CRESTlets

Stroke Victims Think, Robotic Arm Acts: A pill-sized implant turns thought into action for two individuals paralyzed by stroke.

The 2012 Comvita Science Challenge: Comvita Science Video Challenge is a fun way to learn and communicate science. Year 9-10 Secondary School students or Tertiary School student may enter(Secondary schools and Tertiary schools are two separate categories.).All that is needed is to create and submit a 3 minute video explaining how some healthy food ingredients impact one’s health.

Prime Minister’s Science Prizes The 2012 round for the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes is open. The five prizes are :

• The Prime Minister’s Science Prize: An individual or team who has made an transformative discovery or achievement in science that has had a significant impact on New Zealand or internationally
• The Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize: An outstanding emerging scientist undertaking research for a PhD, or is within five years of the date of the award of their PhD
• The Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize: A science teacher for outstanding achievement in teaching Science
• The Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize: A practising scientist who is an effective communicator, to provide them with an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and capability in science media communication
• The Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize: A secondary school student for outstanding achievement in carrying out a practical and innovative research or technology project.

To find out more about the prizes, visit www.pmscienceprizes.org.nz

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink’: An ELI activity investigating how to get clean water from dirty ‘pond’ water. This investigation could be used in any lessons involving discussions about water supply.

Darwin Inspired Learning: A new website has been launched by the Charles Darwin Trust to promote Darwin Inspired Learning. Darwin Inspired Learning encourages active learning, where students seek out questions, solve problems and think creatively about science. The site contains resources for teachers including lesson ideas, images, games and videos. Topics include: Life cycles; Understanding the environment, Artificial selection and Sustainability

Materials – How They Work:Material Science videos and lesson plans. The BBC has created a material science resource for both primary and secondary schools. It contains video clips from the TV series and suggestions for how to use the videos in class.The clips  could be useful for physics and chemistry lessons, as well as material science topics, including:forces, chemical structure of metal and plastics, super conductivity and extraction of metals.

Freshwater invertebrate studies: You may find this new NZ web resource useful . t’s free to use and there’s no registration or login process – just go to the address and enjoy!

Snip Chips. New Zealand science and technology has been used in recently published international research on the genetic history of sheep. High-density single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) chips (‘snip chips’) created in New Zealand are genetic selection tools that quickly and cheaply screen sheep DNA for useful genes.

Climate Change:CREST question: Is temperature the only variable that changes? Design and carry out an experiment to investigate variables other than temperature.

Using the healing properties of mānuka honey:  Use the Biotech Learning Hub’s teaching resources to find out more about cutting-edge New Zealand research.  Innovations – Comvita (Video clip). Comvita’s mānuka honey is not just a tasty spread for toast. The company employs the renowned healing properties of the native mānuka in healthcare and skincare products. Honey to heal (Focus story). You may have been spreading honey on your toast for a few years, but people have been using it to treat illnesses for thousands of years! Now, honey is being used to make a product that can help wounds heal more quickly. The properties of honey (Experiment).  Honeys are a complex mixture of sugars, water, enzymes and various other compounds. In this experiment, you can compare the taste, colour, texture and pH of different honeys. Antibacterial effects of honey – (Experiment). Honey is antibacterial and can prevent growth of most types of bacteria. This experiment compares the effect of different types of honey on bacteria growing on agar plates.

Rhythm and Math :When students ask, “Why do I need math? I’m going to be a musician!”, introduce them to world-renowned drummer Ndugu Chancler. This six-minute movie contains amazing drumming, a breakdown of the mathematics of rhythm and a professional’s opinion on technology and creativity. Watch the movie and download the classroom activity.

Olympic Torch survives wind, snow and rain: A technological torch. Imagine a torch that has to stay alight for 70 days. It has to stand up to the worst of the British weather – wind, rain and even snow. It has to travel 110 miles every day and stay alight if it is dropped. That is the Olympic Torch‘s mission. Can anyone build a torch like this?

SciCon12 : The Theme of the conference is “Making Connections” and this could mean making connections with teachers from primary to tertiary, researchers, scientists and companies that produce resources for science education. It could also mean making new IT connections or connections with new ideas and ways of teaching, especially those that help us to implement the new curriculum effectively, in the hope that all of these have a flow on effect to the learning of our students.

Forensics: Download video clips from TVNZ’s Ever Wondered? Series 2 and Innovation Stories and use the Biotech Learning Hub’s teaching resources to find out more about cutting-edge New Zealand research. Developing ( Video clip) .In Episode 10, Part 2 of Ever Wondered? Series 2, Dr John Watt meets two Auckland University postgraduate students researching potential new methodologies for forensic science. DNA profiling( Information sheet) DNA profiling is the process where a specific DNA pattern, called a profile, is obtained from a person or a sample of body tissue. Solving a mystery using a scientific approach (Unit plan) Students collect, store and analyse forensic samples from a mock crime scene and process the evidence so that it can be presented to a ‘jury’ with a focus on fair testing. Solving a mystery using a technological approach ( Unit plan).Students develop a mobile evidence-collection system designed to collect forensic evidence from a crime scene in a reliable, repeatable way.

Temperature changes linked to wind farms: Wind warming Scientists have found a link between wind farms and changes in local temperatures. The study could help researchers better understand the impact of wind farms on local environments.

Google in Education: Google has several tools and programs which may be useful for both primary and secondary science teachers. Explore Google tools, browse other teachers’ ideas for using Google programs in the classroom and share your ideas with teachers, educators and science-lovers all over the world.

Internet pioneer :Vint Cerf, often called the founding father of the Internet, says that STEM education is the fuel for 21st-century innovation and development .Read more about his recent talk at Google’s European HQ in Dublin.

20 Apps for Science Teachers. Some of these apps are specifically science focused, others are aimed at teachers and students, while some apps are simply brilliant and deserve a mention.

Primary Science Week 7-11 May: National Primary Science Week provides opportunities for free local professional development around the regions for teachers, access to the Big Experiment, competitions for schools, free science activities and resources to help science teaching.

Science in The New Zealand Curriculum: Years 5 to 8 (ERO May 2012) .The Science in The New Zealand Curriculum: Years 5 to 8 report shows that primary school science programmes need improvement.The report shows that only 27 percent of schools have effective or generally effective science programmes for Years 5 to 8 students.ERO makes several recommendations including that schools review the priority given to science teaching and learning in their curriculum, and the quality of science teaching and learning.An earlier report published by ERO in 2010, Science in Years 5 to 8: Capable and Competent Teaching, provides examples of high quality teaching and management practices related to science education. It includes self-review questions and indicators of good practice which schools can use to review their science teaching in Years 5 to 8. Both reports are available on ERO’s website

TED-Ed: A video library of the world’s most inspiring lessons, brought to life by talented animators. Suitable for primary and secondary science, you can use, tweak, or completely redo any lesson featured, or create lessons from scratch based on any video from YouTube.