Website Reviews - Australian and New Zealand Science Websites

THE NEW ZEALAND SCIENCE LEARNING HUB – POKAPU AKORANGA PUTAIAO AND THE AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE’S CURIOUS WEBSITE

Reviewed by Jane Ryan

Finding science resources can be a struggle. Some are too sophisticated, others too simple. Here are two sites focussed on school-age learners that we have found work very well for a variety of reasons:

The New Zealand Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao https://www. sciencelearn.org.nz/

The Australian Academy of Science’s Curious website https://www.science.org.au/curious/

Both sites are a great way for teachers to find science information, with the Science Learning Hub (SLH) aiming to “make New Zealand science, technology and engineering more visible and accessible to school students, teachers and community audiences”. It also has a dedicated professional learning page https://www. sciencelearn.org.nz/teacher_pld that caters for teachers at all levels. The SLH promotes

Primary Science week and this year’s theme is ‘citizen science’, running from 8 May 2023 - 12 May 2023.

Australian Academy of Science’s Curious website is more suitable for secondary school students, but it has tons of fascinating titbits - who doesn’t want to know how an astronaut washes her hair? https://www.science.org.au/curious/video/ wash-hair-in-space And, which came first –the chicken or the egg? https://www.science. org.au/curious/earth-environment/whichcame-first-chicken-or-egg

Both sites have articles and videos but the SLH also has interactives and activities like this one about butterfly life cycles https:// www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/701white-butterfly-life-cycle, i.e. readymade lessons.

I think the SLH is an essential New Zealand resource with its strong focus on New Zealand and the New Zealand curriculum – if you want more Mātauranga Māori resources, this is a great place to go. https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/topics/ m%C4%81tauranga-m%C4%81ori

More and more resources on the SLH are being presented in te reo Māori, for example this wetlands resource https://www. sciencelearn.org.nz/topics/te-repo

Both sites are written by content producers working with subject experts. They are current, relevant, reliable, authoritative, and contain accurate sources which are useroriented for searching or browsing.

AOTEAROA SCHOOL LIBRARY WEEK IS BACK FOR 2023!

7 - 11 AUGUST

We have again commissioned the very talented award-winning illustrator Paul Beavis to help us refresh resources and the Activity Guide - so watch this space!

LET’S CELEBRATE OUR AMAZING SCHOOL LIBRARIES TOGETHER!