Teachers gaining science skills away from the classroom

4 May 2011

Seven primary school teachers are halfway through a teacher fellowship programme which has taken them out of their classrooms and into the world of science and research.

The teachers are all spending the first two terms of 2011 as Primary Science Teacher Fellows, under a scheme administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand and funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Around 70 teachers have been through the Primary Science Teacher Fellowship programme, since it began in 2009.

Under the scheme, teachers take leave from their schools to work with scientists at host organisations and learn more about science and its application.

Host organisations for this group of teachers are The University of Auckland, Scion, Plant & Food Research, Forest and Bird, Auckland Zoo, NIWA and Landcare Research.

Joanna Leaman of the Royal Society of New Zealand says the teachers are undertaking some fascinating work with their hosts including field work and hands-on research in laboratories.

“They will have some really valuable learning experiences to take back to their schools to help with teaching science. We’ve been reading stories on the group’s Facebook page about their encounters with weevils, toheroa and orang-utans as part of their research work.

“As well as working with their host organisations, the teachers have leadership and curriculum development days so they can become confident science education leaders in their schools.

“We’re finding that past teacher fellows have gone back to schools with renewed enthusiasm, especially for finding ways to use science to meet literacy and numeracy objectives.”

In addition to the initial placement with a host, the fellowship scheme also funds advisors to work with the schools on the programme for up to a year after the teacher fellows return to their schools.

The impetus for the scheme stems from a report (the National Education Monitoring Project) released in 2008 which highlighted a downwards trend in the attitudes of primary aged students towards science. This found that 37% of the year 8 students surveyed indicated a dislike of science, a sharp rise on the 15% reported in 1999. NZCER research showed only 2% of primary principals felt science was a priority area for their school.

ENDS