Schools get a taste of science
The value of science in everyday life was the key lesson to take away at a free event where school students enjoyed making jelly ice cream, learning CPR and looking at micro-organisms under the microscope.
Around 120 Waikato students spent their day engaged in 24 activities across four fields of science and four engineering disciplines as part of the Kudos Science Spinners event.
Organiser Soteria Ieremia said the science event has been running for four years and students were introduced to the world of cardiothoracic surgery, endocrinology, food science and agritech.
This year students were also learning about how science could be used in the industrial and trades sector, as part of a partnership with Puatala.
‘‘The whole reason behind this programme is so that lower decile school students don’t miss out on opportunities due to a lack of funding,’’ Ieremia said.
‘‘Through this we hope to close the gap for Ma¯ ori, Pasifika and rural schools in the Waikato region, creating a more diverse science industry in the future.
‘‘Science can be found anywhere in everyday life.
‘‘Even if students don’t choose to go into a science career what they take away from science can be used anywhere — even as a postie you’ve got to have time management and methodical thinking.’’
The top favourite activities for the Year 9 and 10 students yesterday were making ice cream from scratch, practising CPR on mannequin Resusci Anne and looking at bacteria through a microscope.
Te Aroha College students Mathew Cambridge and Grace Armstrong worked as a pair sighting a number of ‘‘squiggly’’ and ‘‘cockroach looking things’’ swimming through their view of a water droplet from Howarth Memorial Wetlands in Te Aroha.
Paeroa College students Aliza Mjaronga and Ciaran Oberg took turns resuscitating Resusci Anne using an Ambu bag and laryngeal tube to open the dummy’s airway.
The Science Spinners event runs from now until April 1 at Claudelands Event Centre.