atmosphere

Across the generations – and for young people, in particular – climate change is recognised as the most important challenge that our world faces. Education is...

The Earth is a dynamic system – a combination of interrelated, interacting parts that form a collective entity. From a scientific point of view, the Earth...

Aotearoa New Zealand has a developing space industry that employs people from around the motu. Our space industry encompasses: people who model atmospheric greenhouse gases and...

Methane comprises just 0.00018% of the Earth’s atmosphere – so why are we concerned about it? Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas. It is the second-most...

Ururangi is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is connected to atmospheric conditions, winds and the sky. Ururangi means ‘winds of the sky’ and is...

Waipunarangi is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to the rains and other atmospheric conditions. Aotearoa New Zealand’s Ministry for the...

At first glance, some data displays in science can seem overwhelming. Both students and teachers may be unsure of how to approach the task of understanding...

Koe feliuliuaki ‘a e ‘ea ‘oku ‘uhinga ia ki he ngaahi liliu kehekehe ‘oku hoko ki he kalaimeiti (Churchward, 1959) ‘o e fo’i mamani, pea koe...

This Connected article starts with the question "What kind of sink can't be used to wash the dishes but can be grown in your garden?" The...

Understanding the nitrogen cycle – the transformations that nitrogen undergoes as it moves between the atmosphere, the land and living things – is an important part...

Our atmosphere and climate 2020 is an environmental report produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ. The report uses extensive long-term datasets to...

The science capability ‘Interpret representations’ encourages students to think about how data is presented, what the representation tells us and how it gets the message across....

Although weather and climate are closely related, they are not the same thing. The chief difference between weather and climate is time. Weather is defined as...

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) gathers weather data throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. NIWA and its predecessors have been gathering this information for...

Science knowledge is often communicated through visual representations – graphs, diagrams and infographics. Each type of visual representation has literacy components that students may need support...

The world saw striking images in the months of March and April 2020 as countries dealt with a pandemic. Some metropolitan areas experienced clear skies as...

Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural environment has been shaped by climate. It has influenced both the physical environment and the plants and animals that have adapted to...

We hear a lot about greenhouse gases – and the huge amounts that humans are responsible for pumping into the atmosphere each year. It might be...

Emissions are the release of greenhouse gases from human activities. They can be estimated in different ways, including production-based and consumption-based approaches. The production-based approach counts...

Earth’s climate is changing. We are able to directly observe this as glaciers melt and disappear and Arctic sea ice declines. The Earth’s average temperature is...

Earth is a dynamic system, made up of four central components known as subsystems – the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. These subsystems are interconnected by...

Climate change is defined as a long-term change to the Earth’s climate. But what does this mean? To understand climate change, we need to understand what...

Although weather and climate are closely related, they are not the same thing. The chief difference between weather and climate is time. Weather Weather is the...

In this recorded session, we meet Jenny Pollock – chairperson of the Earth and Space Science Educators (ESSE) association. Jenny brings to this session years of...