is not every day you hear about fish being used to fertilize the food you eat. At Skyline High School in Pleasant Grove, that is what some students have been learning about all semester.

Their horticulture teacher, Shawn Coyle, said aquaponics, their unique way of planting, could help lead to new jobs in a changing industry.

Take a school of fish, and combine it with a class of curious students. It is a combination that is planting seeds for a unique lesson, where fish are fertilizing the foods many people eat.

Students in Coyle’s wildlife class are from communities across Southern Dallas. Neighborhoods, the teens say, where they never imagined 100 catfish and 70 goldfish could replace soil.

“We have never thought that. When he brought it up, it was kind of crazy a thought,” senior Lauren King said. “How can we plant stuff with fish?”

Fish help fertilize food for a Skyline HS wildlife class

Innovative learning is what Coyle has said his class is all about. He typically teaches students floral design, But said it was important to expose the teens, this year, to some of the changes in the industry that will allow them to be workforce ready.

“The science, technology, engineering and math….all of that different stuff comes into play,” he said. “When you get down to it, they learn the book smarts in the classes, but sometimes there’s those kids that really need to go, OK, this is how you apply it in the real world.”

The students helped design and build the aquaponics system.

The group is relying on science and technology to help them grow cabbage, collard greens, celery, dill, several varieties of lettuce, tomatoes and lemon grass, among other things.

The class said it is having fun watching the bio- and ecosystem at work, as the fish help make their plant grow.

The Skyline students expect to showcase their aquaponics system during a Science Technology Engineering and Math conference in February 2017.

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