24-27 Nov	Great Southern Bioblitz registers and uploads observations to iNaturalist. Info here.
27 Nov	Deadline to apply for South Auckland Participatory Science Platform funding here
30 Nov	Deadline for physics teachers to express interest in developing resources for PES 1.2 & 1.4
30 Nov	Deadline to apply to enter for The Earth Prize sustainability project. Info here.
1 Dec	World AIDS Day https://www.nzaf.org.nz/ (Red Ribbon)
1 Dec	Antarctica day. history and activities & Ideas for celebrating
4 Dec	Seminar on the public role of education, AGS, Mountain Rd, 4pm. Register here.
5 Dec	World Soil Day www.nzsoils.org.nz
7-15 Dec	Hanukkah. Article about the festival
11 Dec	International Mountains day www.fao.org/mnts/intl_mountain_day_en.asp
Moon	FM Nov 27      3Q Dec 5      NM Dec 13      1Q Dec 20

1. Next week will be the last Mike’s News for the year.
2. NZASE has posted a link here to a group of 4 units planned by experienced teachers showing how we could teach contexts assessed with the new L1 Science assessments. Other subject associations are doing similar work for the other L1 standards, some resources are members-only, some are available to all: SCENZ and NZIP already have some resources on their websites and more in progress; ESSE, BEANZ and HATA expect to be uploading resources in December.
3. The resources NZASE paid for from pilot schools were initially shared with members only. They have now been made available to all science teachers on the same website as item 2 above.
4. Some 300 tickets have been made available free for teachers to Nanogirls shows in Ak, Wgtn & Chch. Register at: https://nanogirllabs.typeform.com/teachers
5. The last 2-hour ESS Scholarship tutorials that Jenny Pollock is running this year will be Wed 29 Nov 2 – 4 pm meet.google.com/oej-sciy-ouo.
6. Resources that might be useful for Antarctica Day
   • NZASE article on using practicals to teach about Antarctica
   • Readings from School Journal
   • Science Learning Hub articles, activities and videos
   • Mapping activity: Antarctica Mapping activity
7. At Wellington Botanical Garden Visitor centre there will be a display about research into plant diseases, at set times Fri 1 Dec – Tu 5 Dec. More info here.
8. NZASE will host another webinar with pilot school teachers on the Nature of Science in the new NCEA L1 Science on Fri Dec 1 at 5pm. Click to join or to post Qs ahead of time in the chat.

Info

1. Culturally Responsive & Relational Pedagogy:
   • The Speak Pacific App helps with words for 7 Pacific languages and provides a brief introduction to Pacific languages and culture
2. Mātauranga Māori
   • NZAS Council perspectives on mātauranga Māori and Science https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/nzsr/article/view/8067/7216
3. Student opportunities:
   • Alchemists Memory Set is an interactive game to learn Organic Chemistry. Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) will host a competition playing this game in week 8 of term 3, 2024. If your students might be interested in taking part, then register here and join an online PLD session at 10 am on Nov 30.
4. Digital support:
   • Unpaywall is a Chrome extension that gives access to academic papers legally posted by authors on uni & govt websites. Info here. [Stephen Ross]

Resources

1. Biology:
   • Jabbed: Love, Fear and Vaccines is a documentary designed to make the vaccine hesitant think again https://www.docplay.com/shows/jabbed-love-fear-and-vaccines
   • Convergent evolution examples https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/convergent-evolution.html
2. Agricultural and Horticultural Science:
   • Video about how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress. https://www.earth.com/video/engineering-plants-that-can-beat-the-heat/
   • If you’ve attended a PLD hub recently or are about to, you will receive 2 Paddock to Plate classroom games to play with your students. Info on the games here. Info on hub dates & sign-up here.
3. Earth & Space Science:
   • Simple ways to disprove flat earth https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/five-ways-to-disprove-flat-earth-from-your-backyard/
   • Poster of a global water cycle https://www.earthsciweek.org/sites/default/files/webform/online-kit/USGS_WaterCycle.pdf
   • Scientists have mapped Zealandia https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/zealandia-just-became-the-first-ever-continent-to-be-completely-mapped
4.  Chemistry:
   • Activities for teaching about the periodic table https://teachchemistry.org/classroom-resources/the-periodic-table-unit-plan
   • This might be a good time of year to help students understand the different types of investigations – they could make a set of posters at the end. This ppt might help: Inv is More than fair tests
5. Physics:
   • Now might be a good time to experiment with PhET resources with your junior classes. These show a variety of types of investigations. https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter
   • Video collections for teaching physics: Beat Physics and Labtastic
6. Primary & intermediate:
   • Science Learning Hub planning pathway on plastics – the good, the bad & taking action
   • Resources from USGS on the water cycle https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-cycle-diagrams
7. New standards
   • Those considering units about climate change for L1 next year might find this teaching sequence useful to add into the mix. Thin-Ice-teaching-resource. The video is now online https://thiniceclimate.org/

Vacancy

1. Waikato uni is seeking a lecturer in Environmental, Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry.   https://elhs.fa.ap1.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX/job/1001064/

MoE/NZQA

1. Primary and secondary schools can engage with changes in curriculum & assessment at 1 teacher-only day held in each time period in 2024: 27 May – 7 June; 21 Oct – 15 Nov. Resources here
2. MoE has decided to put the release of a further draft Science Curriculum on hold until the intentions of the new Government are known.

Cheers, Mike

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