Support for distance learning
COVID-19 has had such an impact on the way we live and work and indeed the way we teach. This article is to help you easily find resources we’ve created. They are organised into sections that are designed to meet various needs.
For teachers, we’ve created:
‘grab and go’ resources – ready-to-use, cross-curricular worksheets (consider them a whole day’s planning in one place)
Home Learning TV episodes – support materials and extension ideas
For parents and caregivers, we’ve created:
learning science from home – age-based experiences with wrap-around resources.
A new normal – COVID-19
COVID-19 has shifted how we view the world. It has forced us to navigate new normals in all aspects of our lives including how we teach and learn.
Learning at home – ideas and resource links
Science is about discovery, curiosity and observation. Each topic within the articles below includes wrap-around resources to help with background information for adults or caregivers.
Play and experimentation
There is much to be learned through play and experimentation with baking soda and lemon juice – measurement, cause and effect, eye-hand coordination and new words for a start. Mixtures and potions like these are the early beginnings of learning about chemistry.
Grab and go resources
These are downloadable worksheet-based resources in Word, allowing you to edit them to suit your students or use them just as they are. They cover literacy, maths and science. Some are based on the Connected articles, which are available online through TKI, and some also have audio files with the stories.
The two below feature Dr Hoare, one of New Zealand’s leading entomologists, and could also be used alongside TV episodes:
The three below are stand-alone worksheets that do not require internet access. They do not use Connected articles as a starting point.
Looking at plants and leaves – lower primary
Looking at seeds and fruits – middle primary
Thinking about landfills – upper primary and lower secondary
Viruses, COVID-19 and our immune system
PPE equipment
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of PPE equipment is vital in reducing the spread of the virus. This is a dentist using PPE before performing emergency dental work during lockdown in Alert Level 4.
Microscopic beasts and how to fight them – an online course created by Thorndon School's Deputy Principal, Matt Boucher – dip into lessons that grab your interest, or do them all!
Home Learning TV episodes and supporting material
Did your students watch Home Learning TV on TVNZ DUKE+1 (Freeview channel 18 or Sky channel 504) as part of your teaching and learning programme? The 2021 season featured programmes and lessons for ākonga aged 2–11 years. Currently the episodes from the 2020–21 seasons are not available on TVNZ OnDemand. If you have access to ETV (a large online video platform for educators in Aotearoa New Zealand), then these videos can be accessed under TV recordings/Home Learning TV.
Suzy Cato presents junior science. Shawn Cooper presents middle and senior science. Dr Michelle Dickinson presents Kitchen Science for younger learners and Senior Science: Breaking It Down.
The Hub team created the scripts for Shawn’s episodes and many of Suzy’s. The episodes feature Hub content and we’ve created collections to provide additional support for some of the topics.
Below are a list of Shawn’s episodes – most are aimed at middle primary – but check the lesson title.
NOTE these shows are currently no longer accessible – but do check at a later date in case they come back on.
Antarctica
Aporo and innovation
Biosecurity – an introduced pest
Biosecurity and our ngahere (forest)
Careers and stereotypes
Citizen science and moths
Climate change
Discovering and naming new species – see our collection of related resources here
Down the drain
Ferns
Fit for purpose (learn about the different needs and habitats of our pets and native species)
Flight – see our collection of related resources here
Heat and temperature
Kai and kūmara
Kaimoana
Moths and butterflies – see our collection of related resources here
Pet power – upper primary science
Pollination
Properties of materials
Pūoru – the science of music and sound
Renewable energy
Science and innovation
Sea science – see our collection of related resources here
Sleep sleuths
States of matter – upper primary science – see our collection of related resources here
Takahē
The takeaway table
Thinking scientifically
Tracking our native birds
Turning old into new
Volcanoes
Content curations
For further inspiration and ideas have a look at our Learning science from home Pinterest board.
Teaching remotely and learning from home? – we created the collections below – they are full of ideas to keep students actively engaged in STEM activities:
For more on using and creating collections, see this super helpful article.
Useful links
Otago Musuem's @HOME contains a wide range of resources to keep you and your whānau entertained at home, with many of the materials having an underlying educational component.
Visit the Learning from home government website for other activity ideas.
At the start of 2021 The Education Review Office | Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga (ERO) released a report series, Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools, it looked at:
how Covid-19 impacted students, teachers, and schools
how schools responded, and what they learned
the challenges that schools expected they might face in future changes of alert levels.
The Science Spark website has a range of guides and activities for children from ages 8 to 11.
