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Photograph your findings and put on iNaturalistNZ.

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Leaf litter exploration - Kiwi Conservation Club

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Collation of a range of opportunities for students in NZ.

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Citizen scientists are volunteers who contribute to scientific projects, usually by collecting or analysing data. The number of opportunities to be involved as citizen scientists continues to grow, and teachers are increasingly using them to make science education more relevant and engaging and to develop students' science capabilities. Explore the projects below, find one that sparks an interest or is local. Check out these tips for planning your science programme and the Getting started with citizen science and Online citizen science webinars.

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The Litter Project is a 3-year programme run by Sustainable Coastlines aiming to create a grassroots solution to beach litter in New Zealand.

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The Litter Project is a 3-year programme run by Sustainable Coastlines aiming to create a grassroots solution to beach litter in New Zealand. A national litter database is being established to record not only litter but also to track trends. The goal is to be able to use this data to change local behaviour, seeing which measures are the most effective in reducing rubbish long term.

URL: www.sustainablecoastlines.org/litterproject

Reach: New Zealand, regional

Nature of science focus: Online citizen science (OCS) projects can be used to develop any of the Nature of Science (NoS) substrands. Identify aspects of NoS that your students need to further develop or understand more fully and then frame your unit to be very clear about these things when you do them.

Science capability focus: Gather and interpret data, Use evidence, Engage with science

Science focus: pollution, environmental science, plastics, properties of materials, sustainability
Some suggested science concepts:

Litter can be grouped into different types based on its properties.

Recycling codes and practices are based on the properties of the materials.

We can recycle some kinds of rubbish more easily than others.

Litter is harmful to the environment.

Many concepts could be learned - focusing on a few can often be more powerful. Develop your learning outcomes and success criteria from these concepts as well as the Nature of Science strand and the science capabilities.
Some examples of learning outcomes:
Students can:

categorise a variety of different litter types based on their properties

interpret visual representations of data relating to litter types collected

explain about the source and major contributors of litter in their own area

apply their knowledge to suggest a variety of strategies for getting rid of particular types of litter in their own area.

About The Litter Project

The Litter Project is a 3-year programme led by the charity Sustainable Coastlines aiming to create a grassroots solution to beach litter in New Zealand. This national beach litter monitoring programme is being run in collaboration with the Ministry for the Environment, Statistics New Zealand and the Department of Conservation. It is based on the United Nations Environment Programme marine debris survey methodology, which will enable an accurate picture of the beach litter problem in New Zealand to be developed. By working to a United Nations Environment Programme methodology, the data will be collected at the highest standard of scientific rigour, allowing it to be used for national, regional and international reporting, including progress against UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This kind of initiative is exactly what our planet needs - something simple but effective that can easily be adopted at grass-roots level to make a difference, empowering every community to keep their environment clean and make the world a better place for future generations.
Brad Smith, President, Microsoft

Sustainable Coastlines will work with community groups and organisations to conduct beach litter surveys at a minimum of 108 beach sites across Aotearoa, conducted at least four times each year for 3 years, starting in 2018. There is a phone app to enter the litter data, including litter categories, into a national database.

Training and the tools required will be provided to allow groups to take part as citizen scientists, conducting regular litter surveys at their selected local beach sites and loading the litter data into a new, easy-to-use nationwide beach litter citizen science platform/app developed specifically for the project. This platform will also include a solutions database and coming soon will be some litter data visualisation tools. All the litter data collected will be freely available to the groups involved as well as to the wider public and decision makers and will be New Zealand's first national beach litter database. Having long-term data will not only assist in proving the litter problem but will also help with prioritising solutions.

Technology plays a critical role in ensuring that data collected by citizen scientists is recognised as credible and useable to inform decision-making worldwide.
Camden Howitt, Sustainable Coastlines co-founder

The Sustainable Coastlines workshops provide an opportunity to learn more about the project, the data collection methodology, health and safety planning and the reporting requirements.

