COVID-19 has had such an impact on the way we live and work and indeed the way we teach. This article is to help you easily find resources we’ve created. They are organised into sections that are designed to meet various needs.
For teachers, we’ve created:
- ‘grab and go’ resources – ready-to-use, cross-curricular worksheets (consider them a whole day’s planning in one place)
- Home Learning TV episodes – support materials and extension ideas
- resources on viruses, COVID-19 and our immune system.
For parents and caregivers, we’ve created:
- learning science from home – age-based experiences with wrap-around resources.
Learning at home – ideas and resource links
Science is about discovery, curiosity and observation. Each topic within the articles below includes wrap-around resources to help with background information for adults or caregivers.
- Learning science from home – ideas to deepen learning
- Learning science from home – early childhood
- Learning science from home – lower primary
- Learning science from home – middle primary
- Learning science from home – upper primary
- Learning science from home – secondary
Grab and go resources
These are downloadable worksheet-based resources in Word, allowing you to edit them to suit your students or use them just as they are. They cover literacy, maths and science. Some are based on the Connected articles, which are available online through TKI, and some also have audio files with the stories.
- Birds in my backyard
- Tired muscles
- Frogs for the future?
- Puzzling out Pacific migrations
- Science and partnership with a Sāmoan village
- To be a scientist
The two below feature Dr Hoare, one of New Zealand’s leading entomologists, and could also be used alongside TV episodes:
The three below are stand-alone worksheets that do not require internet access. They do not use Connected articles as a starting point.
- Looking at plants and leaves – lower primary
- Looking at seeds and fruits – middle primary
- Thinking about landfills – upper primary and lower secondary
Viruses, COVID-19 and our immune system
- Coronavirus
- COVID-19 key words and codes
- Florence Nightingale – a pioneer of hand washing and hygiene for health
- Fighting infection – the human immune system
Microscopic beasts and how to fight them – an online course created by Thorndon School's Deputy Principal, Matt Boucher – dip into lessons that grab your interest, or do them all!
Home Learning TV episodes and supporting material
Did your students watch Home Learning TV on TVNZ DUKE+1 (Freeview channel 18 or Sky channel 504) as part of your teaching and learning programme? The 2021 season featured programmes and lessons for ākonga aged 2–11 years. Currently the episodes from the 2020–21 seasons are not available on TVNZ OnDemand. If you have access to ETV (a large online video platform for educators in Aotearoa New Zealand), then these videos can be accessed under TV recordings/Home Learning TV.
Suzy Cato presents junior science. Shawn Cooper presents middle and senior science. Dr Michelle Dickinson presents Kitchen Science for younger learners and Senior Science: Breaking It Down.
The Hub team created the scripts for Shawn’s episodes and many of Suzy’s. The episodes feature Hub content and we’ve created collections to provide additional support for some of the topics.
Below are a list of Shawn’s episodes – most are aimed at middle primary – but check the lesson title.
NOTE these shows are currently no longer accessible – but do check at a later date in case they come back on.
- Antarctica
- Aporo and innovation
- Biosecurity – an introduced pest
- Biosecurity and our ngahere (forest)
- Careers and stereotypes
- Citizen science and moths
- Climate change
- Discovering and naming new species – see our collection of related resources here
- Down the drain
- Ferns
- Fit for purpose (learn about the different needs and habitats of our pets and native species)
- Flight – see our collection of related resources here
- Heat and temperature
- Kai and kūmara
- Kaimoana
- Moths and butterflies – see our collection of related resources here
- Pet power – upper primary science
- Pollination
- Properties of materials
- Pūoru – the science of music and sound
- Renewable energy
- Science and innovation
- Sea science – see our collection of related resources here
- Sleep sleuths
- States of matter – upper primary science – see our collection of related resources here
- Takahē
- The takeaway table
- Thinking scientifically
- Tracking our native birds
- Turning old into new
- Volcanoes
Content curations
For further inspiration and ideas have a look at our Learning science from home Pinterest board.
Teaching remotely and learning from home? – we created the collections below – they are full of ideas to keep students actively engaged in STEM activities:
- Learning at home – river catchments and connections
- Learning at home – Galileo: exploring simple physics, engineering and astronomy, and the nature of science
For more on using and creating collections, see this super helpful article.
Useful links
Otago Musuem's @HOME contains a wide range of resources to keep you and your whānau entertained at home, with many of the materials having an underlying educational component.
Visit the Learning from home government website for other activity ideas.
At the start of 2021 The Education Review Office | Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga (ERO) released a report series, Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools, it looked at:
- how Covid-19 impacted students, teachers, and schools
- how schools responded, and what they learned
- the challenges that schools expected they might face in future changes of alert levels.
The Science Spark website has a range of guides and activities for children from ages 8 to 11.
