This year the Garden Bird Survey is running 24 June–2 July and in this free webinar learn how your class can be part of New Zealand’s longest running citizen science project.

Join the webinar on Zoom

Join the Garden Bird survey researchers from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, Dr Angela Brandt and Dr Gradon Diprose in a session where we will:

  • unpack how your class can participate – it’s super easy!
  • find out from the researchers why the survey is important and what happens to the data you collect
  • get access to lots of free New Zealand based digital resources on birds, identification and more.

This session will be valuable for both primary and secondary school teachers. It can link to multiple curriculum strands and provides opportunities for meaningful literacy and numeracy learning. The survey is an example of an investigation approach and the previous years’ infographics are great for discussing communication in science.

So, give your students the opportunity to participate and contribute to the knowledge of our bird populations. Be part of making New Zealand's birds count!

Register here

During the webinar we'll be live tweeting summarised points with the hashtags #SLH_webinar and #SLH_PLD on our Twitter feed.

Follow these simple steps to join our webinar:

  1. Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android by clicking on the link https://waikato.zoom.us/j/359736528 and following the instructions. You can also access Zoom on your phone, just follow the prompts.
  2. Find the chat box located in the toolbar at the bottom of your screen. You may need to access this by clicking on ‘More’.
  3. Using the chat box, introduce yourself, where you teach and, if you are in a group, how many people are there.
  4. Set up your screen for optimal viewing. If you’re using a mobile device, you may wish to view in landscape. We recommend selecting a thumbnail view of the presenters – this way you can easily see what is being shared on the screen.

Then you can:

  1. watch, listen and respond via chat to the presentation and discussion
  2. ask questions using the chat box at any time

The Science Learning Hub team will be there to support you and answer questions.

Related content

We feature The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey as one of the many citizen science projects we profile. At the bottom of the article are links to lots of related resources.

The PLD planning article New Zealand Garden Bird Survey – a context for learning offers ideas for getting started and making the most of the annual New Zealand Garden Bird Survey.

Find out what being a citizen scientist means in this article.

Need more information? The article Planning for your students to be citizen scientists is full of great advice for using online citizen science in your classroom.

The Hub also has articles, other PLD and more under the citizen science topic.

Want to learn all about birds? Visit our Building Science Concepts: Birds planning and pedagogy resource.

Observing is one type of investigation. Learn about it and other types in the article Investigating in science.

Useful link

You can find Te Tatauranga o ngā Manu Māra o Aotearoa – The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey resources here

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