INTERFACE Magazine, Issue 115, November 2022

Minecraft Competition 2022: Creating a game for students to teach each other

Digital Kete:

Te Kawa O Tangaroa: learning about life in our oceans 16 The summer holidays are just a few cyber security checks away School may be out soon for summer, but you can be sure hackers and scammers won’t be on a break. So, taking some extra security precautions before wrapping up for the school year, could be the difference between having a relaxing holiday or one that’s disrupted by some cyber nasties.

18 Special feature: Are you scoring with esports in your school? Esports is more than just playing computer games. It’s the fastest growing activity in schools across the country, offering mental and physical challenges, developing multiple skills, fostering collaboration and teamwork, creating friendships, and maybe even forming career paths. If you’re still sitting on the sidelines, maybe now’s the time to think about joining in.

28 File Share: Four pages of online resources

32 Review: Lenovo 13w Yoga

Meet the latest Lenovo device available on TELA+, a new laptop that’s designed to meet the demands of both teachers and budget.

33 From the back: Taking photos of slides helps students remember A new study has found that taking pictures of instructional slides during a presentation helped students not only remember the slide content better than for slides they did not photograph, but also recall the spoken-word content.

34 Competitions: Heaps of great prizes to be won!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND WE’LL BE BACK IN 2023

Well, that’s another year almost done. Another challenging year, for sure, but your mahi has once again been truly awesome.

Thank you for being part of the INTERFACE family in 2022. A shout out to everyone who made it to our INTERFACE Xpo events in May – it was great to see you all. And, of course, we couldn’t bring you this great publication without your input and support, which is more important now than ever to enable us to continue to provide this great resource for you, the educators of New Zealand.

Whatever lies ahead for us in 2023, rest assured that we’ll be right there with you, supporting and inspiring your use of digital technology in your teaching.

Everyone at INTERFACE wishes you, your kura, kaiako, akonga, and whanau, a happy and enjoyable holiday, and all the best for next year! Noho ora mai.

INTERFACE OFFICE CLOSED: Please note, our administration, distribution and accounts team will be on holiday from Friday 9 December to Tuesday 31 January.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

What’s important to you about environmental sustainability? How are you teaching about it in your school and classroom? We’ve teamed up with the Marine Stewardship Council to find out. Simply complete a short survey – it should take only a few minutes to fill in – and tell us your thoughts. We’ll share the results and they’ll be used to improve and develop teaching resources on environmental sustainability.

Plus, for taking part in the survey, you’ll have the chance to go into a draw to win a Giant Airpod Speaker, John West Tuna Bowls and a $100 Countdown shopping voucher.

For more information and to take the survey go to interfaceonline.co.nz/sustainabilitysurvey

Check out Te Kawa O Tangaroa, a learning programme on overfishing. See page 15.

INTERFACE Magazine is now only available in digital form. We have the readable version online but there’s also an option to subscribe to a downloadable version. It offers all the same content and interactivity but you’ll get your very own file that you can keep and access whenever and wherever you want. Go to interfaceonline.co.nz/interfacesubscription/ Or, if you have any questions, please contact us at admin@interfacemagazine.co.nz

Got a story to tell about coding and robotics? If you’re using either (or both) in your classroom we’d love to hear from you for a feature we’ll be running in the New Year. Tell us about your plans and exploits, experiences and adventures. Big or small activities, successes you achieved or set backs you learned from, we want to share your stories with INTERFACE readers. Contact Editor Greg Adams at greg.adams@interfacemagazine.co.nz

Thanks to everyone who entered our September magazine’s competitions.

Keeping their smartphones clean and dry will be Ammie Hill, Waimauku School, Auckland, and Danielle Jackson, Ararira Springs Primary School, Lincoln, who both win an All Weather Dri-Pouch.

We had three Rechargeable Wireless Bluetooth Keyboards up for grabs. These are on their way to Aaron Everett, Columba College, Dunedin, Matthew Jackson, Piripiri School, Te Kuiti, and Ceire Hopley, Waiopehu College, Levin.

The winner of the Norton 360 Premium 12-month subscription is Michelle O’Carroll, Twizel Area School, Canterbury. And, lastly, the Brainbox Car Experiment Kit goes to Emma Kent, St Bernard’s College, Lower Hutt.

For our latest competitions see pages 34 and 35.

Fostering

FREE ACCESS TO ETV FOR ALL TEACHERS EXTENDED FOR TERM 4

Want to try the largest online, on-demand video platform for educators in New Zealand, with more than 150,000 searchable videos? ETV has extended its offer of free access for every teacher in every school to its entire catalogue of videos and online tools for Term 4. Don’t miss your chance to check out and enjoy this fantastic teaching and learning resource. There’s no obligation, just register and give it a try. Contact ETV General Manager Martin Drew on 0800 438 388 or martin.drew@etv.org.nz

ROADSHOW CARES ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

MEET THE WINNERS OF 2022 SOLVE FOR TOMORROW COMPETITION

Last month, the Lenovo Think Beyond ‘22 national tour demonstrated a future that is sustainable and transformative in a Zero Carbon, Zero Waste Roadshow that visited five cities.

“The roadshow started with the importance of sustainability and the message that Lenovo cares about our environment and want to help provide better outcomes for students,” said Cameron May, presenter and Education Account Executive.

“Each of the presentations had a common thread around sustainability and discussed three key priorities of the Lenovo Education strategy: Empower, providing the products and solutions for improved outcomes for students; Inspire, working with our partners to provide software solutions to promote student engagement and ensure student online safety; and Accelerate, the future of education with education tech innovation.”

NETSAFE LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO BUILD STUDENTS’ DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE

Netsafe is introducing the eSmart Digital Licence+ into New Zealand schools – and it’s available for free for a limited time. Aimed at students aged 10-14 years, the education tool is designed to help students grow their digital literacy skills, develop digital intelligence, and identify strategies to harness digital capabilities and minimise risks.

The solution is free of charge for all state and state integrated schools for Term 4, 2022 and Term 1, 2023. Find out more at digitallicenceplus.org

A non-invasive diabetes device and safe kitchen utensils for people with disabilities took top honours in Samsung’s 2022 Solve for Tomorrow competition. Delivered in partnership with MOTAT, the competition celebrates young people using design thinking and STEAM to innovate and solve issues in their communities – helping to change the world for good.

Howick College’s Eva Malez, Htet Waiyan, Lennox Dilworth, and Kurt Marshall’s won for a Non-Invasive Diabetics Device, which aimed to devise a practical way for diabetics to measure their glucose levels. Second place went to students from Mount Richmond Special School in Auckland, for their idea Kitchen Tools Reimagined, which created kitchen utensils that are safe for people with disabilities to use.

“I was absolutely blown away with the calibre of entries this year,” said judge Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles. “What was exceptional about the Non-Invasive Diabetics Device was not only did this group ideate a breathing device and app to measure blood glucose levels for diabetics, but they also prototyped it, too!

“It was a close race between first and second though, as the other project, Kitchen Tools Reimagined, really stood out to me as well.”

Find out more about the competition at samsung.com/nz/solvefortomorrow/

DIGITAL SCHOOL AIMS TO EDUCATE 1 MILLION REFUGEES IN 5 YEARS

The Digital School officially launched this year across five countries, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Mauritania and Colombia. In partnership with academic institutions worldwide, Harvard, MIT and UNSW Sydney, the goal is to provide educational material in Arabic, French, Spanish and English to one million refugees and underprivileged children in the next five years.

More at thedigitalschool.org

BY THE NUMBERS, THERE’S AN ESTIMATED …

5.3 billion mobile phones thrown away in 2022

Up to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed of worldwide every year (which is equivalent to throwing away 800 laptops every second)

20 rare metals in a smartphone

7% of the world’s gold currently contained in e-waste

For every 1 million mobile phones recycled, 16,000kg of copper, 327kg of silver, 34kg of gold, and 15kg of palladium can be recovered

83% of e-waste is not properly recycled

Two-thirds of all toxic waste is e-waste

Auckland students refurbish PCs for schools in Samoa. See page 10.

FROZEN PLANET II WORLDS CREATED IN MINECRAFT

SUPPORT TO END FOR WINDOWS 8.1

From 10 January, 2023, Microsoft will no longer provide technical support or software and security updates for Windows 8.1. The operating system will still run but will be at greater risk for viruses and malware, and upgrading to Windows 10 or Windows 11 is recommended. More at bit.ly/windows8end

2FA RESOURCES FROM CYBER SMART WEEK

BBC Earth has partnered with Microsoft to bring the icy worlds of Frozen Planet II to Minecraft: Education Edition. Through five all-new free worlds, Minecraft players will be able to discover cold habitats, and meet and learn about animals and landscapes featured in the TV series. This includes access for teachers to lesson plans for exploring the effects of climate change.

