This month's talk is:

GeoCamp and Tūhura Papatūānuku – a decade of engaging school students with hands-on science outreach

with Malcolm Arnot and Kyle Bland, on behalf of the GeoCamp and Tūhura Papatūānuku team

Since 2012, GNS Science and community partners have been running GeoCamp, a two-week-long field-based learning experience that opens up the world of science for local years seven to nine school students and teachers. To date, eight of these events have been held across Te Ika-a-Māui/North Island. The aim of GeoCamp is to give school children the opportunity to learn from expert scientists about the geological forces that have shaped New Zealand.

Since 2020, funding received from MBIE’s Unlocking Curious Minds fund, and the Ministry of Education’s Whānau Development Fund, allowed us to further develop the idea of GeoCamp through week-long marae-based, residential events – Tūhura Papatūānuku Geo Noho. Through Tūhura Papatūānuku, we aim to incorporate Mātauranga and Te Aō Māori as a central element. This means the schedule and curriculum is co-designed with the local educators and hapū who are hosting each noho, and delivery of the content is shared. Collectively, we hope to create a space where GNS Science researchers and Māori educators are able to deliver the concepts and material they believe is important toward the goal of helping the students develop an enthusiasm for science that is relevant to their context. 

GeoCamp and Tūhura Papatūānuku Gee Noho is not aimed exclusively at students that have expressed an interest in science. Many of them are students that have struggled in a conventional classroom setting; GeoCamp providing the opportunity to try a different approach of hands-on learning. One of the key aims is to help the educators gain new skills and develop lesson plans that they can then take back to their schools, thereby reaching a broader scope of students and creating an ongoing legacy beyond the event itself. We will discuss past successes, what we could do differently, and what we aim to do moving forward.

This talk will be hosted online via Zoom.

An access link will be emailed to GEOID members.

You need to be a GSNZ member to be a member of GeOID and enjoy this talk.

If you're not yet a GSNZ member you can join here.

Contact: geoid@gsnz.org.nz

GSNZ member but not a GeOID member? No problem! Just log into the GSNZ website (top right of this page), go to your membership profile, click the "Subscriptions" tab, click "Create", choose "Apply a Subscription" and select "SIG: Geo-Education, Outreach and International Development" from the list. It's free! And you'll automatically be added to the GEOID mailing list for talk links and our quarterly newsletter.