Related content

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The Litter Project is a 3-year programme run by Sustainable Coastlines aiming to create a grassroots solution to beach litter in New Zealand. A national litter database is being established to record not only litter but also to track trends.

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This New Zealand-based citizen science project aims to collect data about the types and numbers of common garden birds in our own backyard. This is done once annually during a particular window of time and the results contribute to New Zealand’s knowledge and monitoring of garden bird species and the health of the environment we live in.

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This New Zealand-based citizen science project aims to collect data about the types and numbers of common garden birds in our own backyard. This is done once annually during a particular window of time (29 June to 7 July 2019) and the results contribute to New Zealand's knowledge and monitoring of garden bird species and the health of the environment we live in.

Participation in the project requires you to be able to identify types of birds, with plenty of resources to support this. Opportunities for discussions around critiquing evidence (How many birds have we seen?, How do we know that we didn't count one bird twice?) are huge, as is the potential for practising interpreting data from previous years' surveys.
URL: www.landcareresearch.co.nz/science/plants-animals-fungi/animals/birds/garden-bird-surveys
Reach: Regional, national

Nature of science focus: Online citizen science (OCS) projects can be used to develop any of the Nature of Science (NoS) substrands. What is important is to identify aspects of NoS that your students need to be better at or understand more fully. Then frame your unit to be very clear about these things when you do them.

Science capability focus: Gather and interpret data, Critique evidence, Interpret representations
Some suggested science concepts:
Science focus: Ecology - bird identification and species distribution

Birds can be identified by their external features.

Birds have adaptive features - structural (beaks, feet) or behavioural (calls, migration) - that enable them to survive.

Each bird species can be classified as being native, endemic, introduced, and/or endangered.

Bird species are adapted to live in their particular habitats.

Different birds live in different habitats. For example, introduced birds are more common in our towns than native species - their adaptations better enable them to live in close contact with people and mammalian predators.

Changes in habitat can affect the survival of living organisms in an area, and the relationships between them.

Populations are living organisms of the same species living in the same area at the same time.

Some examples of learning outcomes:
Many concepts could be learned - focusing on a few can often be more powerful. Develop your learning outcomes and success criteria from these concepts as well as the Nature of Science strand and the science capabilities.

Students can:

collect bird observations independently

discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the data collection method

identify local birds by their external features

compare adaptive features and explain their role in a bird's survival.

About Garden Bird Survey

The NZ Garden Bird Survey is a national project helping our scientists monitor bird populations in gardens, parks and schools over time. Students can learn about birds in their area and participate in a bird count during the national week of data collection. Resources are provided online to assist with this.

Ko te manu i kai ana i te miro nōna te ngahere,
ko te manu i kai ana i te mātauranga nōna te ao.

The bird that consumes the miro berry owns the forest,
the bird that consumes knowledge owns the world.
Māori proverb

The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey has been running since 2007, providing extensive data to look back through and consider. While you can't access your own data or compare data between schools (locally or nationally), this is a direction Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research would like to take the website in the future. In the meantime, there are fabulously displayed results available for rich class discussions and developing the science capability 'Interpret representations'.

Several resources are provided to support teachers throughout the survey, such as a series of short videos including a 2-minute clip likening gardens to layer cakes and showing that different birds can be found in different layers depending on what they like to eat. Discussions around scale and the comparative size and weight of birds is supported by another short video introducing the Chocolate Fish Index. A LEARNZ Virtual Field Trip and DOC's 'experiencing birds in green spaces' resource about the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey are also available. There are also online quizzes for testing your bird identification skills and knowledge including Māori bird names.

Through the website, it is possible to connect with a real scientist, and there are opportunities to share your work, findings and questions through social media.

Nature of science

Related content

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This New Zealand-based citizen science project aims to collect data about the types and numbers of common garden birds in our own backyard. This is done once annually during a particular window of time (29 June to 7 July 2019) and the results contribute to New Zealand's knowledge and monitoring of garden bird species and the health of the environment we live in.

