RSNZ/2002 Yearbook/Education Programmes

2002 Annual Report Of The Royal Society of New Zealand

Incorporating the 2002 Academy Council Yearbook

Education programmes

With its strong networks in the scientific and technological communities, the Royal Society is able to play a unique role in supporting science and technology education. The Royal Society is the only organisation in New Zealand which is able to encompass such a wide range of activities at so many different levels.

A broad perspective on sciences and technology education is provided to the Royal Society's Council through the maintenance of a science and technology education advisory committee, the close links with the New Zealand Association of Science Educators and Technology Education New Zealand, and the affiliation with other professional teacher associations and tertiary education groups in the Society's sphere of interest. The Royal Society continues to be represented on the Animals in Schools Education Trust, Carter Observatory Education Advisory Committee, AgResearch Wallaceville Education Advisory Committee, NZQA Science and Technology Advisory Group, and the QuakeTrackers Advisory Committee.

The Royal Society contributes to ensuring the provision of New Zealand's future human capacity in research, science and technology by:

encouraging young people to engage in scientific and technological practice
encouraging students to enter careers in science and technology and supporting them in the early stages
demonstrating the value of science and technology in other careers
identifying promising individuals and providing opportunities to foster their growth and development

It manages a range of programmes that:

provide opportunities for school students to engage in scientific and technological practice, such as Science and Technology Fairs, the BP Challenge, CREST, and the National Waterways Project
recognise and reward achievement by students (school and tertiary), such as the BRANZ Award to attend the London International Youth Science Forum
support students to attend international scientific conferences and schools, e.g. US Space Camp
recognise and provide professional development for teachers, e.g. New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowships
create linkages between enterprises and schools, involving professional scientists, technologists and engineers, e.g. CREST Award scheme

Teacher associations

The Royal Society continued to be contracted by the New Zealand Association of Science Educators to act as secretariat. Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) was supported, through the provision of administrative and accounting services, and support has also been provided to activities of the Geography, History, Social Studies, Home Economics and Technology, and Mathematics Teachers' Associations.

Science and Technology Fairs

Science and Technology Fairs are well established, successful and high profile events, which take place annually throughout New Zealand at classroom, regional and national

levels. Science and Technology Fairs have been operating in New Zealand for over 30 years. Annually, they involve at least 50,000 children from years 7-13. There are 23 regional fairs and in 2002 the Royal Society of New Zealand distributed funding to 14 of these. Regular communication is maintained with all regional co-ordinators throughout the year. Regional fairs are run by local committees of volunteers, including science teachers, service clubs such as Kiwanis and Lions, and Royal Society Branches.

The Royal Society manages the National Science and Technology Fair, which features the best exhibits from each of the regional fairs. This high profile event is attended by many people and attracts national media coverage.

The 2002 Genesis Energy National Science and Technology Fair was held at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, from 10-13 December 2002. There were 24 exhibits plus seven exhibits from other countries Taiwan (two), Namibia (four) and Brunei (one). Three teachers from Shanghai and three teachers from Beijing also participated. This was the largest international contingent to have visited the National Fair.

Apart from judging there was also a programme of planned activities organised for all exhibitors and teachers. Included in these were a visit to Tiritiri Matangi (a bird wildlife sanctuary); a visit to Landcare Research where participants were shown huge collections of New Zealand fungi and insects; and excursions to the Sky Tower and Kelly Tarltons.

The award ceremony was also held at the Bruce Mason Centre in the auditorium on Friday 13 December. Anna Pilbrow, who had been a premier award winner at the 1997 National Science and Technology Fair, was Master of Ceremonies. The Minister for Research, Science and Technology, Hon. Pete Hodgson, addressed the audience and presented many of the awards.

The Genesis Energy National Science and Technology Fair ended with a farewell dinner for participants at the Northridge Country Lodge. Cultural items were presented by the international exhibitors, providing wonderful entertainment for the guests.

Genesis Energy Premier Technology Award

Haydn Luckman (Age 18)

Auckland Grammar School

Energy from Effluent

Haydn developed a heat exchange system that recycles the heat content of warm wastewater from the shower drain to preheat the incoming cold water to the shower rose. The project encompassed the full spectrum of development from market research, design, development of a prototype, testing, analysing results through to commercial appraisal and investigation for patenting.

Genesis Energy Premier Science Award

Fiora Au (aged 18)

Diocesan School for Girls

Personal space allelopathy in rhododendrons

Fiora's research developed from the observation that rhododendrons have few grasses and weeds growing beneath them. Fiora carried out a series of investigations to determine the allelopathic properties of rhododendrons, compared to four other plants, on the growth of rye grass and clover. She determined that rhododendrons did indeed inhibit the growth of plants.

BP Challenge

The Royal Society has been contracted by BP to administer the programme since 1998. It is estimated that more than 250,000 students have participated in these school events each year.