Learn more at education.minecraft.net

Two-factor authentication (2FA) – aka multi-factor authentication or two-step

– is a simple and highly effective step to protect online accounts, with access to resources and data requiring two forms of identification. As part of last month’s Cyber Smart Week 2022, the Ministry of Education has advice for setting up 2FA in schools. For this and a range of cybersafety resources go to education.govt.nz/school/digitaltechnology/cyber-smart-week/

Students refurbish computers to go to rural Samoan schools

Kia kaha to a group of Year 7 and 8 students at Northcote Intermediate in Auckland. Last month, about 30 of them volunteered to help clean, fix and refurbish more than 60 unwanted PCs and 130 screens, which are now on their way to schools in Samoa.

“We’ve got lots of students who are mad about technology,” said Principal Phil Muir. “This gives them the opportunity to see what a real technology project looks like. It’s practical, hands on, involves upcycling and multi-organisation collaboration, and it’s fun!”

Digital collaboration

Organising the project was the Pacific Assist Trust, a not-for-profit charity serving the nations of the South Pacific. Also assisting were Code Avengers, who will be overseeing the set-up of the computers and training teachers, as part of a digital literacy programme connecting remote and rural schools in Samoa. Microsoft’s Conor McHoull – a former teacher at Northcote Intermediate – helped to install on each device Windows 10 and 11 licences, kindly provided by Microsoft. Lastly, the computers were donated by IT service management company Concentrix.

“The relationship first came about when we were approached by Pacific Assist to see if we had any unwanted furniture that they could send to schools in the Pacific Islands,” added Phil. “We did and since then we’ve done several projects together. Next year, we plan to send a group of students to Rarotonga to do some collaborative work with local schools, parts of which will include a digital technology project.”

Learn more about the Pacific Assist Trust at pacificassist.org

HELPING HANDS: STUDENTS AND TEACHER ZANE COOPER, WITH CONOR (LEFT), CODE AVENGERS’ RAY ALLEN (BACK LEFT), AND PACIFIC ASSIST’S CALLUM BLAIR (BACK RIGHT).

PHOTOS BY GREG ADAMS

Impactful futures start with your future

Education changes constantly. What we teach and how we teach it continues to evolve as new technologies and societal needs emerge. That’s exactly why The Mind Lab designed the Master of Contemporary Education (MCE).

The MCE programme helps educators extend their capabilities and lead innovative, collaborative and empowering change in their classrooms with practice based, project-led learning. Here Laura and Rachel share how they used their MCE studies to enrich learning experiences for their students.

AI for Agency and Independence

Through her practice-based project, Laura Wheeler developed a personalised learning pedagogical approach that empowered her Year 4 class at Meadowbank School in Auckland, to influence their pace and path of learning. Using an AI chatbot she created called ‘My Agency Bot System’, her students were able to independently find the best learning activity that supported them achieving their own learning goals. It provided an instant response, helping students to engage in their own learning agency, in turn accelerating their progress.

“Over the past few years, learning time has been significantly disrupted. I wanted to find a way to get learning back on track. The MCE helped me broaden my understanding of different pedagogical approaches. The collaboration with my Project Team and the feedback and advice offered by our supervisor was instrumental to the scope of this project, keeping us true to the needs of our learners, while at the same time allowing space to learn from one another.”

Outside the classroom

Rachel Diack, Year 5/6 Teacher at Lower Moutere School in Motueka, used her Change Project to increase engagement through project-based learning and Virtual Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) Experiences.

“Completing this project during the pandemic meant we weren’t able to visit places in person. Virtual EOTC experiences in lessons worked well for students in both face-to-face and online

Make your plan for next year a plan for their futures.

Help your students see themselves as producers, not just users, of digital tools. Use your love of ICT and teaching to build a practice based ICT project for your classroom and students, and build your qualifications at the same time.

� Choose compact or in-depth programmes to build on your knowledge base

� Flexible, accessible sessions to fit in with your teaching priorities

� Contextual learning you can start to apply straight away in your classroom with your students

Three options for your learning:

home learning environments. I focused on integrating these lessons into our topics and ensured students had the opportunity to make cultural connections and draw on their prior learning.

“The feedback and advice from my Mind Lab collaborative group was invaluable, all of us coming from diverse backgrounds bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience.”

Enrich your experience

Although learning is built into the daily rhythm of teaching life, stepping outside of your own classroom and into someone else’s, as a student, can reinvigorate the energy needed to teach and lead. Use The Mind Lab’s Master of Contemporary Education to find your space to innovate, create and lead change in your classroom.

Article by The Mind Lab

Learn more at themindlab.com

Digital and Collaborative Teaching and Learning micro-credential. 15 weeks, fully online, part-time.

Learn more at themindlab.com

Digital and Collaborative Learning postgraduate certificate. 37 weeks, blended online and in person, part-time.

� � �

Master of Contemporary Education. 1-2 years, online with classroom based projects, full-time or part-time.

Creating a game for students to teach each other

Fruitvale School’s Shobek Singh came out on top in the teacher section of our Minecraft Competition 2022. His winning activity challenged students to create an interactive game in Minecraft to teach each other about the Treaty of Waitangi, as he explains.

What made you choose to do the project in Minecraft?

During countless conversations, I learnt that they enjoy using Minecraft. They constantly use it at home, have an opportunity to learn to grow using YouTube, and Minecraft has an ability to be stationary and/or mobile to display one’s learning.

Can you describe how you came up with the idea for a game, and how you planned and implemented it?

Gamification is one of the modes of learning in our classroom, used to educate others. Using gamification challenges the students’ mindset and forces them to set a challenge for one another. The process motivates and engages students of diversity and/or those who have learning hardship. Creating a game increases the utilisation of the 21st century skills – like collaboration, critical-thinking, communication and creativity – for learning needed in today’s techno-focused world. It was straightforward for them to choose and create a game to encourage others to learn about the Treaty of Waitangi (Tiriti o Waitangi).

What was the reaction of the students to the project?

The principal and teachers, students inside and outside the classroom were blown away. The ability to create a game to teach one another, as well as one’s whanau, was something no one had thought of before. The project provided an opportunity to create a friendly competition, and intensify learning for themselves and their aropa (peers). Students wanted more time to create a project that would link today’s world with the Treaty era.

Overall, how did it turn out? Were you pleased with the results?

With the constraints of time, the project was not ‘fully satisfying’ for the students. They needed more time to create and ask deeper level questions building upon their curiosity. With more time, I’m sure they

would have been able to add more levels that link to the other parts of the curriculum. As a teacher, I was amazed at the engagement, the level of work ethic and the active demonstration of the school values (respect, responsibility, risk-taking, resilience and reflection).

Do you plan to do it again?

Yes! Minecraft is now part of our classroom’s learning toolkit. Students have the opportunity to reflect and choose if Minecraft is suitable for their project. They use the program for creating their own versions of fairy tales, a Matariki obstacle course, sustainable worlds, a variety of habitats for different animals, and much more. I would continue to expand and refine the tuakana-teina process – a learning relationship between tuakana (seniors) and teina (juniors).

Any advice to others thinking about using Minecraft in their teaching?

I recommend they take up the challenge of using Minecraft into their day-to-day teaching. This process may be hard at first but the results both inside and outside the classroom are really worthwhile. Thank you.

Finding the right resources can be frustrating + time consuming

When I was in the classroom I was always on the hunt for new ideas and resources to inspire my teaching and learning, but I felt like most of the resources weren't quite right for my kids and context There were lots of generic or American resources and it was getting expensive paying for resources sometimes upwards of $10 per resource! So I started adapting and making my own resources for my kids and contexts Although this was something I enjoyed, I quickly realised it took so much time and effort that work was becoming my life!

Creating resources for teachers by teachers

I've been facilitating PLD at Digital Circus for the last 4 years, working with over 100 teachers across the motu Part of that mahi is to create supporting resources for and alongside kaiako that can be used in their classroom

Our team at DC started putting these resources out on social media to help other teachers. The response was phenomenal The task board we made for Te Wiki o te reo Māori reached 34 000 people, and the feedback was that the resources were engaging and useful I thought how might we continue to create and offer quality resources to our NZ kaiako?