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Use this - make a copy and develop your own. Get bird pictures from pg. 8 in Experiencing Birds in your Green Space - DOC resource.

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The Great Kererū Count is NZ’s biggest citizen science project to help gather information on the abundance and distribution of the New Zealand pigeon — also known as kererū, kūkū or kūkupa.

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The Great Kererū Count was set up to help us get a better understanding of kererū numbers and distribution across New Zealand. The Great Kererū Count is an annual citizen science project and the more people who participate, the better the understanding we will get on how kererū are doing across the country. The previous 4 years have proven the level of interest and love New Zealanders hold for kererū, in turn, showing how culturally and ecologically significant kererū are to us all. We have around 3 years left of data to collect so it's incredibly important for us to complete this journey with you, our citizen scientists. Everyone in New Zealand can get involved with the Great Kererū Count, whether you see any kererū or not, sharing observations will help build up a clearer picture of where the kererū live, how many kererū there are or aren't, what they are feeding on and most importantly how best to protect them.

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The Great Kererū Count was set up to help us get a better understanding of kererū numbers and distribution across New Zealand. The Great Kererū Count is an annual citizen science project and the more people who participate, the better the understanding we will get on how kererū are doing across the country.

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This was held in 2015. Resources there to do your own and report sightings into the same website or post on iNaturalist.

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This was held in November 2015 and will be repeated in future years, but if you wish to comment on our method of collecting this data, please post in the forum.

Aim:

To raise awareness of New Zealand's native butterflies, their numbers and spread.

When:

Any one day between 10 and 30 November, for one hour.

I'm Ready!
Download your tools and tips HERE.
We want everyone to participate up and down the country and islands such as the Chatham, Great Barrier and Stewart Islands. Schools, scout groups, gardening clubs, conservation groups, Young Farmers Clubs, walking groups, anyone and everyone. Do your bit and also invite others you know who may be interested.

The data collected this year will give us a baseline or snapshot of our Lepidoptera species in gardens, parks, schools and on farmland. Data from future years will show us trends in the populations and how environmental change is affecting them. You may decide to count your butterflies on one particular day - or total them up over the ten day period. However, it's important that you are consistent between counts (different years).

Butterfly counts are a regular event in Britain, Europe and North America and scientists are learning so much about what is happening to our Lepidoptera. Butterflies and day-flying moths are excellent subjects because they are so visible and better known than other insects.

Here are the species:

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This was held in November 2015 and will be repeated in future years, but if you wish to comment on our method of collecting this data, please post in the forum. To raise awareness of New Zealand's native butterflies, their numbers and spread. Any one day between 10 and 30 November, for one hour.

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Marine Metre Squared is a New Zealand citizen science project that supports communities to monitor their local seashore. The project has been designed to provide meaningful, valid environmental baseline data on the state of seashores around New Zealand against which future changes can be measured.

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Marine Metre Squared is a New Zealand citizen science project that supports communities to monitor their local seashore. The project has been designed to provide meaningful, valid environmental baseline data on the state of seashores around New Zealand against which future changes can be measured.

Reach: National

The aims of the Marine Metre Squared project are for participants to:

learn more about the animals and plants that live between the tides around New Zealand

collect valuable scientific information that will help build a picture of the biodiversity, distribution and abundance of seashore animals and plants in New Zealand's marine environment

monitor change in this habitat over time and investigate what might be causing the change

make connections between scientists, educators, schools and community/iwi groups who care about their local seashore environment and want to look after it.

Nature of science focus: Online citizen science (OCS) projects can be used to develop any of the Nature of Science (NoS) substrands. What is important is to identify aspects of NoS that your students need to be better at or understand more fully. Then frame your unit to be very clear about these things when you do them.

Science capability focus: Gather and interpret data, Critique evidence, Interpret representations

Science focus: Ecology - seashore species and habitats
Some suggested science concepts:

Living things depend on one another and on the nonliving environment in which they live.

Environmental changes affect the survival of living organisms and the relationships among them.

