House of Science to start in Horowhenua
A group of enthusiastic science teachers is bringing the House of Science to Horowhenua this year.
It is a way to help primary school teachers who love to teach science by supplying boxes of materials aimed at children aged five to 13.
House of Science is already plugging a huge gap in the education system around the country. Local branch chair Suzie Valentine said the House of Science is basically providing a giant toy library about science.
“We need to buy this equipment that comes with hands-on experiments from the national office. ”
There are 32 boxes in total and they cost $2000 each. Once bought they become the property of the local branch and can be used again and again. All material is available in both English and Ma¯ ori. Each box is loaned to a local school at a small subscription fee.
Local volunteers pick up and deliver the boxes, check them and replenish resources that have been used.
She said the box has (almost) everything needed for that particular topic.
“For example, if they need to boil water, there will be a kettle in the box.” Kit titles include: Dem Bones, Breathe Easy, Electric Future, Fireworks, Float My Boat, Magnetic madness, Rockets, Sweet and Sour and The Sea and Me.
“It is good quality stuff,” said Valentine, who stressed that the boxes are based on the national science curriculum.
She said the Horowhenua branch is a charitable trust and is looking at employing a parttime coordinator. The House of Science aims to build teacher confidence, primarily among primary school teachers.
“Secondary schools can have a dedicated science teacher as well as equipment to teach science.
“Primary schools need to fund this out of their operational budget. Their funding from the Ministry of Education provides buildings, teachers, curriculum and professional development, but no resources.”
Their overall aim is even higher - to raise science literacy in the entire community. To start off the national office will be lending boxes to Horowhenua and they are hoping the first boxes will go out to schools in March.
“Foxton Rotary has donated the first box.”
A new report has exposed low results in science for children finishing primary school. The National Monitoring Study of Student Assessment shows just one in five Year 8 children are reaching the expected level of achievement in science - the worst figure of any learning area in the curriculum.
Chris Duggan, a former head of science at Tauranga Girls’ College who started the nonprofit House of Science to lift primary school science teaching in 2014, said the study showed that New Zealanders were “losing scientific literacy”.
“We have known for years that primary school teachers are generally lacking the confidence and the resources to teach meaningful, hands-on science lessons,” she said.
“We are seeing teachers who would love to teach science but are finding it difficult in a crowded curriculum with a lack of resources.
“This has huge implications for us as a country because people who lack basic science literacy make uninformed decision that impact themselves, their families, their communities, even our planet! As a country we end up paying the price of these bad decisions socially and economically.”
The House of Science was established in Tauranga in 2014 and now has centres in eight regions including Horowhenua.
Local House of Science Chair Suzie Valentine is delighted to be spearheading the initiative here.
“We’re thrilled to have received some seed funding that will enable us to start making available the House of Science resource kits in the Horowhenua, so our local primary schools can expand their science lessons. Our science resource kit ‘library’ is tightly aligned to the NZ curriculum and has a vast range of topics from Forensics to Forces and Bones to Biosecurity.”
House of Science Horowhenua is looking for more sponsors and volunteers who would like to be part of this initiative. They’ve begun fundraising with a Givealittle Page to help keep it running once the seed funding runs out.
The House of Science wants to inspire young New Zealanders’ interest in science through tangible learning experiences. They are a not-for-profit providing science resources to schools and professional learning for teachers to promote positive engagement with science in all its forms.
They rely on community grants and sponsors like the Wright Family Foundation to keep costs affordable for schools.
The Horowhenua branch will also be recruiting volunteers to help distribute the boxes. They will be based at Shannon School.
They have funding for six months and are hoping to hold a Festival of Science in that time, to help with the fundraising.
“We have a year to get established,” said Valentine. “Schools have the opportunity to engage the community with science and we are hoping to assist with this by boosting confidence and providing resources.”