29May-7 Jul	All 7 planets visible at once in the night sky. Some info here.
25Jun-3Jul	NZ Garden Bird Survey https://gardenbirdsurvey.landcareresearch.co.nz/
29 Jun	Café Scientifique, 6:30pm, Horse & Trap, 3 Enfield St, Ak. Dan Hikuroa on mātauranga
1-3 Jul	40hr Famine weekend www.famine.org.nz
10-16 Jul	Kiribati Language week www.mpia.govt.nz
11 Jul	World Population Day www.stats.govt.nz , Schools Corner
11 Jul	Primary Science conference, 8:30am–4pm Music Auditorium, UoA, 76 Epsom Ave, Ak
Moon	NM Jun 29      1Q Jul 7       FM Jul 14       3Q Jul 21

1. Kiribati Language week: https://www.mikesnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Common-phrases-Kiribati-2p.docx
2. Stemfest returns to Tauranga 2 Oct: https://www.mikesnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/STEMFest-2022.docx
3. Auckland’s next Café Scientifique : NIWA scientist, Dr Annette Semadeni-Davis talks about using models to manage water quality. Horse & Trap, 3 Enfield St, Mt Eden, 27 Jul, 6-8pm.
4. NZ’s first Women in STEM Film Festival, 1-7 July, at Ak’s Capitol Cinema. More info here. This is a fundraiser for the AUT Women in STEM award.
5. MOTAT is offering an event called Samsung Solve for Tomorrow designed to challenge Year 5-10 students to apply STEAM design thinking to help improve their communities. There is a teacher webinar to explain it all Mon 27 June from 4 – 5pm. Info here.

Info

1. Culturally Responsive & Relational Pedagogy:
   • A recorded webinar of Melanie Riwai Couch sharing her new book Niho Taniwha: Improving Teaching and Learning for Ākonga Māori. https://youtu.be/2RmURm-i86U  live until 9 Sep.
2. Mātauranga Māori
   • Ocean Mercier’s interview with Alison Balance about science and mātauranga Māori, a podcast https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2517732
   • When mātauranga Māori first started to be spoken about by those in education about a decade ago, Sir Hirini Moko Mead wrote a critical essay to help teachers start to grasp its purpose and meaning. It has recently been republished in e-tangata.
3. Pedagogy:
   • Article about allowing Writing on desks to engage students
4. Student opportunities:
   • New Zealand Engineering Science Competition – Ak uni’s annual problem-solving comp for all NZ secondary student teams, 6 Aug 10am-6pm. Register by 29 Jul.
   • Women in Engineering Outreach Programme students can come to your school to run a fun, free activity to apply physics, maths or coding. Info here. Questions to Kelly.
   • Students can now register for the NZ International Biology Olympiad (deadline 10 Aug) at https://www.nzibo.org/registration/. Questions to Heather at nzibo.register@gmail.com.
5. Revision:
   • An RSC article on using past papers for revision. (3 free articles/month).
6. Digital support:
   • Are teachers interested in digital learning opportunities with Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, a wildlife sanctuary? Please answer 5 questions on their very short survey here.
7. Science Careers:
   • Join DOC ranger Aroha to learn about what it’s like to be a ranger and what she does for conservation in our Ranger Kōrero video.  Listen to the DOC Sounds of Science podcasts to get a taste for the interesting work of DOC rangers and staff.
8. PPTA provide a grant to members for conferences, workshops or subject-specific courses run by TDA (used to be TRCC). Use it to cover registration, travel, accommodation, meals & childcare (but not relief) to a total of $700 (incl GST). Paid as a reimbursement afterwards.
9. A list of 150 primary and secondary schools that have had science labs built in the last 5 years [thanks to MoE]: https://www.mikesnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Science-Lab-Data-last5yrs-MOE-June2022.xlsx

Resources

1. Biology:
   • DNA song https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/lets-learn-about-dna
   • Articles about VuW research for L2 & 3 Bio students
2. Agricultural and Horticultural Science:
   • A reading about cricket farming
   • Recorded Science Learning Hub webinar about Hub resources for AgHort https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2106-agriculture-and-horticulture
3. Earth & Space Science:
   • A planisphere that includes Māori names
   • An article about global aerosol patterns
   • NZ Geographic article about impact of tectonic movement on sea level rise in NZ. (3 free articles a month.) https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/a-map-of-the-future/
4.  Chemistry:
   • An RSC article (3 free articles/month) on using number grids to teach electrochemical cells
   • A chemistry activity on printable voltaics. Other VuW research resources here too.
5. Physics:
   • An activity looking at wind farms https://www.earthlearningidea.com/PDF/393_Net_zero_Wind_turbines.pdf
   • Tracker is a free video analysis and modeling tool designed to be used in physics education. https://physlets.org/tracker/
6. Primary & intermediate:
   • Some experiments https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/collections/experiments
   • Resources about insects https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/collection/512415/insect-week-20th-26th-june-2022 (you’ll need to join, but it’s free)
7. Nature of Science:
   • Sketch graphs from videos of everyday events to help students understand basic features of graphs & their interpretation. https://www.scienceinschool.org/article/2022/graphing-stories/
8.  EfS:
   • An online water calculator helps you understand your household’s water footprint. Find out where to make changes to save water.
   • Article on restoring the Waikato river

Technicians

1. Use flower petal peels to demonstrate plasmolysis – peel a red or pink petal to obtain a single cell epidermal layer. Put it in water on a slide, Use a convex bladed scalpel to remove any thick bits then put coverslip on. View it to see turgid cells. Then put a small pile of salt next to the coverslip. Draw the salty water thru’ using a small piece of paper towel touching the water at the opposite side. After a minute or 2 you can see plasmolysis. [Anthony Darby]

Professional Learning & Development (PLD) Opportunities

1. These are the Science and Safety webinars still available. Teachers: 6 July, 7-8 pm; 27 Jul 12-1pm; 29 Jul 10:30-11:30 am. Principals: 7 July, 1-2pm. Technician: 28 July, 12:00-1:00 pm. Lab Manager/HoD: 3 August, 4-5pm. Register interest at https://nzase.org.nz/health-and-safety/
2. Super early bird registrations ($190 + GST) for ULearn are open til 25 July. Full price $280.
3. Kohia Centre has a practical online Te Reo Māori workshop designed to help both experienced & new teachers incorporate Te Reo Māori into classroom practice and across curriculum areas. Fri 1 July either 9:30-11am or 12:30-2pm. https://tinyurl.com/ynkz77ke

Cheers, Mike

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