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 |
- Kiribati Language week: https://www.mikesnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Common-phrases-Kiribati-2p.docx
- Stemfest returns to Tauranga 2 Oct: https://www.mikesnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/STEMFest-2022.docx
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Pedagogy:
- Article about allowing Writing on desks to engage students
- 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.
- Revision:
- An RSC article on using past papers for revision. (3 free articles/month).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Biology:
- DNA song https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/lets-learn-about-dna
- Articles about VuW research for L2 & 3 Bio students
- 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
- 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/
- 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.
- 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/
- 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)
- 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/
- 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
- 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
- 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/
- Super early bird registrations ($190 + GST) for ULearn are open til 25 July. Full price $280.
- 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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