Over the last year, alongside our talented team at Digital Circus, we have been working on our resource site, Digital Kete With over 90+ years combined teaching experience in our team, across all year levels and specialties, you could say we are pretty passionate about teaching and helping educators create incredible learning experiences for ākonga

Helping NZ teachers save time + brain power

Our haerenga here at Digital Kete started with the growing need for resources unique to Aotearoa. Just like Tāne on his mission to seek out the baskets of knowledge for mankind, we at Digital Kete we are on a mission too Our goal is to help you fill your kete with useful and practical resources We aim to help you learn, grow and continue to be an inspirational and innovative educator, and have time to do the things you love with the people you love.

We’ve done the hard mahi for you

Digital Kete launched on September 1st with a tonne of free resources ready to use, with more added every month. There is an option to join a membership area where new premium resources are added every week Our resources focus on student agency, encourage creativity and blur the subject silos Our integrated learning experiences are aligned to the NZ Curriculum. We are currently working on resources for Structured Literacy, the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum and we are working through requests from teachers via the site let us know what you need and we'll make it!

The biggest part of our mahi is listening to what teachers ACTUALLY want and need and then making those resources specifically for them. We aim to help more and more kaiako access resources truly made for them, our kids and contexts in our place, Aotearoa.

Toni Westcott, co creator of newly launched NZ Teacher resource website, Digital Kete, describes her mission to help teachers across Aotearoa get better work life balance.

Uniquely NZ resources for Aotearoa Kaiako

300+ premium resources with more added weekly!

free resources with more freebies each month

time + brain power to get work/life balance We hope you join us on the journey! Create your free account + fill your kete with resources made for you:

TOGETHER WE CAN HELP THE OCEAN

Ocean literacy equips our future leaders with the knowledge to protect our ocean.

Download free teaching resources msc.org/tangaroa

Deep dive into learning about life in our oceans

Welcome to Te Kawa O Tangaroa, an ocean-centred learning programme from the Marine Stewardship Council. With a focus on solutions to overfishing and ensuring oceans teem with life, it’s designed for learners in Years 7 to 10, and aligned to the National Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

Our oceans are under immense pressure from pollution, climate change and overfishing. As we pass the baton to the next generation, education is key to generating greater understanding, urgency and action to protect our big blue planet.

The Marine Stewardship council has created Te Kawa O Tangaroa, a learning programme to help teachers promote ocean literacy. Ocean literacy is defined as ‘an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean’. There are several sections of the resource to explore. These include:

Te Kawa O Tangaroa curriculum: There are nine curriculumaligned sustainable fishing and ocean-related topics. Although these are designed for Year 7-10, they’re adaptable for Year 11-13 NCEA Biology, Science and Geography.

A-Z of sustainable oceans & fisheries: Search our library of curriculum-aligned ocean-centred education resources by topic or keyword to find activities, unit plans, film clips, worksheets and PowerPoint slides.

Unit and lesson plans for teachers: Explore our library of curriculum-aligned unit and lesson plans for teaching ocean centred learning topics relevant for STEM and Social Sciences.

There are also resources to support Matauranga Maori in the classroom, Antarctic Ocean and Fishery education, and Teacher Professional Development, as well as Kahoot! quizzes and virtual visits, to your lessons by beaming an ocean expert, animal or experience into your classroom.

Compiled by the INTERFACE Team

Find out more at bit.ly/TeKawaOTangaroa

Also, you can sign up for teacher updates and, each quarter, receive the latest education resources, upcoming calendar dates, competitions, and ocean-related stories.

About the Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international non-profit organisation on a mission to end overfishing and restore fish stocks for future generations.

Its aim is to ensure future generations are able to enjoy seafood and oceans full of life. The MSC uses its blue fish tick and fishery certification programme to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practices, influencing the choices people make when buying seafood and working with its partners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis.

THE 7 PRINCIPLES OF OCEAN LITERACY

The summer holidays are just a few cyber security checks away

School may be out soon for summer, but you can be sure hackers and scammers won’t be on a break. So, taking some extra security precautions before wrapping up for the school year, could be the difference between having a relaxing holiday or one that’s disrupted by some cyber nasties.

Criminals don’t take vacations. In fact, quite the opposite. Globally, there are increasing instances where cyber attackers are targeting holiday periods to conduct their malicious activities. Holidays can sometimes expose vulnerabilities in digital security because in general, and quite understandably, we’ve kicked back, relaxed and our security defences are lowered. This is an opportune time for hackers, scammers and other unsavoury characters to try knocking down some virtual doors.

In addition, over holiday periods, organisations often run at a limited capacity for an extended amount of time, which means IT staff might not be as responsive to threats during the normal working week. This can result in an ‘online field day’ for a cyber criminal who can get prolonged access to systems and in turn create more chaos, as it takes a little longer for on-call IT staff to notice the issue before responding.

At a personal level, when people are on leave and distracted by family time and second helpings of dessert, they can be a little more susceptible to inadvertently enabling malicious activity. We all may be more laid back, less suspicious-minded and perhaps click on links we normally wouldn’t. In turn, we’re probably less likely to follow-up with the IT team if something unusual has gone on with one of our accounts. This lack of monitoring and increased susceptibility can provide the vital pieces of the puzzle to a cyber attacker that allows them to inflict more damage than they typically would during a normal working week.

As we wind-up for the year, the timing is now ideal to shore-up those digital security defences and have procedures in place for responding to any active cyber threats. Who’s on call?

Have a plan for who can do a check on your school network’s activity – this may just be a quick daily check-in by a staff member for anything that might look unusual. Also, have a plan in-place for who can be called on to respond to a cyber security incident. If you have an IT provider, now is a good time to confirm what level of support they offer over the holiday period and if they can support your school or kura in the event of a cyber attack in the holidays.

Check up on back-ups

Check your usual back-up processes are working. We recommend having a cloud copy and a physical copy of your most important information. As you wrap up for the year, consider all types of data in your environment. Are there any additional security steps or one-off back-ups that it might be worthwhile running at the end of the year?

Staff and students leaving

Limit the opportunities for cyber nasties to get in. One way to do this is to ensure that accounts are made inactive for staff and students who’ll be moving onto new schools in 2023. Accounts that aren’t used regularly are gold for attackers, as it gives them a little extra time looking around systems for data to exfiltrate before they get noticed. You can consider making their accounts inactive over the holidays, before removing those accounts a few months later in the new year. This allows students or staff to access (or save) any last-minute information or work they might need, or have forgotten to take with them, to their next learning environment.

Two-factor authentication

As staff start to look towards planning next year, why not make a commitment to all switch on two-factor authentication (2FA) in 2023? 2FA adds another layer of defence and is the strongest way to keep cyber nasties out of school accounts. Even if an attacker has a password, they will need something else, like physical access to your phone to get into an account. According to Microsoft and Google, 2FA can prevent up to 99 per cent of untargeted attacks from happening. It’s a crucial control measure to protect data and information at your school. It’s most important for accounts or systems that store important, sensitive, or confidential information, like email, financial accounts and student management systems.

Advice

for BYOD

Lastly, if you’re a school with BYOD devices, parents are often looking for and buying their devices over the holidays. It can be hard for them to know what to purchase and if you don’t want to be inundated with requests – or end up with inappropriate devices appearing on the first day of Term 1 – point them towards help and advice. CERT NZ and Netsafe, for example, have a guide on what to look out for that could be useful to share with whanau at your school (cert.govt.nz/individuals/ guides/buying-a-new-device/ ).

No one wants cyber nasties for Christmas. Take precautions, have a plan, be prepared … and enjoy the holidays. Nga mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou.

Article supplied by the Ministry of Education’s Cyber Security in Schools team.

Subscribe to The Digital Download

To receive regular digital security tips and advice direct to your inbox, sign-up to receive the Ministry e-newsletter, The Digital Download, at bit.ly/3Nm1tOq

Cyber security resources

Check out the Ministry of Education’s website for posters and resources to promote cyber security in your school or kura, as well as additional tips and support, at education.govt.nz/cyber-security

Are you scoring with esports in your school?

Esports is more than just playing computer games. It’s the fastest growing activity in schools across the country, offering mental and physical challenges, developing multiple skills, fostering collaboration and teamwork, creating friendships, and maybe even forming career paths. If you’re still sitting on the sidelines, maybe now’s the time to think about joining in.