Many concepts could be learned - focusing on a few can often be more powerful. Develop your learning outcomes and success criteria from these concepts as well as the Nature of Science strand and the science capabilities.
Some examples of learning outcomes:
Students can:

explain the strengths and weaknesses of the quadrat data collection method

relate information presented on graphs to the evidence they gathered

compare animals' adaptive features and explain their role in survival

describe how environmental changes affect the survival of living organisms and the relationships among them

About Marine Metre Squared

Literally, the statement Ngā Tini o te Waitai translates as "the multitudes of the sea water". Waitai refers to salt water or sea water. Tini means crowds or a great number. Tini also connects to Tinirau, who in Māori myth descended from Tangaroa (the god of the sea) and is the father of fishes. Used in conjunction with the Marine Metre Squared name, it describes the environment and what we are hoping to understand and look after through this project.
Marine Metre Squared website

This New Zealand-based project encourages communities to monitor their local marine environment by collecting information about the diversity and abundance of the living organisms that exist between low and high tides. Managed by the NZ Marine Studies Centre at the University of Otago, citizens New Zealand wide take part in doing counts and uploading their data to this OCS project.

Registering for MM2 is free and gives you access to the full New Zealand database and your own survey data. It is easy to compare your local shore to others in New Zealand using the site's simple mapping and analysis tools. Support is available by email.

A variety of useful resources are provided, including instructions for setting up the quadrat samples and species identification charts for different parts of New Zealand. There is also curriculum support for developing the science capabilities, including posters and unit examples.

In 2017, MM2 was updated to support the Participatory Science Platform project Sediment and Seashores: What are the Consequences?

Nature of science

Acknowledgement

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Marine Metre Squared is a New Zealand citizen science project that supports communities to monitor their local seashore. The project has been designed to provide meaningful, valid environmental baseline data on the state of seashores around New Zealand against which future changes can be measured.

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Planning for students to be citizen scientists.

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Planning for students to be citizen scientists.

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The number of citizen science projects is growing at a rapid rate, with benefits for scientists and those who participate. But what potential do they have for supporting school science?

An education research project funded by the Teaching & Learning Research Initiative sought to identify approaches for effectively integrating online citizen science projects within science teaching and learning. Four expert primary teachers were involved. Their experiences highlighted the importance of purpose, planning and preparation.

Citizen science (CS) and online citizen science (OCS)

Citizen science projects invite citizens (including school students) to contribute to a real-world science project. Often, participants contribute data from their location or they help to analyse and interpret data collected by the project. In OCS projects, tasks require using the internet. This generally means that participants can contribute from different locations.

The case studies of each of the four participating teachers offer rich examples of how OCS projects were embedded into their primary science units, including how they scaffolded students' conceptual development, focused on the development of particular science capabilities and adapted their approaches when required:

Matt Boucher (year 7/8) - hunting for exoplanets within a unit on light.

Melissa Coton (year 5/6) - measuring light pollution at night as part of a unit on light.

Purpose

We think that most teachers will be interested in using an OCS project to supplement and broaden a topic they are already planning to teach. It will be part of a purposeful plan to develop an aspect of Nature of Science that also connects strongly to the science concepts being taught.

We believe using an OCS project enables teachers to:

focus on developing a specific science capability in a context related to the teaching topic - gathering, interpreting or categorising data or critiquing evidence

highlight the relevance and value of the science learning, with students contributing to a real-world science project

create opportunities for working with real and relevant datasets that often have been co-created

support students to learn about how science works - considering how scientists collect and use data and the reliability of particular data, making sense of data and exploring what it means to behave scientifically

help students 'take action' by contributing data or analysis that informs a science-related issue or in response to participating in the OCS (such as seeing the effects of light pollution, climate change and so on).

Planning

To successfully integrate an OCS project, it seems helpful for teachers to purposefully consider a range of aspects, including the OCS project, access to devices and working with data.

Which OCS project?

The number of OCS projects is growing, and there may well be several projects that would fit well into your planned unit. A variety are profiled on the Science Learning Hub, but this list is not exhaustive.

