Te ao pūtaiao

House of science grant reaches tamariki in Taranaki around the mounga

How is a battery put together? What makes objects fly? Why does heat cause corn kernels to pop? What does it take to launch a rocket into space?

These are just some of the questions ākonga explore thanks to hands-on science kits provided by the national charity, House of Science / Te Whare Pūtaiao.

“Children are naturally curious and love being able to carry out experiments themselves,” says Melissa Surgenor, a kaiako who uses the kits with children in Years 3–6 at Moturoa School.

“Children who find other forms of learning more challenging really engage with the kits. The material is linked with the science curriculum and come with enough equipment for everyone to be involved.”

For example, the kit, Food for Thought / He Kai mā te Hinengaro, tied in with the school’s Food to Table programme where they grow and eat their own kai.

“It helped them understand what was going on in the garden and in the kitchen. They made popcorn and learnt that as the tiny bit of moisture inside the kernel heats up, the steam causes it to explode.”

Moturoa School is one of 15 primary schools supported by the Te Rau Manawaora PKW Trust. They are either kura kaupapa or have high numbers of tamariki Māori.

The bilingual kits for Year 0–8 ākonga are lent out on a subscription-based library system and the Trust pays the schools’ annual sub.

“It’s a no-brainer in terms of reaching our tamariki around the maunga,” says Puna Wano-Bryant, Te Rautitikura / GM Stakeholder Engagement for PKW.

“Interest in science, especially in relation to te taiao, comes naturally to our children. Schools aren’t resourced to provide exciting, hands-on science on this scale. And the bilingual te reo Māori instructions are a bonus.”

Deborah Jones, a former kaiako, works with a team of volunteers to deliver, collect and replenish the kits on a two-week cycle.

“I want to give the biggest thanks to the PKW Trust. They helped kick-start us in the region. 43 schools are now signed up and demand is growing,” she says.

It is not hard to see why. Deborah’s base at St Joseph’s School in Waitara stores 39 different kits across the four strands of the science curriculum: material, physical, living world, planet earth and beyond. They are packed full of experiments, demonstrations, inquiries and a teacher’s manual.

“Everything is in there, enough equipment for a class of 30. For example, 30 rulers or 30 beakers. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for a school, so there are no barriers to learning science,” says Deborah.

A former head of science at Tauranga Girls’ College, Chris Duggan, started House of Science / Te Whare Pūtaiao to build scientific literacy in schools. She wanted tamariki to understand science concepts and processes they encounter in their daily lives.

“In 2013 I saw an ERO report where only about 27% of the schools they saw had an effective science programme in place. I thought ‘this isn’t good enough’ and then and there chucked in my job to set up this charity with the view of empowering primary teachers to deliver science lessons in their primary classrooms.”

“We’re seeing a shift in teacher confidence which for me is a bottom line. It’s all about building up the teachers and giving them the tools,” says Chris.

Melissa wants to inspire ākonga to choose science subjects at high school because they’ve had a good experience at primary school.

“I love sharing my passion for science with the children. The kits teach basic principles and you can leap frog from there. One class started with launching paper planes, then made launchers for the planes and paper roller coasters. They tested, recorded results, changed designs.”

The challenge for the programme in Taranaki is to fund enough kits to service all the kura wanting to join. PKW was one of the first to provide support, paying $3000 for the Spaced Out/Ki Tuarangi kit.

“For the agri-business sector that uses the land or extracts resources for commercial benefit, this is a hugely positive way of giving back. We’re helping to breed the next generation of mātauranga ‘mauri’ scientists,” says Puna.