A genuine team sport promoting community and a sense of belonging

By Ginni Orr and Liz McDowell

We worked hard to get esports off the ground and are now in our second year at Avonside Girls’ High School. With the support of the Senior Leadership team, as well as the Ministry of Education, we entered the team into the National High School League of Legends competition run by Victory Up. From having just three students, this year it’s grown to a team of eight!

We have a gaming mad teacher that coaches the team with her son, who is the over watch, and another staff member, who manages the team admin. We’ve also had the support of Christchurch City Libraries, and several staff attended some PLD on esports, so we felt like we had the backing to be able to introduce it well.

Connection and community

The team has a regular booking at New Brighton Library, where they practise and play. The library’s gaming room is like our clubhouse and is a cool place to hang out. The library staff have really enjoyed watching the team progress. A big shout out must go to Danny McNeil, who has worked hard to support our school staff to get the team off the ground, connected them with other schools starting out into the esport competition world, and made sure our students have somewhere welcoming and encouraging to play.

We started esports because it’s a genuine team sport and is starting to be recognised as such. Playing esports can provide a sense of belonging to and opportunities for student engagement within a school community.

Just like more common team sports, such as cricket and netball, players develop team skills like strategic thinking, problem solving (at speed), communication teamwork, and commitment to being part of a team, as well as hand-eye coordination. We want to encourage any activity that constructively does this.

The team is full of enthusiastic young people who love gaming. They enjoy being part of a team, representing the school and utilising their skills and interest in any sort of gaming. It brings about connection and community, friendships formed over different year groups, and there’s always lots of fun and hilarity.

Growing in numbers

We always thought it would start small but grow in strength and numbers over several years, and this is indeed what’s happening. We’ve promoted the esports team at the start of each year and the students (Years 9 to 13) can join if they and their parents want them to.

One aim was to ensure we had resources that we could lend students if they needed them, so that a lack of devices and accessories did not get in the way of participation. The Christchurch City Libraries have also been instrumental in the success due to making a space available at our local library. There’s also a room onsite at school with the computers set up for access by the esports team for gaming.

Along the way, we’ve learned that getting support from people who know what they’re doing is critical. We spent some

time with Arnika at ImpactEd and Chris from Gamestah designing and developing some support for any kaiako wanting to introduce esports into their kura, with Ministry assistance. We want to be able to share what we have learned and take away any fear about bringing esports into a school.

The future plans of the team include growing the numbers, so we have two full teams, and perhaps the older students playing as a Valorant team. This year saw us have our first win. Next year, we want to get some more wins and take down our friendly local high school competition!

Ginni Orr is eLearning integrator and Digital Technology teacher, and Liz McDowell is Deputy Principal at Avonside Girls’ High School in Christchurch.

Libraries provide free facilities for schools to compete in esports

Libraries have been providing equitable access to the knowledge found in books for more than a century. However, as times change, they move with those changes and adapt to include modern technologies. Enter Esports.

Statistics show two out of three of Kiwis play video games. While much of this is on mobile devices and consoles (think Xbox and PlayStation), some of the biggest games in the world, such as League of Legends, are played solely on PCs. Awesome, powerful but expensive PCs. Not every household or local school has access to a 5K Gaming Rig or the internet connection required, meaning some rangatahi don’t even get the option to play, let alone compete.

Equity gap

In Otautahi, Christchurch City Council Libraries have stepped in to address that esports equity gap by providing suites of PCs capable of playing the games that make up the National High School

By Danny McNeil, Christchurch City Council Libraries.

League run by Victory Up. With support from Sport Canterbury, libraries provide high-end peripherals, such as mechanical gaming keyboards, mice and headsets, to our growing number of young gamers. There are five PC labs where esports is accessible for local schools, each offering from 15 to 30 PCs. At present there are no charges for using them.

A sense of place

Equally as important as access to esports equipment is the community that we support through esports. Students from opposing schools meeting at the local library to play against each other or even combining to play a team elsewhere in the country. Libraries are providing akonga a sense of place that fosters deeper connections with their environment. We believe Library Learning Centres are becoming the grass roots ‘football field’ of esports.

Weekly competition sessions coupled with the tournaments, which have

included whanau in the audience, provide students not engaged in traditional sports (for a variety of reasons) a chance to represent their school, enjoy the buzz of team sports and take pride in what they achieve. Most amazing to witness is how proud parents are when for the first time they understand how talented, connected, engaged, passionate, and included their sons and daughters are when part of an esports team competing, just as they would in more traditional sports likes rugby or netball.

Through our ongoing collaboration with ImpactED, we have begun to provide PLD for schools looking to get onboard the esports waka. If you would like to know more details, please contact us at schoolbookings@ccc.govt.nz

Danny McNeil is part of Te Ropu Poutama (Programmes, Events and Learning Team) at Christchurch City Council Libraries.

Impressive skills and amazing attitudes in Minecraft competition

Last term, Te Kura o Tuahiwi hosted its first Minecraft Interschool Tournament, with teams from Kaiapoi North and Woodend Schools.

“This was designed as part of our Kahui Ako Katote. Our goal is to develop positive interactions between our kura via events,” explained Kate Kennedy-Terrell, Digital Tech Lead at Te Kura o Tuahiwi in Kaiapoi. “The decision was made to target Years 3 and 4, as often they don’t get as many opportunities as Years 5 and 8.

“We were so impressed by the behaviour, skills and all-round amazing attitudes of everyone who came to participate. Also, we were lucky to have some rangatahi from Kaiapoi High join us to tautoko, helping to login, navigate the Minecraft space and teach our akonga some new tricks! Authentic tuakana teina in action! Ka mau te wehi! Also, an unexpected highlight for us was watching all the beautiful interactions of the tamariki at break time, playing football together; showing real whanaungatanga.”

Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using computer games, which often take the form of organised, multiplayer video game leagues and tournaments.

Growing skills, confidence, engagement … and improving grades

By Elize Crouse, Waitaki Girls’ High School

At the beginning of this year, we started an esports club at Waitaki Girls’ High School. We play casually on Tuesdays during our lunch break.

I had started an esports club at my previous school in South Africa and saw the benefit it had for students. Not all kids are sporty and sometimes they feel excluded from school activities. Starting an esports club gave students the opportunity to also be part of the school and this increased engagement. I saw first-hand how their confidence grew not only while playing games with other students but, since they had that sense of belonging, they also gained confidence in all aspects of school life. Their grades improved in a number of subjects and their attendance levels improved, as well. At first, it can be scary to address the issue of starting up an esports club at the school level because of the stigma that surrounds teenagers playing games and screen time. As with all things in life, you need to have a balance and I have seen first-hand the advantages of playing games, as it adds communication and problem-solving skills, not to mention improves hand-eye coordination.

Overwhelming interest

When I started teaching in New Zealand, I investigated esports in schools and surveyed a couple of students to gauge if there would be an interest in an all-girls school. I was overwhelmed by the number of students who showed an interest and I really had no other choice but to start an esports club. Since things are done very differently here, I had to do a fair bit of research about what types of leagues are available at school level. My first step was to get permission from our Principal to set up a club. Once I got the go-ahead, I sent out a survey to all the students, where they could indicate the type of games they would like to play, whether they prefer casual or competitive games, and so on. I also attended an online course run by Microsoft on how to set up an esports club and what it’s all about.

Some of the games we started with were Fortnite, Rocket League, Minecraft, and League of Legends.

During Term 2, we joined the Otago High School eSports League, where we play

League of Legends matches every Thursday afternoon against schools in the Otago region. We have about eight students who play competitively, ranging from Year 9 to Year 12. We’re still a very inexperienced team but our students enjoy the opportunity to interact with students from other schools with similar interests.

On Tuesdays, we also have our casual session during lunchtime where about 20 students play various games.

A place to play

I have had to make sure that the computers we use at school would run the games, which require some specific specs to be able to operate adequately. I also needed to ensure that the games can actually run and are not blocked by any firewalls.

The scheduling of the games is done via Discord and I have taken the responsibility to ensure that I have enough players for each week. Then it is just a case of providing the students with a place to play and supervise them. Some schools let their students play from home, but I prefer that we all play from school as it increases the social factor of being part of a team.

9 awesome teaching tools to try in

Skills and tactics

There is a range of benefits to playing esports, from social and communication skills – they get to interact with students with the same interest and make new friends – to learning tactics and hand-eye coordination. They’re using different parts of their brain and improving decision making, since everything happens so fast, they have to make decisions on the spot. These are all transferable skills that they can use in all aspects of life.