Before selecting a project, consider the following:

Is it still operational/active? (Note that some finished projects still offer access to datasets that can be of great use.)

What do participants need to do? Will your students manage what is asked of them?

How easy it is to use the website?

How do the opportunities it provides fit with previous experiences that students have had?

What scaffolding will students require in order to contribute to it?

Which of the NZC science capabilities for citizenship could it help develop?

How can it be used to extend students' current capabilities and experiences?

Are you able to communicate with the scientist(s) behind the project or find out about them and their work?

How many devices?

OCS projects require students to use devices, but there is no 'right' answer regarding the number of devices that would be ideal. You certainly do not need 1:1 devices - our research showed that sharing devices was often better. Students working together on the same screen more often discussed and debated their decisions.

For some teachers, getting the students to enter the correct URL was an issue. For others, it was navigating the school system to enable students to use a location feature needed for the OCS. With young students, a tuakana-teina approach was successful.

Obstacles to starting can take away some of the excitement about what students are about to do. Plan ahead and identify potential barriers so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Think too about ways students can get sidetracked as they engage in the OCS - using a map feature can end up with students looking at interesting street views if you are not vigilant!

What about the data?

By participating in the OCS project, students sometimes create data for the project scientists to use. It is very important to be clear about what happens to the data your students create and to think about if and how you might use this in developing your students' science capabilities.

It is useful to consider these questions:

What parts of your students' work (data creation) will they be able to access and work with?

Will they be able to see and use their own and others' data?

Can you use and discuss your own class's data?

Is it possible to access/compare your data to that from another class at your school, another school or even in another country?

Does your students' data just get mixed with everyone else's?

Can you access all citizen scientists' contributions?

Does the project share raw data or present data summaries graphically?

What do output graphs look like?

How will you 'teach' your students to be able to interpret and make sense of the data or graphs/images generated?

Preparation

Using an OCS project is likely to take place within a larger unit of work, and it is important to consider what you will do in the body of the unit to support understanding about the OCS.

What will your students need to understand prior to using the OCS project? This could be content related or skill related.

For example, in this case study, teacher Matt Boucher used the OCS projects Agent Exoplanet and Planet Hunters as part of a physics unit on light. These OCS projects invite participants to help identify exoplanets (planets beyond our Solar System) by interpreting light graphs generated from satellite images. Matt first needed to model how the light graphs were generated in order for students to make sense of the data provided in the OCS projects.

Scientific skills and dispositions could include:

understanding of scale

developing an eye for detail (close observation)

repetition (generating sufficient, reliable data)

persistence (keeping going to achieve a goal)

integrity (doing your best and giving the best answer possible because the results count).

Developing students' science capabilities

In order to know that your teaching has developed students' science capabilities, it is important to focus on depth rather than breadth and making a few aspects very clear and explicit rather than aiming for an extensive list of learning outcomes.

We recommend that you:

focus on developing only one or two capabilities

think about your students' capabilities to start with - what can they or can't they do?

think about the words, questions, phrases, conversations and activities you may need to incorporate throughout the unit to develop a particular capability and plan these ahead of time

plan to share with your students why developing this skill, ability or disposition is important - this shows you value this aspect of their learning and makes the learning of it an explicit intention

make it clear what quality looks like - notice and celebrate strong student examples and talk about the features of their behaviour

think about how you will measure your students' ability in this focus capability so that you and they will know how they have developed.

We make the same recommendation regarding planning for content knowledge development. Choose only two or three science concepts that you want your students to understand in each unit. They may well pick up and understand a lot more, both from the Nature of Science strand and the contextual strands, but this is incidental and a bonus over and above your unit.

Limiting the number of learning outcomes keeps the topic more focused and achievable for all students, and you will have evidence to show how well it worked, what worked and what didn't and what you might change, amend or adapt next time.

