Associate Professor of Science Education Michael D. Bechtel works with several Wartburg student groups to bring plants and animals into the classroom in a very special way.
Educational aquaponics, specifically named Ioponics, is the combination of aquaculture (usually fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil) in an integrated system using aerobic bacteria that transforms fish waste (NO21-) into nutrients (NO31-) for plants. The process involves a hands-on, researchable process of raising aquatic animals and plants in a controlled micro-ecosystem within school walls. The system is coupled with NGSS, AFNR, and/or cross-curricular units and ancillaries for the pK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 grade levels.
Several Wartburg research groups have worked or are working on different aspects (dynamics, husbandry, lesson plans, etc.) of the aquaponics systems with Bechtel and Eric Berns, biology laboratory coordinator. Ryan Henkel ’17 began the campus aquaponics systems in 2015 which was relayed in 2017 to Zack Pogorzelski ’19, Noah Solheim ’21, Candace Baker ’18, and Angelina Carrasquillo ’15 then to Becca Montgomery ’22, Sidney Baumgartner ’22, and Sadie Short ’21 in 2019. Michaela Dehli ’23, Lexi Brown ’24, and Chloe Zierke ’23 joined the program in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively, and were followed by Annie Dietz ’25, Rose Larson ’25, Colton Abels ’27, Emery Breitbarth ’27, and Kylie Buchholz ’27.
Rough schematics of the systems were drafted by Jean Hakizimana ’20 in a CAD program. Two college engineering teams created a 3-D printed, WiFi-enhanced, automatic feeder (Morgan Neuendorf ’17, Madison Thomas ’17, Jay Tegge ’17, and Jeremy Ellerby ’17) and a fecal cleaning system (Cal Tauber ’17, Dillon DeMott ’17, Riley Anderson ’17, and Erica Countryman ’17). Elementary Science Methods (SCI 385) and Secondary Science Methods (BI/CH/PHY 470) students created, and continue to create, lesson plans to be vetted by cooperating schools. Teacher Travis Angell’s Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School classroom and resident Derek Happel’s maintenance building have both benefitted from the systems designed by Wartburg students.