You do not have to be a gamer to get an esports club up and running. Most of the time the students will be able to tell you what you need to do. It takes a lot of commitment to practise and learn the skills to play the game and work out the best tactics. Students will get discouraged if they keep losing, but it is essential to keep going and improving skills.

Going forward, I will focus on building our League of Legends team and maybe increase it to two competitive teams. We’re also hoping to expand the esports club by introducing Valorant as another competitive game.

Elize Crouse teaches Digital Technology ar Waitaki Girls’ High School in Oamaru.

Buzz and excitement in inaugural Rocket League tournament

In August, Papakura High School in South Auckland hosted its first Rocket League tournament, with students from Rosehill College and Ardmore School also participating.

“It was our first event and went amazingly well,” said Satchet Singh, organiser and Head of Technology. “There was a buzz in the hall and the excitement on the students’ faces was priceless.

“A whole host of people helped to make this happen, including our awesome school staff and Arahi Hippolite, who provided all the hardware support. Students got involved in hospitality and shoutcasting*, and the Kura High film crew filmed the whole event. We streamed live on Twitch.

“It was a long day and we didn’t really have any technical difficulties – besides having to figure out how to connect 13 computers to the only one network port!

“Seven teams from all age groups competed. Thanks to every team that entered and gave it their best.

Congratulations to Rosehill students, who took first prize.”

*Shoutcasting is a term used to describe commentary on esports matches, both play-by-play coverage and tactical analysis, and usually live streamed.

Did you know? The first esports tournament was the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics, hosted by Stanford University in October 1972. It featured the game Spacewar on the PDP-1 computer.

TOURNAMENT ORGANISER SATCHET SINGH

New league offers students the chance to do what they love

In 2019, I started an esports club at school. After arranging weeks of friendly games, it became apparent that this was unsustainable and I had to start up some kind of grassroots league. Basically, I emailed every sports coordinator and digi tech teacher in Otago to see who was interested in joining in – and this has developed into the Otago High School eSports League.

With the help of a keen Year 12 digi student, we set up a school-wide sever and invited akonga of different kura to join. All the communication happens in here. I set up a schedule using a mixture of Excel and an online tournament organiser. There was a number of schools I had to talk to about the technical set up of getting League of Legends onto their system (although, unfortunately some are still not able to support it and students play from home).

In the three years I have been running this, it’s gone really well. We started with six teams and now have a steady 10. Across Otago, there are around 50 students playing regularly in the league, week in week out. At Otago Girls’ we currently have around 20 girls playing, with about 11 in the weekly league. The ages vary. We have mostly Year 9 and 10 students but there are lots of senior students playing in other teams.

Learning together

While I love tactical wargaming and board gaming, I had never really ventured into esports before. I have always enjoyed video games, especially strategy games like Sid Meier’s Civilization. Mostly, I was pushed out of curiosity seeing my own kids and friends gaming, and seeing the rise of the big esports tournaments.

Students get a lot from being involved. Firstly, there are all the benefits of being in a team that works in close proximity and learns together. Often our team breaks and goes into algebra sessions and support each other with their learning in general. Those who participate all play traditional sports but esport does give them an alternative avenue to be in the first team for a school squad.

We have also seen academic growth through the introduction of esports as well, especially in the digital technologies. It has been great for meeting other students. Waitaki Girls’ came across for a sports

By Duncan Trickey, Otago Girls’ High School

exchange and we also went there. This was the first time some had visited another school and it was noted how quickly they all bonded. These experiences are things that talented sports people take for granted and it’s great to see this infrastructure being put in place for all our students.

I spend a lot of time running the administration and am very lucky to have an offsider who has taken some of the strain off me by taking the league structure and scheduling part of things out of my hands. I really wish we could diversify the games more but the school systems can only cope with so much.

Seeing the value

Not every teacher has been enthusiastic about students being allowed to play for school; some schools have not wanted to engage with us, either. Thankfully, I have a very supportive Senior Leadership team and many colleagues who could see the value to the students.

One of the main difficulties has been getting keen teachers to invest their time in supporting the akonga in this new sport. The number one factor I have seen is that if a school has a keen teacher who’s willing to support the kids and gets the software to let them play at school, you will have a successful team.

As for the future, I really want to start playing Rocket League. Eventually I would also love to have tournaments scheduled in Winter Tournament week, so students can get the big tournament experience. It would be great if I could get into schools to talk to their students and make them aware of the opportunities but, to be honest, that’s a full-time job. I do have a vision of following the Christchurch model where all the students could use the local library and that could become our equivalent of a gym. Or, even better, have a purpose-built hub to run tournaments and the weekly league.

The League has become bigger than I expected. It’s electric when you get the players in the same room and even the most sceptical adults are usually converted to seeing the benefits. The players themselves have been fantastic and it’s really exciting to give them a space to improve and do what they love.

Duncan Trickey teaches Business Studies, Enterprise, Social Studies and Tourism, and is teacher in charge of eSport at Otago Girls’ High School in Dunedin.

If you’d like to know more about the league, contact Duncan at trk@otagogirls.school.nz

Having different opportunities for students is amazing and invaluable

Every Wednesday after school, the Riccarton High School library computer lab buzzes with the intense energy of 15-20 avid esports players.

What connects them is a love of esports and being part of a team, just like if they were part of a football or netball or swim team – and this means a lot, as most of these kids would normally not find a place in a regular sports team. Now, they can be awarded a school sports badge and represent their school in national competitions. Having the computer kit available is important, too, as many of the players come from families where any sort of computer is out of reach.

The esports club at the school is relatively new. When we saw the Victory Up competition being advertised at Turanga Library, I got in touch to ask how the school could be involved. Danny McNeil was hugely generous with time and support to help us get going. He also managed to get us some gaming kit through Sports Canterbury (we’re a joint-use Public/School library).

When we put the word out at school that

By Sally Brown, Riccarton High School.

we were starting up an esports club we had a crowd of students wanting to join up. Our first year we played just League of Legends and the second year we added Valorant. This year we had a team play and win the Valorant high school tournament at NZMA.

Serious about esports

It took a bit of a push to make it happen at the school, but now we’re attracting a solid group of kids, everyone’s on board. Some parents, too, were a bit hesitant, as we were asking them to support their children spend even more time on devices. But they’ve come round since they’ve seen the enthusiasm and energy the kids put in. They’re serious about their esports!

During the Victory Up National competition, Riccarton students are joined by players from Burnside High School and the room is packed. The competition is friendly and banter bounces around between the players. But don’t ask them for comment –they’re too focused on the game.

Sally Brown is Library Manager at Riccarton High School in Christchurch.

Building knowledge, creativity, innovation, and technical skills

In August, the Waimairi-iri Kahui Ako ran its first esports event, a Minecraft Wero Hanga (Build Challenge) for Year 7/8s.

The schools have recently started up esports clubs,” said Haley Taylor, Digital Technologies Coordinator. “Here at Breens Intermediate, we’ve been running esports at lunch with about 50 students turning up. In groups of four, we set them a speed build challenge each week.”

Teams from St Patrick’s Bryndwr, Christ The King, Breens Intermediate and Cobham Intermediate competed, with judges from Burnside High School marking on Technical Build, Innovation and Creativity and Team Work.

“The learning outcome for the event was to understand the story of Kupe and his journey to Aotearoa. Competitors were asked to have read ‘Kupe and the Giant Wheke’ and know that the build was to create the Giant Wheke.

“There was a great atmosphere in the room. Each team completed a 20-minute speed build with a break in the middle. After building, the students had to talk about their build and the part of the story they had created around their Giant Wheke. They showed great understanding and knowledge of the story.”

Congratulations to winning teams Breens Intermediate School (Year 7) and Christ the King School (Year 8).

In the same competition held later for Years 5 and 6, the winners were Harewood School (Year 6) and Isleworth School (Year 5).

Jump in with both feet and give esports a try

Last year, we reported on a Rocket League tournament held at Manurewa Intermediate, organised by Tanya White. Here we talk to her about her experiences with esports.

Why are esports important?

Esports have definite benefits, not only for social well-being but for communication, coaching, strategizing, and generally offering a way for those students that otherwise would not participate in a physical sport but wish to be part of a different type of team.

Having teachers that encourage not only the gaming aspect but also the other potential careers in this field like casting, hosting, management, media, and technical support, is a huge benefit for our ever-changing world and the jobs of the future our students could have. Aotearoa is small, so this field could be really lucrative for students of the future, with the right help from us.