Ongoing development

Having planned this unit well, use it again in the future with a new cohort of students. We develop useful understanding about what and how to teach when we refine units and activities as we reteach them, especially about useful activities, teacher questions and what students tend to find difficult.

Related content

Acknowledgement

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Planning for students to be citizen scientists

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The number of citizen science projects is growing at a rapid rate, with benefits for scientists and those who participate. But what potential do they have for supporting school science? An education research project funded by the Teaching & Learning Research Initiative sought to identify approaches for effectively integrating online citizen science projects within science teaching and learning.

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Photograph your findings and put on iNaturalistNZ.

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What is a tracking tunnel?

Tracking tunnels are used by scientists to find out which kinds of creatures are in gardens, nature reserves or national parks. You get a rat or other animal to walk across an ink pad to eat some food. It will then leave its inky footprints on the tunnel floor.

You will need:

A piece of thin, white card or cardboard for the tunnel.
A rectangular plastic lid and 1 tissue for the ink pad.
Some food colouring mixed with water for the ink.
A dollop of peanut butter.
A stapler.

Who made the tracks?

If lots of animals come to visit, their tracks might be a real mess! Using a magnifying glass might help you to decipher them.

For a full guide to what creatures are leaving their footprints in your tracking tunnel, check out this PDF guide by the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust.

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Tracking tunnels are used by scientists to find out which kinds of creatures are in gardens, nature reserves or national parks. You get a rat or other animal to walk across an ink pad to eat some food. It will then leave its inky footprints on the tunnel floor.

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Welcome to iNaturalist NZ, where you can record what you see in nature, meet other nature watchers, and learn about the natural world. Scientists will help you identify any species and you contribute to building knowledge about our NZ flora and fauna. It can be used for specific projects too.

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iNaturalist logs hundreds of thousands of photos of flora, fauna and fungi. There are even sound recordings too. Each is described and geo located. iNaturalist is used by citizens and scientists to monitor species presence and distribution.

It also helps with identification - it is common to upload a photo and wait for the iNaturalist community to identify it. The iNaturalist system has also been 'trained' to identify species in photos. There are also some specific projects hosted through this site.

URL: https://inaturalist.nz/ and www.inaturalist.org/home

Reach: Worldwide

iNaturalist requires users to be at least 13 years old. It is possible to create an account to log class data, but do get some experience using iNaturalist first. The Seek app supports species identification and is designed with younger students in mind.

Nature of science focus: Online citizen science (OCS) projects can be used to develop any of the Nature of Science (NoS) substrands. Identify aspects of NoS that your students need to get better at or understand more fully and then frame your unit to be very clear about these things when you do them.

Science capability focus: Gather and interpret data, Engage with science

Science focus: Biodiversity, ecology, classification
Some suggested science concepts:

Scientists classify living things and group them according to their shared features.

All animals have adaptive features - structural (teeth, feet, colourings) or behavioural (calls, migration) - that enable them to survive. Plants also have adaptive features.

Biodiversity is a measure of the number or variety of species present in an area.

Many concepts could be learned - focusing on a few can often be more powerful. Develop your learning outcomes and success criteria from these concepts as well as the Nature of Science strand and the science capabilities.
Examples of learning outcomes:
Students can:

accurately gather and log data

classify animals or plants into groups based on their shared features

use evidence to convey the status of biodiversity in their own locality.

About iNaturalist

iNaturalist helps you to identify the plants and animals around you and connects you with a community of over 750,000 scientists and naturalists who can help you learn about nature.

Sharing your observations helps create quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

There are several ways to use iNaturalist.

As a tool for identifying plants or animals: Photos or sound recordings can be uploaded and identifications sought, or you can label them for the benefit of others. You can keep track of your own observations with maps, calendars and journals and get help from the community in identifying what you have observed.

As a way of logging population data from your area (e.g. BioBlitz): It is possible to create your own project within iNaturalist and log observations from your own area. This has been used to collate BioBlitz data. Instructions are provided.

As a way of viewing data from all over the world: The world map of observations is very usable and can stimulate discussion about the meaning of what is displayed.

