Mount Maunganui College - Vicki Alderson-Wallace

Name: Vicki Alderson-Wallace

School: Mount Maunganui College 

Region: Bay of Plenty 

Programme: Resilience and Restoration of Coastal Ecosystems in a Changing Climate

Host: University of Waikato Coastal Marine Field Station 

Mount Maunganui College believes in taking an integrated approach to teaching science with science capabilities at the fore. The schools’ vision is that all students will have access to science education that enables them to become informed and contributing citizens, think critically about science related topics in everyday life, develop problem solving and innovation skills and have an appreciation of differing perspectives in science including those from te ao Māori.

Vicki has been teaching secondary school science and biology for 10 years. As a science educator, Vicki recognises that issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change are perhaps some of the biggest challenges inherited by our rangatahi. In order to address these challenges, she believes that scientific knowledge, competencies and skills must be grown individually and collaboratively through contexts that engage students to think globally and act locally.

Vicki will be based at the Coastal Marine Field Station, University of Waikato, Tauranga where she will participate in field and lab-based research conducted by MSc and PhD students and faculty staff. Current projects include examination of the importance of estuarine environments in transferring carbon to wider coastal ecosystems and how that trophic cascade may be influenced by urban development. In addition, there is a focus currently on the wider effects of catastrophic events linked to a changing climate such as the effects of sedimentary run-off following major cyclones (Cyclone Gabrielle). Other elements of the research portfolio currently include examining resilience of kaimoana in a changing climate and effecting coastal restoration.

On completion of the placement, Vicki hopes to gain a deeper insight into scientific research being carried out within the Tauranga Moana rohe as well as expand her field and laboratory skills. She will share her placement experiences with students and colleagues, to enrich and enhance the teaching and learning of science at Mount Maunganui College.