A concern for the future of science education in New Zealand primary schools has prompted the University of Otago's education and applied sciences departments to team up and create teaching tools aimed at building "a lexicon" of science knowledge.
Department of Applied Sciences professional practice fellow Andrew Wallace said primary school teachers had about 20 hours science training to pass on to their pupils, and unless the teachers had a science background, the 20 hours of training would be the limit of science education given to their pupils.
Mr Wallace and students in the department are developing a set of teaching materials to allow the concept of energy to be taught in an applied way to primary school pupils across the country. One of the teaching resources shows primary school pupils how to dismantle an old computer and build a generator out of hard drives. It also explains how electricity is generated, converted and stored, he said.
"To date, there has been a suite of artefacts manufactured, mostly from found objects including dismantled computer components, that through minimal modification have allowed for a rich and exciting teaching experience.
"There is a huge deficit in society's literacy around electrical energy, its cost, its inefficiencies and its effects on social structures.
"To educate children what costs are involved in running a fridge or a TV for a day is a good way to engage social responsibility towards energy, carbon use and environmental pressures, to hopefully reduce the need for more energy systems in the future."
Mr Wallace said staff from the University of Otago's Education Department had helped to develop the teaching resources, which have been trialled with pupils at Warrington School recently.
Principal Nathan Parker said the children had been so enthusiastic about the classes, their parents had donated old computer hard-drives to the school so the teaching could continue.
Mr Wallace said the hard-drive generator would be one of about six teaching resources which he hoped would be published later this year, and made available free to all schools in New Zealand.
