18 November 2009 Lincoln University hosts science teachers' workshop

The workshop, titled Enhancing the New Science Curriculum, was organised by Lincoln University's Science Outreach Coordinator Sue Unsworth, who received support for it from the Ministry of Education's Quality Teaching Partnership Fund administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Speakers included Jenny Pollock of the NZ Association of Science Educators, who spoke on the new curriculum, and Jacqui Bay, of the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, who discussed e-learning links to real science contexts.

Strategies to engage Maori and Pasifika students in science were outlined by Melanie Shadbolt of Lincoln University and Ross Paniora, Deputy Principal of Hillmorton High School.

The day-long programme also featured current Lincoln University research that could have classroom science teaching applications, such as “Sex hormones in toilet water and municipal sewage”; “Detecting stress in plants”; “Soil greenhouse gases”.

Pictured here at a Waterwatch display at the workshop viewing a sample of aquatic life from a Canterbury stream, are from the front: Judith Pay (Lincoln University Waterwatch Educator), Gwynneth Tinkler (Villa Maria College), Sabina Cleary (Villa Maria College), Alison Hill (Correspondence School), and  Dr Sue Jarvis (Waterwatch Advisor).