Mike’s News Sep 30

1-30 Sep Save our Sight Month www.nzao.co.nz
30 Sep Deadline to apply for a PM’s science prize for students space project. Info here.
30 Sep Deadline to apply for a PM’s science teacher prize. Info here.
1-3Oct ConSTANZ2024 at St Peter’s, Cambridge. Accommodation available onsite Website
1-31 Oct Health Literacy month www.healthliteracymonth.org/
1-31 Oct Save Kiwi month www.kiwisforkiwi.org/save-kiwi-week/schools
1-31 Oct Breast Cancer Awareness month www.nzbcf.org.nz (Pink Ribbon)
3 Oct Partial solar eclipse visible from NZ
4-10 Oct World Space week www.worldspaceweek.org/
5 Oct World Teachers day https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers
6-12 Oct Fijian language week, Vosa VakaViti www.mpia.govt.nz
7 Oct World Habitat Day https://www.un.org/en/events/habitatday/
10 Oct World Sight Day (2nd Th Oct) http://www.iapb.org/advocacy/world-sight-day
12 Oct* Ada Lovelace day, women in STEM http://findingada.com/
12 Oct Welcome to the Birds open day at Pūkorokoro Miranda. https://shorebirds.org.nz/
13 Oct NZ’s Get Ready Week – tsunami hui, earthquake drills
13-19 Oct Earth Sciences week (USA) http://www.earthsciweek.org/about-esw
13-19 Oct Niue language week, Vagahau Niue www.mpia.govt.nz
Moon NM Oct 3      1Q Oct 11      FM Oct 18      3Q Oct 24

Info

  1. Mātauranga Māori:
    • Might this be applicable for us? Article about indigenous knowledge using seaweed to conserve shellfish in more acidic seawater in USA.
    • Short sets of PPT slides on kaitiakitanga and taiao
  2. Professional reading/watching/listening:
  3. Student opportunities:
    • For students with an interest in birds, Birds NZ is planning a Youth Camp for Dec 15-20 at Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre. Background, Poster, Registration forms, Payment [This info was added very late last week, some may have missed it.]
  4. Digital tools:
    • Affinity Photo 2 is an excellent programme for photo editing (and design) now available FREE for education staff worldwide. Affinity has lots of how-to videos on YouTube as well.
  5.  Podcasts:
  6. The latest NZASE newsletter has an article on uncovering history with science as well as a profile of John Perrott. Sign up for the newsletter or find resources here https://nzase.org.nz/. Join NZASE here https://nzase.org.nz/membership/ .

Resources

  1. Biology:
  2. Agricultural and Horticultural Science:
    • Rain gardens catch and filter runoff that can otherwise cause erosion & spread pollution. This guide supports the design / implementation of a rain garden with minimal space or resources.
    • NZ weed database
  3. Earth & Space Science:
  4. Chemistry:
  5. Physics:
  6. Primary & intermediate:
  7.  Science:
    • Ecan has some Waitaha Wai resources for on the importance of water that might give you some ideas. The overall education program is applicable to any area, rest on local waterways.
    • Good explanations of the science behind the current record flooding in Central Europe, with lots of visuals from BBC and X/Twitter.
  8. Education for Sustainability (EfS)
  9. New standards

MoE/NZQA

  1. Official announcement about changes to L1 is here https://ncea.education.govt.nz/whats-new/support-ncea-level-1-and-co-requisite-implementation.

Professional Learning & Development (PLD) Opportunities

  1. STEM Learning (UK) has some free online PLD available as short videos. It’s free to join.
  2. Physics teachers day at Ak uni (FREE!) https://sites.google.com/view/uoaptd2017/2024s-day-info
  3. Learn more about the geological processes that formed our continent, Te Riu-a-Māui / Zealandia at an ESS webinar on Wed 16 Oct, 4 – 5pm. Flyer ESS Geological History Webinar

Vacancies

  1. National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee is looking for a teacher. Meetings (some online, some ftf) and site visits. Past members, Rachel Heeney & Alison Dodds recommend the experience. Info here. Apply by 30 Sep https://www.seek.co.nz/job/78858916

Cheers, Mike

Mike’s News is brought to you with the generous support of NZASE and Warp Computers