As a way to help organisations with monitoring projects. For example, the Department of Conservation wants the public to report the occurrence of myrtle rust on iNaturalist.

This site is a little complex and designed to be rigorous about the data shared. There is a lot of support and resources on the website.

iNaturalist can be used from their website or app.

iNaturalist NZ - Mātaki Taiao

The online citizen science project Naturewatch recognised the similarities in the iNaturalist platform and the secure platform it offered. In 2018, it rebranded to iNaturalist NZ - Mātaki Taiao and moved to the iNaturalist platform.

iNaturalist NZ - Mātaki Taiao is now one of a growing number of international partners in the iNaturalist Network. iNaturalist NZ - Mātaki Taiao is active on social media, follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

Nature of science

Acknowledgement

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iNaturalist logs hundreds of thousands of photos of flora, fauna and fungi. There are even sound recordings too. Each is described and geo located. iNaturalist is used by citizens and scientists to monitor species presence and distribution.

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Padlet of resources for schools to use to set up a tracking and trapping programme.

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Padlet of links for units, information, journal stories etc.

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Padlet of links for resources and learning.

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MM2 kits can be borrowed fro Greater Wellington Regional Council

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MM2 kits can be borrowed fro Greater Wellington Regional Council

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Contact your local Enviroschools facilitator or email your contact details, name, the location of your school and the dates you require the kit to streamkits@gw.govt.nz.

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Padlet of links for units, information, purakau etc.

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Make a pre-dawn moth catcher - Kiwi Conservation Club

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Many of our moths are in hibernation during winter, but some hardy species emerge from their cocoons during this time. The frosty, still mornings are ideal for fragile first-time fliers.

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Photograph your findings and put on iNaturalistNZ.

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Discovering plant life - Kiwi Conservation Club

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Plants play a very important role in our local environment, and across Aotearoa, connecting many different organism together. Learn how to use a hula hoop as a quadrat, make some new discoveries where you live, and monitor changes over time.

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Cloak of Protection -a fun strategic game about New Zealand Birds and the predators who are creating problems for them. Y3-Adult. Full notes about all of the predators and the birds.

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Playing our way

Kia Ora. Here we are, on islands like no others. Tips of the (mostly) submerged continent of Zealandia, in the landscape of Aotearoa / New Zealand.

From here, come my environmental games. Where we're sometimes co-operating, sometimes competing, yet always in good heart.

I hope you'll enjoy being gameful in our rich natural world too. Being kakariki / green, and playing our way!

Ngā mihi. JiL Hemming. Game Designer

AVAILABLE at all LEVELS. FOR AS LONG AS THE COURIER WILL DELIVER

To save our birds, you need to trade, draw & play to create a feather cloak of 15 cards, in one bird realm: forest, settlement, sea, or extinct.

But BEWARE! Each card sports some predators - will they threaten your realm?

ALL MADE IN AOTEAROA/NZ (game, illustration, design, print)
FREE POST in NZ

Best Sellers

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Kia Ora. Here we are, on islands like no others. Tips of the (mostly) submerged continent of Zealandia, in the landscape of Aotearoa / New Zealand. From here, come my environmental games. Where we're sometimes co-operating, sometimes competing, yet always in good heart. I hope you'll enjoy being gameful in our rich natural world too.

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Water monitoring kits avaialbe  all over the Wellington region.

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Water monitoring kits avaialbe  all over the Wellington region.

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Contact your local Enviroschools facilitator or book by sending an email with your contact details, name, the location of your school and the dates you require the kit to streamkits@gw.govt.nz.

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A place to record data about your stream over time - photos - any data you collect. Give the ability to link up with other groups monitoring the same waterway.

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Padlet of links for resources - units - informations etc.

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Links for NZ units, information, pūrākau etc.

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Ahi Pepe MothNet is a citizen science project that aims to engage teachers, students and whānau with moths, and through moths with nature and science. Currently no on going funding but great resources and you may find a local moth enthusiast who could help you do a moth collection and identification.