What do you think are the benefits to schools?

We’ve seen lots of engagement, community connections with other contributing schools and onwards schools that are using this avenue to branch out future opportunities for students. Schools can make transitions a bit easier if students know there are interests for them as they move on and up in their educational journeys. I don’t see a reason why a school would be resistant to this. It’s hard at first but student interest completely makes all the struggle at the beginning worthwhile. I’ve even got girls interested in old video games played via emulators like Scorched Earth, Bubble Bobble and Space Invaders. These games were good in the 80s and still remain classic and challenging now, without all the fancy graphics and modern GPU feel.

How have you learned about esports?

I loved gaming as a kid. Arcades are where I started. I never had a console at home until university when I bought a second-hand Sega Genesis and spent hours playing Sonic and other games of that time. Tetris remains my all-time favourite game, my skills honed by countless quarters in the machine. I’m also an avid Pokémon Go player and have made lots of friends from around the world as a result of playing every day for years!

What do you enjoy most about being involved in esports at school?

I enjoy pushing for more for our tamariki – I love their engagement when they succeed or work together and celebrate all of their successes, regardless of how small. I like seeing kids take the lead, teach me things like what to do when the console won’t connect properly, their problem-solving abilities you don’t see in other subject areas and their passion for all things gaming.

Set up a Discord or Twitch account and the kids think you are the ultimate awesome teacher! I have two PS5s in my class and it’s all some of them talk about as they think it’s amazing a teacher has such things for them to use.

I love connecting with other educators that might be struggling to start this up like I was at first. It’s a buzzy challenge and keeps me on my toes, wanting to be more involved so our students have these opportunities that other educators just won’t bother trying. Best thing recently was when multiple girls scored points for the first time and it was like they had won an Olympic Gold medal!

What have you learned along the way?

If you want to do this, push it at your school. Show management the benefits of it. I’m lucky because our school is supportive with trying new things, as long as there are student benefits! Kids know more than we think and are willing to teach us as much as we are them. Don’t shy away, just ask them to help and they will definitely come through.

Keep things charged at all times! Keep it simple. Don’t run desktop gaming if your network can’t handle it, or it’s too complex to set up quickly. Consoles are easy and if you can find non-violent, free games like Rocket League, the students will love this and get involved if you let them. Keep it focused. Make them talk, strategise and communicate what they need to do and push girls to get amongst it too. Don’t assume age is a barrier or that they can’t learn from each other.

What advice would you give to other teachers considering esports?

Just get amongst it. Jump in with both feet and try. Get a console and set up a sign-up time for students and see who turns up. Make sure girls know they’re welcome and encouraged, too, and don’t assume young students cannot game like their older peers because they can!

Contact people that can help and participate in events that are around this, so you can learn. It takes some effort but it’s something I think we need to get all schools moving on right away!

Thank you.

Tanya White is Digi-Comp Teacher at Manurewa Intermediate School in Auckland.

The school is hosting another Rocket League tournament at the end of the month. If you’re interested contact tanya@manurewaint.school.nz

Entries invited for the 2022 South Auckland eSport Tournament.

Celebrating passion, new perspectives and all of the roles esports promotes

By Ben Carter, Hornby High School.

I think there are some real misconceptions around esports. When most people think of esports, they think of an individual gaming in their room with maybe a couple of people they meet online, which can conjure up some pretty nefarious ideas. But I think esports can really be beneficial for students. Yes, there are some team skills that are developed – communication being the main one – but students really learn to socialise through these shared passions and the community is just massive, so there’s always someone to talk to.

We run three esports clubs at Hornby High School: Minecraft at interval and lunch; and esports after school on Tuesday and Thursday.

The Tuesday session is geared more towards competition level play, with the game Valorant as the main focus. Teams run through a series of drills and practice plays against each other with drop-in mentoring/coaching sessions with some ex-students. This ties into the national competition being run by Victory Up. The Thursday session is a lot less structured and more open with students playing a variety of games. It’s very much more socially driven.

Increasing interest

I am a massive gamer myself – and have been since school – so, with the increasing prevalence on the global stage and initial student interest surveys, we looked at how we could include esports opportunities for students.

The initial set up was probably the hardest part to manage, finding the balance between what the students

wanted and what was accessible – and it’s still a continual work in progress.

There are obviously a lot of various esports tournaments that take place on a number of different platforms.

We started off small with just a Wi-Fi network that was only accessible at interval and lunch. Most of our kids played mobile-based games – like Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends and Clash Royale – but we also had a group of kids that were more collaborative than competitive, which meant Minecraft: Education Edition was a good fit and worked on student Chromebooks.

We started with a few in-school competitions. Unfortunately, not many students were actually participating in any wider esports competitions or developing any of the true team-based values of competitive play, so we changed it up. We shut down the Wi-Fi and shifted it to our computer suite to focus on

collaborative and competitive competition. While this worked well for Minecraft, we hit more roadblocks. Some members of our kura had concerns around credibility and esports in general, the safety of students online, what games would be played, and how this represented the school.

Changing perspectives

Fortunately, this also coincided with the Victory Up team leading the charge nationally by establishing the High School Esports League competition. The information about the benefits and professionalism of esports was really pivotal in changing some of those perspectives and giving us the green light.

We managed to participate in the flagship League of Legends competition at Turanga in 2020. This was amazing! The students were buzzing with the whole vibe. VIP treatment by the awesome team at Christchurch City Council Libraries led by Danny McNeil and the real professional atmosphere with full noise competition setup, event crews, and worldclass shoutcasters facilitating the whole event.

Our 2021 was just as bumpy as everyone else’s and, sadly, our computer lab devices were not up to the specs we needed for the games we had selected and we had to change it up again.

Most of our Minecraft players were Year 7 and 8 students, who love to just get together and explore the world or get weirdly and wonderfully creative. Our systems ran this no worries and we held it during interval and lunch. However, for our more esports-focused players we had

to look outside of school. The team at Te Hapua Halswell Library were amazing, booking us an available space and providing some top-of-the-line equipment supplied specifically for esports by Sport Canterbury. While we did lose a few students by restricting the games that were being played and moving to an after-school meet that was off-site, what’s really great is that the community is just blowing up and we are one of several school groups across the city that are getting into our local libraries to play. Overall, the reaction from students has been really positive. We get some comments from students about why certain games are in and others aren’t but the answer is actually quite simple: these competitions are aimed and affiliated with high schools and they have all the same rules. Most students are pretty accepting of that.

Growth and development

Looking ahead, the plan is to keep the clubs and community going and growing. Our players are a great mix of ages and levels, so there’s real potential for skill growth and development but there are

also a lot of competitions out there. We will look at trying more games to try to encompass these both within our kura and the wider esports community.

For any teachers interested in esports, reach out! There are lots of groups out there across Aotearoa and if the person you’re talking to can’t help, they’ll know someone who can! Your students are also a wealth of information, too, so use their knowledge. Get your kura on board to really push and promote it as a viable club and look after your IT team. Things will go wrong and you will need them!

It’s a timeworn phrase, but I would have absolutely loved the opportunity to participate in something like this as a kid

Gaming doesn’t seem to harm players’ mental health

Research into the gaming habits of 39,000 people has found that time spent playing video games has ‘little to no’ effect on people’s wellbeing, countering fears of the impact of gaming on mental health.

With the cooperation of seven different game publishers, who agreed to share data from consenting players, the study from the University of Oxford tracked actual gameplay, rather than using self-reported estimates. Wellbeing was measured by asking about life satisfaction and levels of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and frustration.

The scale of the study provided strong evidence for the lack of an effect on wellbeing, said Andrew Przybylski, one of the researchers.

“With nearly 40,000 observations across six weeks, we really gave increases and decreases in video game play a fair chance to predict emotional states in life satisfaction, and we didn’t find evidence for that – we found evidence that that’s not true in a practically significant way.”

Mindset and motivation

What is important, according to Przybylski, is the “mindset that people have as they approach games”. Healthier motivation was associated with positive wellbeing, the study found, while players who felt as if they ‘had’ to play the game also tended to have worse satisfaction, regardless of how long they played.

“Common sense says if you have more free time to play video games, you’re probably a happier person. If players were playing because they wanted to,

and just love being able to provide the opportunity to our rangitahi.

What’s really amazing is that we also have this as a career path for these students but it goes beyond the professional athlete. Unlike other disciplines, it’s really about celebrating all of the roles that come under the esports umbrella. From the shoutcasters (commentators) to the rig and stage crews, the event and promotional elements, and the digital components (animations and overlays and just getting the information out), esports is really broad and inclusive.

