Haere rā 2023!!
Our final pānui for the year features new content and a taste of what’s on offer in 2024.
Congratulations to kaiako and educators for another year of engaging young people with science and pūtaiao! We appreciate all that you do.
Summer science – catch, freeze, post and play
Sports fans – or anyone outdoors – know all about mozzies. But before you slap – observe. Aotearoa has 13 native mosquito species and three known introduced species. Te Papa wants to know more about mozzie populations via the New Zealand Mosquito Census ❘ Te Tatauranga Waeroa o Aotearoa. All you need to do is catch a mosquito, freeze it and send it in.
Introduced mosquito species
New Zealand has three introduced mosquito species: striped or ankle biting mosquito ( Aedes notoscriptus ), southern house or brown mosquito ( Culex quinquefasciatus ) and the saltwater mosquito ( Aedes australis ). These all have a taste for human blood, particularly the striped and southern house mosquitos.
Striped mosquito , Tony Wills, CC BY-SA 4.0 , sourced from iNaturalistNZ. Southern House mosquito , Zoologist123, CC BY-NC 4.0 , sourced from iNaturalist. Saltwater mosquito, Aedes australis courtesy of Rachel Cane.
Alternatively, escape the Sun and head indoors to help with Elephant ID. It’s a purposeful way to enjoy some screen time. There are lots of citizen science projects on the Hub. Our new intro article will help you make the most of them.
Visit our Summer school holidays event – it is full of ideas to keep the young ones active. If you have an event you'd like us to feature, please email us.
Remember our Summer science collection is full of ideas for taking advantage of warmer weather and outdoor learning.
Professional learning development
We have two new recorded webinars with a focus on antimicrobial resistance. They are excellent for those with an interest in health, data, microorganisms and career pathways in science:
The science of superbugs – teaching antimicrobial resistance awareness in Aotearoa with Dr Siouxsie Wiles
Science for communities with ESR with Dr Kristin Dyet
Here’s a taste of what we have on offer in 2024:
On 15 February we will continue the conversation with Rose Hipkins and Pauline Waiti about what knowledge systems could look like in the classroom.
Later in term 1 we’ll join the New Zealand Association for Primary Science Educators to prepare for Primary Science Week. The theme is ‘Fun and safety with science’ and it runs in week 3 of term 2.
In term 3 we will share some interesting insights into animal ethics, Māori concepts and animals of Aotearoa. We will be releasing new resources early in 2024 to support this!