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AHI PEPE | MOTHNET is a citizen science project that aims to engage teachers, students and whānau with moths, and through moths with nature and science across New Zealand.

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Students from Koraunui School in Stokes Valley have been working hard this past year as kaitiaki for their catchment. Taking the lead on a range of different projects has led to Stokes Valley stream receiving some much needed love and care. Projects have involved multiple plants, night spotlighting to survey native fish populations, installation of mussel spat ropes to aid fish passage, and the construction of their very own nursery where students will be able to care for young seedlings for future plantings.

In November 2017, Koraunui School hosted a BioBlitz event with thanks to funding from the Unlocking Curious Minds Fund. Over 30 scientists and environmental educators participated, offering students from numerous other schools the opportunity to explore the amazing biodiversity of Stokes Valley. Over 90 different species were found and recorded throughout the day.

A highlight of the event was being able to participate in the night time spot lighting event. Armed with torches and an expert guide to lead the way, students were able to discover native banded kokopu (a type of whitebait), koura (freshwater crayfish), glow worms, many different species of moth, and weta.

Check out this cool video clip put together by student from Avalon Intermediate about their experience with the Whitebait Connection programme down at the stream during the BioBlitz.

For more information on Koraunui Schools projects as kaitiaki for their catchment, listen to Radio New Zealand's piece on the BioBlitz, visit their school blog and the Curious Minds website in the links below;
RNZ - Our Changing World: Koraunui BioBlitz
Koraunui School Kaitiaki Blog
Curious Minds story link.

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Students from Koraunui School in Stokes Valley have been working hard this past year as kaitiaki for their catchment. Taking the lead on a range of different projects has led to Stokes Valley stream receiving some much needed love and care.

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Summary of BioBlitz - what`s living in your backyard? | NZ teachers, enrol in this LEARNZ virtual field trip

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If you look at any landscape from a distance, on the surface it can look boring. But take a closer look with us, and a whole world of interesting life will open up. During this field trip you will discover what Maureen Keen and students from Mount Somers Springburn School found on their BioBlitz at Lake Clearwater in Ō Tū Wharekai.

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Padlet of information, identification, action taking links about trees.

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Landcare Research NZ

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A bilingual interactive tool to help you identify bugs found around New Zealand.

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Comprehensive guide including lizards and insects,as well as pests.

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By AUT -  Identify the most common native trees of New Zealand.

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This fund supports schools and early childhood centres to carry out projects that support native plants and wildlife. We want to help get kids out planting, doing littler clean-ups, pest animal control, or other activities that support our native flora and fauna. The fund can be a maximum of $500 per year.
Follow this link to apply for this fund.

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Funding and awards | Greater Wellington Regional Council

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Greater Wellington supports the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in the Wellington region. The annual awards give farmers and lifestylers in the Wellington region the opportunity to find out how well...

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This grant support schools explore and take action in their local environment. It can be used by schools taking part in field trips as part of:

Mountains to Sea Wellington education programmes

Using Stream health assessment or Marine Metres Squared kits

Sustainable Coastlines

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand

There is a maximum of $500 a year available for up to: two buses or train trips, and 90 students.
Follow this link to apply.

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Funding and awards | Greater Wellington Regional Council

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Greater Wellington supports the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in the Wellington region. The annual awards give farmers and lifestylers in the Wellington region the opportunity to find out how well...

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Links to national organisations who provide funding and grants for community conservation groups.

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Omata School Bush Bioblitz on iNaturalist

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Omata School Bush Bioblitz on iNaturalist

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Gives you an example of how it looks.

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This BioBlitz has been set up to record biodiversity values of the Omata School Bush Key Native Ecosystem. The school has been trapping predators and controlling pest plants in the area and plan to continue doing so to support Towards a Predator-Free Taranaki - Taranaki Taku Tūranga.

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Radical Action Grants (RAG) supports radical grassroots environmental activism – especially climate and climate justice activism – in Aotearoa. Up to $500.