Ben Carter teaches Social Sciences at Hornby High School in Christchurch.

rather than because they felt compelled to, they tended to feel better.

“But contrary to what we might think about games being good or bad for us, we found pretty conclusive evidence that how much you play doesn’t really have any bearing whatsoever on changes in wellbeing.”

Seven technology companies participated in the study, including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and the games used were: Animal Crossing: New Horizons; Apex Legends; Eve Online; Forza Horizon 4; Gran Turismo Sport; Outriders; and The Crew 2.

Read more at bit.ly/gamingwellbeing

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SCIENCE NEWS

Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao (sciencelearn.org.nz)

aims to link New Zealand scientists with the learning community. There are 10,518 resources showcasing cutting-edge science. These are curated in concepts and topics (like biotechnology, aquaculture and Te Repo) or search for specific content.

Local or organic? Hybrid or electric? Paper or plastic? Treehugger (treehugger.com) offers advice, inspiration and information on living sustainably. From climate change and recycling, to science and policies, to eco-design and endangered species, there is a range of materials and ideas to explore.

HISTORY

World History Encyclopedia (worldhistory.org) is a library of resources on ancient history and ancient cultures. All content is reviewed. There are several categories, like Encyclopedia, Education and Media, which are divided into sections, including maps, image library, timeline, quizzes, and teaching materials.

Go straight to the source of science news at Science Media Centre (sciencemediacentre.co.nz). This site provides an independent source of information on all issues related to research, science, and innovation, and promotes evidence-based reporting to help the media work with the research community.

Interested in science, technology, health and space? RedOrbit (redorbit.com) has articles, videos, images, and reference information on the latest news in these four fields. Each has a dedicated section with headline stories. Search by keyword or sign up to the e-newsletter for regular updates.

Facing History & Ourselves (facinghistory.org) uses lessons of history to learn about hatred and bigotry, from the Holocaust to Civil Rights. It offers a range of resources, such as lesson plans, images, videos, and podcasts, as well as teaching advice and guidance. Search by keyword or across subjects and topics.

Read ScienceDirect (sciencedirect.com) to stay informed through a selection of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, including open access content.

Choose from four categories: Physical Sciences and Engineering; Life Sciences, Health Sciences; and Social Sciences and Humanities.

For daily STEM news for teachers and students go to Science News Explores (snexplores.org). Check out the headlines or search the nine categories, including Life, Humans, and Science and Society. There are explainers, teacher resources and themed collections.

Discover the gods, goddesses, myths, legends and cosmology of ancient civilizations at Mythopedia (mythopedia.com). Choose from nine different cultures: Aztec; Celtic; Chinese; Egyptian; Greek; Hindu; Japanese; Norse; and Roman. Explore articles, images, stories, etymology, pantheons, and pop culture.

MATHS AROUND THE WORLD

Math Whiteboard (mathwhiteboard. com) is a free, collaborative online whiteboard designed specifically for learning maths. Type or handwrite equations, and move between sketches, graphs and solutions. There’s a virtual calculator. You can also import and annotate PDFs.

The goal of Geography For Geographers (geographyforgeographers.com) is to provide teachers with resources to teach geography and understand our place in the world. There’s specific emphasis on using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to increase Geo-literacy and Spatial Awareness.

RELIGION

See the rise and influence of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the timeline video How religion spread around the world (bit.ly/religiontimeline). Watch as it highlights the areas of the globe where each religion started, how they spread and impacted the world over time.

Learn about integrating stories and literacy in mathematics instruction at Maths Through Stories (mathsthroughstories.org). This research initiative shares the benefits of teaching maths through stories and creative writing, as well as offers practical ideas for teachers on how to embrace this approach.

National Geographic’s Education Resources (nationalgeographic.org/ society/education-resources/) promises to bring the wonder of the world to your students. There’s a selection of immersive experiences, interactive lesson plans, maps, and other free materials to uses in the classroom.

Find out about Buddhism at BuddhaNet (buddhanet.net). Categories include ‘Buddhist Studies’, ‘eBook Library’, ‘World Buddhist Directory’, and ‘Meditation’. There are audio files of chanting, a photo documentary of Buddhism, Q and As, guides for teachers, and crossword puzzles and games.

Interact with and solve algebra problems at Graspable Math (activities. graspablemath.com). Through an innovative interface that uses just a few easy gestures, students can drag elements of an equation to create step-by-step solutions to various questions. It’s fairly intuitive and a different way to tackle algebra.

Lizard Point Quizzes (lizardpoint.com) are interactive map quizzes to help you learn about the world around you. There are heaps to choose from to test students’ knowledge of countries, cities, physical features, and more. A free account lets you track quiz scores and customise basic quizzes.

Judaism 101 (jewfaq.org) is an online encyclopaedia of Judaism, covering Jewish beliefs, people, places, things, language, calendar, scripture, holidays, practices, and customs. Learn about the Hebrew alphabet, Rabbis and Priests, the 13 Principals of Faith, and the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments).

SOME TOOLS TO TRY FOR 2023

From Google, Aloud (aloud.area120. google.com/) will dub your videos into different languages. Simply upload the video, then review and edit its transcript. Aloud does the rest. It takes about 10 minutes for a 5-minute video.

As of now, you can dub English videos into Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Indonesian. But expect more soon.

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Create assignments, fill them with questions, and assign them to your classes with Podsie (podsie.org). Once students complete an assignment, every question goes into an automated review deck that guides them through the answer, helping them to understand and remember what they’ve learned.

Combining the concept of a ‘list’ with an ‘article’, Listikle (listikle.com) lets you make visually attractive, list-based pages, often focused on a specific theme. Add, move, edit, bullet/number, and organise each item of the list before exporting the whole thing as a PDF.

Online OCR (onlineocr.net) is a browserbase, picture-to-text converter. You can use it to extract text and characters from digital images and scanned PDF documents, including multiple page documents, up to 15MB. Upload the file, choose the language and output format (Word, Excel or plain text), and convert.

Create video animations and slide shows with Phideo (phideo.com). Choose your photos/images, then drag and drop into place. Annotate your photos with text, shapes and images and save your slideshow as a video file (.mp4 or .webm) or animated GIF. You can also add background music.

Decks (decksapp.com) is an online notebook where you can record, store and manage information. Create flashcards and attach to notes and videos, or ideas boards to organise your thoughts and make visual bookmarks. Also, add timestamps to reference when and where you made your note.

Developed by WordPress, browse through and use more than 600 million free images and audio indexed with Openverse (wordpress.org/openverse)

It searches Creative Commons licensed and public domain content from dozens of different sources. Filter by type, use or licence.

Daftpage (daftpage.com) is a no-code website builder that is as simple to use as a document. Its editor offers an intuitive interface, templates and drag-and-drop functions. Add elements, text and images, animations, backgrounds, and more.

Record your screen, webcam, and voice with one click at FlexClip Screen Recorder (flexclip.com/tools/screenrecorder/). Choose whether to capture the whole screen, application windows, or browser tab, then edit your recording, adding subtitles, annotations, highlights, overlays, and more.

SHARE FILE SHARE FILE SHARE FILE SHARE FILE SHARE FILE SHARE

EDUCATIONAL GAMES

From the solar system to the world economy to maths and science, Fact Monster (factmonster.com) combines learning and reference materials, with fun facts, videos, tools, quizzes and games. Designed specifically for children, it’s a safe spot for them to explore by category or keyword.

You’re launching a tech startup. Can your company survive? Find out with Startup Trail (startuptrail.engine.is). This game explores the policy issues that impact tech startups. Make choices to guide your company through a variety of dilemmas. Use your time and resources carefully, secure ongoing funding, and navigate the many challenges to success.

Gets your kids moving to be their “strongest, bravest, silliest, smartest, bestest selves” at GoNoodle (youtube. com/c/GoNoodle/). They can join in the fun with dancing, stretching, running, jumping, deep breathing, and wiggling to various educational topics and themes.

HubPages (discover.hubpages.com) is an open community where people write about and share their interests and passions. Search by keyword or browse a category – like Art & Design, Education and Science, Business, Technology, Travel & Places, Finance, and Books, Literature and Writing.

Peacemaker (peacemakergame.com) is a simulation game about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Players can choose to lead either side and must work to curb violence and find a path to peace. Each turn, players get to implement one diplomatic, military, or political initiative and then see how that decision plays out.

