Teacher hooked on lake’s catfish
Fellowship exposes science practices in real world
ARotorua science teacher hopes his six-month fellowship will help improve science teaching in schools and encourage more children to pursue a career in the sciences.
David Bach is on the Science Teaching Leadership Programme which sees him spend time with an organisation or business to learn about science practices in the real world.
Bach was placed with Te Arawa Lakes Trust and said his experience, which started in July, had been broad and varied.
“Te Arawa Lakes Trust is not necessarily a science organisation themselves but they have connections with science all over the place.
“I’ve been out and about in nature doing things, going to Waikato University, I’ve gone to Rotorua Lakes Council, the wastewater treatment plant, done water testing.”
But Bach said the most interesting thing had been looking at the issue of catfish in Lake Rotoiti.
He had helped educate others on the issue and monitor koura and freshwater mussels.
Bach also planned to do his own science project while on the programme, comparing the size of koura and mussels in the lakes to those in streams.
Following the fellowship, Bach will spend 18 months working to improve science at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, where he works.
“I’d love to start doing things with the students straight away but I’ll do a full review of science at the school, finding out where we are at. We’ll see how it’s going, how confident they are teaching science.”
Bach said in the future he hoped to do more hands-on science with the pupils.
“There are two aims — improving science teaching so students stay in science, there’s a big drop out rate in high schools because a lot of people have not done real science, there’s a lack of science graduates.
“The other big aim is improving knowledge of science and what it involves. We’re getting kids involved so when they become adults they can become involved or understand projects.”
The Science Teaching Leadership programme is administered by the Royal Society Te Apa¯rangi and funded by the Ministry of Business and Innovation.
The programme is a full school or science department initiative, meaning the school will prioritise science as a key focus area for professional learning.