Teacher PLD

Our Professional Learning Development – PLD section contains a wealth of resources to support planning and teaching science. Learn from other educators and experts and grow your confidence teaching science. Browse or use the filters to select webinars, planning and/or pedagogy articles and the level(s) that you are interested in. See the article Introducing our PLD for more about what the Hub has to offer.

Use our collections tool for your planning – discover how to sort and classify resources and share and collaborate with others.

Teacher PLD

Introducing our PLD

The Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao offers a range of opportunities to support teachers’ science teaching and increase their ...

Teacher PLD

Creating collections

The Hub has a very useful collections tool. Hub users who are signed in can access the tool to create ...

Two boys using tongs to dip natural materials into a mixture of oil and water.

Teacher PLD

Case study: Nature to the rescue! Wetland fibres versus oil!

This case study features an award-winning project that combines traditional mātauranga, scientific experimentation and place-based observations.

Girl wearing white lab coat, with clipboard and pencil, outside on a bridge over a stream.

Teacher PLD

Case study: Te hauora of Te Ara o Wairākei

This case study follows ākonga as they used research, discussion and mātauranga from mana whenua to successfully build a case and get a response from the ...

1851 pencil drawing of small schoolhouse in a forest clearing.

Teacher PLD

Learning from bicultural design

In Aotearoa New Zealand, growing research and classroom practice demonstrate that designing learning spaces where multiple knowledge systems can co-exist is not only effective for student ...

Teacher PLD

Case study: Kī-o-rahi

Students’ personal and cultural interest underpin this case study, which integrates mātauranga Māori, historical inquiry, scientific thinking and future-focused design.

Maramataka display board with text and images.

Teacher PLD

Case study: Ngā tohu o te maramataka – exploring lunar signs

This case study tells how ākonga developed their critical thinking skills while building a deeper understanding of ngā tohu o te maramataka.

In a classroom a woman videos students on a phone as 3 rows of them perform a song

Teacher PLD

Teaching from multiple knowledge systems

Co-existing knowledge systems – learn what they are and how they can build richer, respectful and connected learning communities in this article.

Photo collage of Māori scientists, nature, cockles, pātaka kai, kūmara, waka, rāhui sign, whakaweku placement diagram, taewa, Moon and fungi.

Teacher PLD

Puna Aronui – Exploring mātauranga pūtaiao

Puna Aronui – Exploring mātauranga pūtaiao was a Science Learning Hub PLD programme designed to support educators to deepen understanding of mātauranga Māori as a meaningful ...

A quote on inclusive education and shift in practice with birds illustrations in the background.

Teacher PLD

Puna Aronui – Inclusive science education

Inclusive education became apparent as traditional one-size-fits-all approaches were failing and excluding learners from different cultures, with different abilities or who came from different socio-economic backgrounds. ...

Teacher PLD

Exploring carbon – activities for primary classrooms

Watch our recorded PLD session sharing carbon related activities for primary classrooms.

Teacher PLD

Igniting understanding through interwoven knowledge systems

In this recorded professional learning session Simone Marsters and Greta Dromgool share an excerpt from their 2025 SCICON workshop Ahi Mārama: Igniting understanding through interwoven knowledge ...

A collage of two images showing three teachers and tents on the ice in Antarctica.

Teacher PLD

Educators on the ice

Watch our recorded webinar sharing 3 educators’ experiences in Antarctica and why they think it should be part of your teaching programme.

Nigel Latta and team eating on the Ross Sea Ice Shelf.

Teacher PLD

Using On Thin Ice: Nigel Latta in Antarctica in the classroom

Nigel Latta (1967–2025) loved adventure – this is what first drew him into science. Nigel spent three weeks in Antarctica and although there was plenty of ...

Head of a North Island giant moa head among clematis blossoms.

Teacher PLD

Mythbusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction

Hear from Associate Professor Nic Rawlence from the Otago University Zoology Department for a session exploring the science, ethics and concerns surrounding de-extinction.

A class down at a rocky shoreline doing quadrat samples.

Teacher PLD

Moanamana – taking action to protect our oceans

In this recorded professional learning session, Simone Marsters is joined by Alisa Torgersen and Dean Stanley to explore the amazing mahi students are doing to protect ...

Students and adult in marine environment collecting data

Teacher PLD

Monitoring the moana – participatory science methods

In this recorded professional learning development (PLD) session, Sally Carson from the Otago University Department of Marine Science shares ideas, resources and handy tips for monitoring ...

8 hands holding 2 scales, representing justice.

Teacher PLD

Inspiring science teaching discussions

Science education is evolving, and our teaching practices need to reflect this. The Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao (SLH) invited a small group of experienced ...

Teacher PLD

Māori knowledge in science education: He mana ōrite, he awa whiria

In this recorded professional learning session Professor Georgina Tuari Stewart from Te Kura Mātauranga School of Education, AUT and Associate Professor Sally Birdsall from the Faculty ...

Teacher PLD

Mobile scanning electron microscope

Microscopes provide insights into the natural world. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, we can observe and explore objects with incredible detail. Some universities have mobile ...

Teacher PLD

Drawing for thinking – even if you 'can’t draw' with Andrew James

Everyone doodles. We pick up a pen on the phone and start making marks on paper – drawing is part of human nature. And you can ...

Teacher PLD

Kaitiakitanga o te moana – a context for learning

Aotearoa New Zealand is fortunate to have a huge diversity of marine habitats and an extensive coastline – about 15,000 km in length! More than 75% ...

A collage of images depicting teaching activities

Teacher PLD

Taking a knowledge systems approach in the classroom: Some dos and don’ts

In this recorded session we hear from Pauline Waiti, Lian Soh and Rosemary Hipkins as they explore ideas about mātauranga and science in the classroom. From ...

Photo collage of landscapes; trapping materials; rāhui signs and nature.

Teacher PLD

Taking a knowledge systems approach in the classroom: Some dos and don'ts

In this recorded session we hear from Pauline Waiti, Lian Soh and Rosemary Hipkins as they explore ideas about mātauranga and science in the classroom. From ...

Two children with dressed up scooters in school playground.

Teacher PLD

Drive it Down! – a context for learning

GNS scientists used cutting-edge climate science to inspire primary school students to drive down their school-run carbon dioxide emissions. The project, Drive it Down! Measuring and ...

Teacher PLD

Exploring climate change education in primary schools

Our young students must have the opportunity to learn the building blocks of knowledge, skills and capabilities so that they can, as they get older, tackle ...