The BP Challenge is a very successful programme, which provides opportunities for Year 2 to Year 10 (J2 to Form4) students to develop such essentials as problem solving, team building and social skills, while enjoying the activity in which they are engaged. The activities offer the opportunity for teachers to develop scientific and technological concepts in class with their students if they wish. Students are given a scenario and are then given simple materials such as paper, string, straws, sticky tape, and set about developing innovative solutions within time constraints.

These activities can be held in the classroom or as a whole school event. There are also regional challenges involving a number of schools coming together. This involves many hours of organisation, which is generally carried out by a voluntary regional coordinator. 75 regional BP Challenges took place in 2002 and 165 schools requested support for classroom BP Challenges.

An updated BP Challenge resource is in the process of being revised and will be published in 2003.

National Waterways Project

This Ministry of Education contract, funded through the Learning Experiences Outside the Classroom (LEOTC) Fund, commenced in August 2000 and, in the past two years, has seen at least 20,000 pupils engaged in activities related to the quality and care of their local waterway. The project provides curriculum support for water quality monitoring learning experiences for primary and secondary school students. This occurs via the website, provision of activities for pupils including some in Te Reo Maori, provision of local facilitators in some areas, and in-service training for teachers. A quarterly newsletter giving case studies of work in schools, resources and sources of information is provided through the website (http://nwp.rsnz.org).

In 2002, the National Water Pollution Detectives (NWPD) were launched on World Water Day with the aim to collect a "snapshot" of the state of the health of our waterways on that day. School data was recorded in the database enabling comparisons to be made.

The work of the National Waterways Project provides a very powerful context for learning and teaching and is able to bring coherence to the curriculum and qualifications in schools. The Society is thrilled to see the same piece of work by secondary students being assessed against standards for NCEA as well as entered into a science and technology fair and gaining a CREST award.

CREST award scheme

CREST-NZ is an award programme that provides a framework to support and enhance the quality of pupils' educational experience in science and technology within New Zealand. Pupils undertake projects of their own choice and are encouraged to investigate issues of real significance in their lives. Undertaking a CREST Award project gives pupils authentic experience in scientific investigation or technological practice.

The scheme offers First CREST awards for year 6-8 pupils, and Bronze, Team Bronze, Silver, Team Silver, and Gold awards for secondary pupils. The awards are non-

competitive and applicable to pupils of all abilities. Pupil achievement is assessed on creativity, perseverance and the application of knowledge. All pupils are encouraged to work with people in the community other than their teacher but for Silver and Gold CREST awards consultants and assessors from outside the school community are required and have defined roles.

Revision of materials and procedures were completed in early 2002 and the scheme extended to include Year 6 pupils. Schools using the CREST award scheme currently represent all decile levels and are from throughout the country.

Twice as many awards were registered in 2002 as in 2001: 1722 First CREST; 28 Team First; 999 Bronze; 49 Team Bronze; 248 Silver; 8 Team Silver; and 6 Gold.

One Gold CREST award was made by the Minister of Research Science and Technology, Hon Pete Hodgson, at the 2002 Genesis Energy National Science and Technology Fair to Graeme Fielder of Manurewa High School. Graeme had, over the past three years, investigated the bioactivity of enzymes produced by fungi growing in decaying wood from the Manukau Harbour. He found that two substances showed clear anti-bacterial properties.

The CREST awards scheme promotes science and technology, encourages and supports excellence, and offers recognition of excellence. It is the only programme of its type in New Zealand that provides support for teachers and young people as they carry out their own scientific or technological practice.

Professional development for teachers

The Royal Society of New Zealand offers professional development for teachers in a variety of ways:

specific contracts are won from the Ministry of Education, such as the Enterprise Education PD and Technology Education PD contracts
as a component of other activities, e.g. Science and Technology Fairs, National Waterways Project
the NZ Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowships
workshops provided by staff based on their experiences and expertise, e.g. at conferences, "Catch and Keep their interest" for beginning teachers

Enterprise Education

This professional development programme has been carried out under contract to the Ministry of Education by the Royal Society of New Zealand for three years now. In the first year, a school-based teacher and school development programme provided support to four clusters of up to eight schools. Two new clusters of up to eight schools were added in 2001, and a further two in 2002 when the contract was renewed for one year. The range of CREST programmes is used as a vehicle to undertake enterprise education. A total of 111 primary and secondary schools have been involved: 17 in Dunedin, 16 in Marlborough, 24 in Wellington and 22 in Hauraki, and eight in each of Rotorua, South Auckland, Wanganui and Palmerston North. Facilitators drawn from schools and school support services support each cluster. Consultants and assessors for pupils' work are drawn from the local community. Where appropriate, IPENZ and NZIA (Institute of Architects), have provided support for these functions. Contacts are also developing with universities in Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton, and CRIs in all regions.

An unexpected consequence of this activity was the establishment of a separate cluster operating along the same principles in Christchurch, privately sponsored by the Chapman Foundation.

Senior Technology Education Professional Development

This Ministry of Education contract identified schools where teachers require professional development to support preparation for courses based on levels six and seven of Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum for pupils in years 11 and 12. One hundred and ninety-four schools were involved in this contract. It identified the professional development needs of these teachers and provided regional cluster workshops, meetings with principals and/or members of the senior management teams and follow-up visits to meet these needs; assisted teachers to develop courses and produce schedules to assist assessment and reporting; helped them to develop pupil work exemplars, moderate and assess these exemplars, and to share ideas regionally through links with School Support Services advisers and the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) network.

