They were visited by Jamie Urquhart, North-east Scotland water vole conservation officer on Wednesday.
He explained that the creatures are under threat from the American mink, a non-native species which is a predator of the water vole.
Pupils listened to a presentation in the morning before taking a more hands-on approach using a special raft to monitor wildlife on the River Carron.
Mr Urquhart said: "We have some rare populations in this area which are quite endangered as a result of farming practices and we are trying to conserve them.
"By involving the kids and increasing awareness of the project we hope we can start making a difference to numbers.
"We are also trying to encourage them to identify some of the animals they have around them in their local environment."
He taught the children how to look for tracks and signs of the water voles, as well as mink and other non-native species.
They used the plywood raft, which is tethered to the bank and has tunnels which allow animals through, to record the footprints of different species.
"Here we are quite fortunate as we have water voles at Ury where it runs off the Cowie but there are also mink on the Carron and Cowie so we need to control them," he added.
"The information recorded by the pupils will be relayed back to the project and will be used to build up a picture of populations in different areas.
"The children will be making fortnightly checks and I will come back to do a follow-up visit to see how they have got on.
"We hope this is something that will benefit pupils as they learn a lot about the environment around them and they are making a valuable contribution to saving the water vole."