Congratulations to Melinda Bargwanna, specialist environmental educator in the Junior School at Trinity Grammar School (Australia), for winning the 2025 IBSC Action Research Award for her innovative action research project that makes a valuable contribution to the IBSC Action Research community.
Within the broad topic of Boys and Belonging: Facilitating Inclusivity, Diversity, and Connectedness, her research project took a unique and refreshing approach to explore how boys designing and constructing an environmental project together created a band of brothers united by purpose, shared experience, and agency.
Her research was driven by her thorough exploration of the contemporary discourse on belonging, inclusivity, and diversity and her desire for a group of Year 3 to Year 6 boys at her school to disconnect from their digital world and reconnect with the physical environment while engaging in meaningful interactions with peers. Specifically, through the co-design and construction of a biodiversity pond within the school’s Green Patch—a nature-based classroom and co-curricular area where boys learn sustainable practices—Bargwanna encouraged connection in boys to self, each other, place, nature, community, and the planet.
Over the duration of the action research project, the boys collaborated on a biodiversity pond masterplan, undertook landscape design, and created a landscape schedule of works. Older boys in Years 5 and 6 trained as mentors to work with younger boys, fostering mindfulness and assisting with construction activities. Foundational knowledge for the project provided by Bargwanna was complemented by various experts who consulted with the boys, including an Aboriginal elder who highlighted connection to country, a Canadian scholar, academic, author, and passionate environmentalist, a pond and filter expert, a landscape contractor, and a herpetologist (“frog man”). Frontloaded with relevant skills and knowledge, the boys engaged in digging, moving rocks, cementing, and planting their pond. Having built it, the boys waited—and the frogs did come!
Amid a suite of benefits reported as outcomes of her project, Bargwanna notes that the boys adopted a caretaker role as their sense of responsibility for and connection with the Green Patch space grew. The boys’ bonds with each other also strengthened as the pond project cultivated new friendships in a fresh collaborative context. Creating sustainable environmental solutions within their community also generated a shared sense of agency, imbuing the boys with the knowledge that together they can make a positive impact in their community. As one boy noted, “We made a biodiversity pond, we made something good for nature and for the future.”
Through the rigorous conduct of her action research and the articulate communication of its processes and findings in a well-written report, Bargwanna highlights the benefits of taking conversations about belonging beyond the traditional classroom.
As Bargwanna describes, “Through collaborative effort, the boys co-created a biodiversity pond, which has become an asset for the Junior School boys as well as for local wildlife... The Green Patch boys are emerging as agents of renewal, inspiring those around them to take action in their local environments and build hopeful, solution-oriented responses to climate change. Following the completion of the action, the boys are now exploring future opportunities to collaborate with other schools within our Hawthorne Creek catchment, inviting local council ecological officers and water management experts to engage with them. They have posted Green Patch News videos documenting the co-creation of their biodiversity pond on environmental platforms to inspire broader community participation and amplify their local impact. Together we created the ‘jewel in the crown’ of their Green Patch Garden. Their pond has become a wellspring of life and a symbol of hope for their action towards, and advocacy of, their environmental futures.”
While we cannot generalize these findings to the unique and diverse contexts of each boys’ school, we can learn much from her review of the literature on belonging, inclusivity, and diversity—and her creative action. Bargwanna adds, “We would love to form a network of IBSC schools focused on environmental initiatives to exchange innovative ideas about enhancing school environments and to create a bank of strategies to inspire those thinking of bringing such initiatives into their schools.”
This project demonstrates the power of action research to identify the potential for change at the local level and implement it in a systematic and rigorous manner. Her research findings illustrate the ability of a well-researched change in teachers’ pedagogy to positively impact teaching, learning, and the well-being of the boys in our schools.
Conducting this research also advanced her own professional development. Bargwanna reflected, “Participating in the IBSC Action Research Program has been a life-changing experience for all involved. This has been an invaluable opportunity to dig deeply and examine my teaching practices, unearthing findings to guide future strategies and initiatives. Literature research and data analysis led me out of my creative comfort zone, into a rewarding challenge. A particularly memorable moment during the action stage was a surprise visit by IBSC Executive Director Tom Batty, who conversed with the boys as they created invitations for their pond opening party. Watching the boys guide him to their newly installed pond and cascade while sharing their favorite aspects of the construction process was both heartwarming and a testament to their enthusiasm and ownership of the project.”
Please join us in congratulating Melinda Bargwanna on this well-deserved award.
Check out her research report in the IBSC Member Center and watch for the remaining reports for the 2025 IBSC Action Research cohort in the coming weeks.