NCEA Technology Education Materials Development

Under this contract from the Ministry of Education, a teacher handbook for Level 2 NCEA teacher professional development and a programme for training a facilitator from each region were produced. The handbook provided material to:

increase teacher capability and confidence in making assessment decisions on pupil achievement
use practices that encourage better learning
exemplify best administration and management practice in programmes of learning and related assessment
The Ministry printed and distributed the handbooks. The training programme for Regional Facilitators enabled the introduction of the handbook and its implementation by teachers.

The Alpha series

The Alpha resource tells the story of current New Zealand science and technology. While it is primarily designed to support the learning of science and technology in the school curriculum, it is also appropriate to the general public. They are linked to specific objectives in New Zealand curriculum statements, and also often provide career information. They are produced at four levels of the school curriculum ranging from junior primary to senior secondary. The writing and production involves collaboration between science, technology and education; topics and manuscripts are chosen in consultation with scientists, technologists and educationalists. Alphas are generally accompanied with teacher notes and student activities.

A number of issues have been made available through libraries or retail outlets such as the Science Centres. Some sponsor organisations have used the Alpha as part of their own public relations operations.

The following were produced in 2002:

Alpha 112 - Renewable energy and climate change

Alpha 113 - Climate variability and regional development

Alpha 114 - Sedimentation - its impact of estuaries

Alpha 115 Alan Cooper - explorer and scientist studies bones (in print)

Alpha 112 "Renewable energy and climate change" was written by Associate Professor Ralph Sims and John Adams (New Zealand Science Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellow 2001) and sponsored by BP New Zealand Ltd. This Alpha presents the scenario of the greenhouse effect and explores the links between carbon dioxide and climate change. The Kyoto protocol and New Zealand's position is detailed before alternative energy sources are described for both generation of electricity, heat and lighting and for use as transport fuels. Reference is made to some conversion devices including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and the use of fuel cells.

Alpha 113 "Climate variability and climate change" was written by Lesley Mackintosh (New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellow 2001), while being hosted by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Co-sponsored by both NIWA and the Otago Regional Council, the Alpha explores and presents fully the growOTAGO project that has produced climate and soil maps of Otago with specific reference to 13 regions in the province. How the climate maps are produced is detailed as is the ways of gathering information about the climate. Of particular interest is the creation of 'last frost' maps. NIWA is investigating the potential of the climate mapping techniques used in Otago in other regions.

Alpha 114 "Sedimentation its impact on estuaries" was written by a team at NIWA led by Alf Norka and Sara Hatton. Estuaries are introduced as areas of rich and diverse biological systems that New Zealand has in large areas throughout the country. The causes of sedimentation are explained while the impact on the ecosystem is detailed. Case studies are presented from both the Whangapoua estuary and the Okura estuary. Research methods used by NIWA are fully outlined and the need to conserve estuarine areas as an important part of our environment is emphasised.

Alpha 115 "Alan Cooper explorer and scientist studies bones" (in print) was co-written by Linda Chronis and Louise Thomas covering the career, to date, of Alan Cooper from babyhood, student, caver, and frisbee enthusiast through to director of research at the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre at Oxford University. A fascinating narrative full of Alan's scientific work is presented including the first complete extraction of DNA of a mitrochondrial genome from an extinct species the moa. The links with his colleagues, including his father Roger, and mentors illustrate the importance of sharing and exchanging information and views. This is an adventure story with a strong scientific context.

The Beta series

The Beta resource presents the different perspectives on scientific issues. Only one, about animal welfare, has been produced. While it is primarily designed to support the learning of science in the school curriculum, it is also appropriate to the general public. This issue has been made available through libraries, the NZ Veterinary Association, and ANZCCART.

The Gamma series

The Gamma resource gives a balanced and factual account of the science behind scientific issues in the news. While it is primarily designed to support the learning of science and technology in the school curriculum, it is also appropriate to the general public. Many public libraries subscribe to the series, and particular issues have been made available to journalists and other groups in the community. The series was available on subscription, and is available from many public libraries and schools.

Five titles were produced in 2002: Anthrax, Weight of the world - obesity, Eating disorders, 1080 - who's taking the bait, and Meningococcal disease (in press).

E.g.

E.g.s are case studies of technological practice - stories of the work of technologists told by a range of technologists including engineers and architects. Each highlights technological knowledge and makes useful links to the technology curriculum. Publication is supported by IPENZ and TENZ.

Matters of Principle

Each issue is an illustration of a technological principle in context. These resources, for teachers and students, are written by practicing technologists and/or teachers and are designed to demystify technological terminology. Principles such as ergonomics, optimisation, durability, reliability, etc. are covered. The publication of this resource is supported by IPENZ and TENZ.

Photograph by Richard Doran

Photograph by: Pip Brown