Ministry of Education NZ (youtube. com/c/EducationGovtNewZealand/) offers videos on a range of topics related to the work of the Ministry and education in New Zealand. Playlists include discussions on NCEA, practical information and advice for school leavers, and updates on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories.

Global Digital Library (digitallibrary.io) collects open educational reading resources. Part of The Global Book Alliance, which works to ensure that no child is without books, it hosts libraries of books and games, interactive materials for learning maths, and a variety of teacher and parents resources.

From Mensa For Kids, Games (mensaforkids.org/play/games/) offers a collection of 12 fun, learning activities. From Meteor Multiplication and Demolition Division, to Country Toad and Word Invasion, these engaging games challenge a range of maths, words and world skills and knowledge.

Big Think (youtube.com/c/bigthink) is a great source of thought-provoking questions and actionable lessons from top scientists, politicians and celebrities. It has 1000s of videos, featuring experts exploring the big ideas, from ‘Is reality real?’ to ‘Will civilization collapse?’ to ‘robot-proofing jobs’.

Review: Latest Lenovo device available on TELA+

look. The latest addition from Lenovo to the digital device leasing scheme TELA+, the 13w is easy on the eye and on the budget. This is definitely a device with attitude.

Lifting it out of the box, it feels light and portable. Weighing 1.45kg and measuring 305 x 216.8 x 17.6mm), the 13w Yoga is very easy to handle, which is always a plus for a 2-in-1 device. And it’s a tough little thing, too. The device is built to the US DoD’s MIL-STD 810H standards for reliability under extreme environmental conditions. Its dropresistant design, spill-resistant keyboard, scratch-resistant display (courtesy of Gorilla Glass protection), and reinforced ports and hinges, make it more than

Multi-purpose machine

The 13w is designed as a multi-purpose machine. The 360-degree hinges offer all the expected form factors, from laptop through tent to tablet. The colour is officially ‘Thunder Black’, with aluminium top cover, alongside a Graphite Gray keyboard. There’s also a red stylus neatly tucked away on the side, offering a little oasis of contrast and character – and extra functionality.

Open it up and the 13.3-inch touchscreen is full high definition (FHD) and IPS, along with a FHD webcam with privacy shutter at the top and and World Facing Camera. The standard Dolby Audio is good and more than adequate for general usage. The keyboard’s responsive and nice to the touch; likewise, the very smooth mylar touchpad. For a budget device with few pretentions, the screen-keyboard combo is excellent, providing an easy and comfortable way to interact effectively with your device.

Effective firepower

Under the hood, the 13w Yoga is powered up by an AMD Ryzen 5 5625U processor (2.30GHz, 3MB) and AMD Radeon Graphics, with Windows 11, and plenty of memory and storage in the shape of 8GB RAM (with a SO-DIMM slot for an additional 8GB) and 256GB SSD.

During its brief time in our office, this appeared to provide more than enough firepower to effectively open and run multiple apps and functions. Lenovo estimates battery life is around 10 hours. It chugged along quite happily for us for the day, so no argument there.

Whatever ports you need, you should be satisfied.

There’s a full array to choose from that will hook you up to all kinds of

including USB-A (x2), USB-C (x2), HDMI 2.0, headphone/mic combo, and full SD card reader.

The Lenovo 13w Yoga doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not. It’s a budgetconscious device, that looks good, performs well, and is an attractive new addition to TELA+. What’s not to like? DESIGN:

Taking photos of slides helps students remember

We often take camera-phone photos of slides during a presentation. But does the act of actually taking the photograph help us remember information?

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside tested whether taking pictures of PowerPoint slides during an online presentation helped students remember the slide content better than for slides they did not photograph. In the two-part study, students were asked not to study the photographs before testing. Not only did they remember content better when they photographed it, but students also better remembered complementary spokenword-only content.

“Given that the floodgates have already opened regarding the use of technology in the classroom – particularly with the proliferation of online courses offered due to COVID-19 – it is wise to study how best to support learners’ use of technology in the classroom, so we can understand how best to support their learning with these devices,” said psychology professor and researcher Annie Ditta.

Recall information

In the first experiment, 132 university students were asked to take photographs of alternate slides on their computer screens. Half took photos of the evennumbered slides; half took photos of the odd-numbered slides. The presentations they were shown involved subjects with which it was assumed the students would have little familiarity – printmaking, fencing, and cheese-making.

For the 60-question fill-in-the-blank test that followed, participants were asked to recall information from both the slides and the spoken-word-only portion of the teacher’s presentation.

The first experiment found participants

remembered the slide information significantly better when they took a photo than when they did not. However, there was no difference in memory for the spoken-word-only information.

In the second experiment, half of the 108 study participants could photograph their choice of slides, as long as they photographed about half. The other half of participants were ‘yoked’ to the first set of students, instructed to photograph only the slides the others chose to photograph.

Whether the students chose the slides they photographed, or whether they were instructed to mimic others’ photo-taking, both sets of students remembered slide-photographed content better than nonphotographed content. This time, however, they also experienced a benefit for remembering spoken-word-only content.

Photo-taking benefit

“Overall, we found evidence for a phototaking benefit,” concluded Ditta and her team. “The results were surprising, given that most prior research has found a photo-taking impairment effect.

“Students who take photos in lectures

could enjoy the benefits of taking photos for on-slide information without much cost to information that is only said.”

Before both experiments, students expressed a belief that photo-taking would help them remember slide information, but they felt it would not help them remember spoken-word-only content.

“They were wrong about that,” added Ditta.

The study did not determine why the photo-taking helps, which will be addressed in a planned follow-up study. However, the researchers surmised: “It’s possible that the predictability of taking a photo every other slide enabled participants to pay more attention to the upcoming to-be-photographed slides in the first experiment.”

Previous experiments found note-taking was superior to photo-taking in terms of remembering content. This study did not compare note-taking with photo-taking, which will also be the subject of a future study.

Source: UC Riverside News

A new study has found that taking pictures of instructional slides during a presentation helped students not only remember the slide content better than for slides they did not photograph, but also recall the spoken-word content.

DELEGATES AT THIS YEAR’S INTERFACEXPO TAKE PHOTOS OF SLIDES DURING A PRESENTATION.

We have some awesome prizes up for grabs this issue.

GIANT AIRPOD SPEAKER, JOHN WEST TUNA BOWLS AND COUNTDOWN VOUCHERS

What’s important to you about environmental sustainability? How are you teaching about it in your school and classroom? We’ve teamed up with the Marine Stewardship Council to find out. Simply complete a short survey – it should take only a few minutes to fill in – and tell us your thoughts. We’ll share the results and they’ll be used to improve and develop teaching resources on environmental sustainability. For taking part in the survey, you’ll have the chance to go into a draw to win a Giant Airpod Speaker, John West Tuna Bowls, and a $100 Countdown shopping voucher. Find out more on page 6 or go to our website.

Entries close Wednesday 1 February 2023.

Keep your smartphone safe and out of harm’s way when charging by docking it in a Wall Mounted Phone Holder. Simply plug in and place in the space behind the hooks (either upright or on its side) for no tangling and easy charging. Sturdy and durable, the holder (11.9 x 7 cm) can be stuck on most surfaces and positioned near to a suitable power point. Alternatively, the hooks can hold small items like keys, to keep your home or office organised and neat.

There are two pairs of holders up for grabs. Enter your details online.

Entries close Wednesday 1 February 2023.

MAKE YOUR OWN KITS

Explore STEM concepts, develop technical thinking and spark creativity with ‘Make Your Own Kits’. We have three different kits available: Make Your Own Fibre Optic Light; Make Your Own Remote Control Dog; and Make Your Own Coin Eating Robot. They’re straightforward to construct. Each comes with instructions and all the pieces needed for assembly (except for batteries).

We have one of each kit available to win. Make your choice when you submit your competition entry.

Entries close Wednesday 1 February 2023.

Are you having to strain your eyes to see images and videos on your smartphone screen? Help is at hand with a Screen Magnifier. Using optical zoom technology, it can enlarge the viewing area by three to four times, making it easier on your eyes and letting you enjoy the show. The tough plastic frame is adjustable, so you can change the angle of viewing and fine tune the focusing. A non-slip silicone pad underneath keeps everything secure and stable. The holder is suitable for smartphones and devices up to seven inches (17.5cm).

We’re giving away one Screen Magnifier (red in colour). If you think it would enhance your viewing, enter online and it could be yours!

Entries close Wednesday 1 February 2023.