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Article

Data – key terms

This resource provides explanations of some of the key terms associated with data (raraunga) and data use. Algorithm (hātepe) Artificial intelligence (whakataruna hinengaro) Big data Data ...

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Image of Tom Goulter working on the space video clips.

Article

What does an editor do?

The Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao offers literally thousands of videos and resources to help educators and the public with science education. There’s a team ...

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Our environment 2025 Tō tātou taiao report cover showing 4 people walking along an ocean beach.

Article

Our environment 2025 Tō tātou taiao

As educators and students, we are familiar with school reports – they use data to track and communicate student progress and provide those involved with regular, ...

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Blue gloved hands holding a lab mouse.

Article

New Zealand’s GE technology reform carries risks and benefits

Genetic modification is back on the political agenda in Aotearoa New Zealand. The issue may not be as hotly contentious as it once was, but big ...

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Diagram with types of atmospheric tohu

Article

Climate change and the carbon cycle – kuputaka

This resource contains kuputaka Māori mo āhuarangi hurihuri a hurihanga waro – reo Māori words associated with climate change and the carbon cycle. Māori developed detailed ...

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Looking down at the Baring Head air monitoring station, NZ

Article

The carbon cycle and climate change – key terms

Climate literacy as well as basic scientific literacy are needed to understand the complexity of Earth systems and climate change. Knowledge of key vocabulary, scientific symbols ...

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Two children playing next to the sea with 2 organisation logos

Article

The 2024 science education summit

Science Education: Fit for Purpose was a national summit co-hosted on 2 July 2024 in Auckland by the Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao and Royal ...

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Two pairs of hands holding a small earth globe, with green back

Article

Agency in the Anthropocene

Young people are facing a future of complex environmental challenges. How can we prepare them to save the world when older generations haven’t? Young people need ...

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He tohu i te ngahere e mea ana kua kati

Article

Is poisoning pests the Māori way?

Some of those opposed to the use of 1080 poison to control pests say it’s ‘un-Māori’. Tame Malcolm unpacks these claims, arguing that to the contrary, ...

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Article

Our air 2024

Every day, adults take around 20,000 breaths of air. Children, who breathe faster, take even more. The air we breathe plays an important role in both ...

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Sculpture features a lab mouse knitting the double helix of DNA

Article

Māori concepts for animal ethics – introduction

In the Māori world, animals are related to humans through whakapapa. Animals as well as humans are descendants of ngā atua and as such are considered ...

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Plastic pollution and marine microbes

Article

Plastic pollution and marine microbes

Plastic and microplastic pollution of oceans is a wicked problem. Using bioinformatics and statistical analysis, scientist Victor Gambarini looked to correlate marine microbes that could degrade ...

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Environmental monitoring – ao Māori perspectives

Article

Environmental monitoring – ao Māori perspectives

Our activities on the land have wide-ranging effects on Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. Our land 2024 is an environmental report ...

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Restoring Te Auaunga – Oakley Creek

Article

Restoring Te Auaunga – Oakley Creek

We rely on the natural world for recreation, building social connections and supporting our mental and spiritual health. Our land 2024 is an environmental report produced ...

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Land-use decisions and extreme weather

Article

Land-use decisions and extreme weather

Our land-use and management decisions have consequences in extreme weather events. Natural ecosystems provide vital infrastructure that helps to reduce the impacts of natural hazards. For ...

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<i>Our land 2024 </i>

Article

Our land 2024

The land and ecosystems of Aotearoa New Zealand are globally unique and nationally significant. Our connections to and relationship with the land are a defining characteristic ...

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Bots vs Beings – the impacts of AI on life and work

Article

Bots vs Beings – the impacts of AI on life and work

Discussions of artificial intelligence (AI) are inseparable from questions of ethics. In 1942, Isaac Asimov famously popularised the idea that intelligent machines should adhere to a ...

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Climate change and impacts on biodiversity

Article

Climate change and impacts on biodiversity

Aotearoa New Zealand is home to an amazing diversity of living things, many of which are endemic – only found here. Nowhere else on the planet ...

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Earth systems and climate change

Article

Earth systems and climate change

The Earth is a dynamic system – a combination of interrelated, interacting parts that form a collective entity. From a scientific point of view, the Earth ...

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<i>Our atmosphere and climate 2023</i>

Article

Our atmosphere and climate 2023

Our atmosphere and climate 2023 – an environmental report produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ – begins with this whakatauākī: Tiakina te ...

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RNA interference

Article

RNA interference

RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural process that occurs in cells where small RNA molecules ‘silence’ or decrease the activity of specific genes by preventing them ...

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New Zealand's Biological Heritage – Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho

Article

New Zealand's Biological Heritage – Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho

New Zealand's Biological Heritage – Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho (BioHeritage Challenge) is one of the 11 National Science Challenges created by the Ministry of Business, Innovation ...

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RNAi for pest control – te ao Māori considerations

Article

RNAi for pest control – te ao Māori considerations

In traditional Māori society, a range of methods for pest control were developed such as reciting karakia, the strategic use of fire and smoke, soil preparation ...

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Using RNAi to combat myrtle rust

Article

Using RNAi to combat myrtle rust

The fungus Austropuccinia psidii is responsible for causing the invasive plant disease commonly known as myrtle rust, which threatens a large range of plants within the ...

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