New Zealand Science Teacher

Connecting students with real-life science

19/02/2014

Futureintech can inspire your students to follow their science career goals.

Would your students be inspired by a visit from a chemical engineer? How about a food technologist?

Visits from real-life science ambassadors are possible with the help of Futureintech, a major government initiative funded through Callaghan Innovation.

An initiative of IPENZ (Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand), Futureintech offers to connect students with the best and brightest young scientists, direct from the sector. And the goal is clear: to raise the number of scientists, technologists, and engineers available to New Zealand.

Futureintech director Angela Christie says that in the mission to raise awareness of these types of careers among Kiwi students, the work of the organisation is two-fold.

“We are an ambassador service in that we recruit and train technologists, engineers, and scientists, to support The New Zealand Curriculum. We also maintain a website and a raft of brochures which go into schools and training organisations.”

Brochures can get lost on their own, says Angela, but when teachers or careers advisors distribute them, or the ambassadors who visit schools hand them out, they can be a useful resource. In addition, educators can order them, free of charge, from the website.

The ‘ambassadors’ are not teachers diverted into a different organization. They are actually working technologists and scientists.

“They are usually people in the early stages of their career, primarily because it’s easier for them to be released from their companies, and they go in to schools and engage with the students,” says Angela.

And what is their role?

“Ambassadors are trained to bring their skills into the classroom, in a very practical, hands-on way,” she says.

“This might be in helping with a specific project or challenge, or they might simply talk to a group of students about their career as a food technologist or chemical engineer, or town planner, or whatever is needed.”

The ambassadors cover a wide range of disciplines, and this is reflected by the extent of information on the Futureintech website.

Angela recommends interested teachers visit the site, and follow the links from the ‘people profiles’ page, in order to get an idea of the different careers showcased. “You can find everyone from civil engineers to IT managers,” she says.

Angela says the website the first port of call for teachers looking to invite an ambassador.

“Go to the ‘for schools’ section, click on the ‘facilitators’ link, and all of the local contact facilitators will pop up,” she says. “Find the person relevant to your region and they can help you by arranging the local ambassadors to visit your school.”

The ‘what we do in schools’ tab leads to examples of work done by the organisation over the years it’s been operating. Teachers can also refine their search into year levels, and subject types.

“We believe our website is a useful tool for teachers to use when planning their science classes. We hope they will get inspired to invite an ambassador into their classroom.”

The key thing to remember, says Angela, is that Futureintech offers a free service for teachers and their students.

“We work right through from early primary to the late secondary years. We have some real fun in primary schools. For example, we had one ambassador who did some water filtering with five-year-old students. She had a great time with them all. They went to a stream and collected some dirty water, then used a range of materials to filter it into clean water.

“It was more than just the ambassador demonstrating the technique to the children. The students actually did the activity, and they loved it.”

Futureintech prefers to get hands-on science happening in schools, where possible, in order to help young people get engaged in practical science.

“The ambassador may well bring the equipment and materials required for a session. For example, our food science ambassadors often rock up to health or technology lessons, with samples for taste testing or nutritional analysis. We encourage our ambassadors to take props where appropriate,” says Angela.

“Some of our engineers have quite spectacular props! And our IT ambassadors have some really interesting gadgets to inspire students, such as kits that light up, sing, dance, and can be programmed to do various things,” she laughs.

“Our preference it to find ways to link our work to the curriculum in any way we can. We are just here to support teachers do what they do so well.”