Engagement and success are prominent in education discussions, research and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally. Yet, little is known about how successful Tongan science learners define engagement, enjoyment or success, and which teaching and learning experiences have enhanced or detracted from their engagement, enjoyment and success…

The ability to understand science is important for productive participation in societies that rely on scientific knowledge to guide decision-making. A challenge is how to motivate and engage all learners in science, and not just those destined for science-related careers. This challenge becomes more acute in senior secondary high-stakes assessment…

This paper investigates the interactions between context and professional development of physics instructors in a case study of two physics faculty. A phenomenological-case study approach was used to analyze two physics faculty at different institutions over a year and a half using three semistructured interviews each. The data enabled the…

The continued underserving of Maori and Pasifika communities by New Zealand universities has resulted in the need to hold universities and the wider tertiary education system to account through widespread data analysis. This paper analyses Maori and Pasifika enrolment in the Society and Culture and Natural and Physical Sciences fields of Aotearoa…

A goal of the New Zealand Curriculum is to equip students with the skills needed to use science critically and responsibly as citizens. One method of achieving this is through the participation in citizen science. Measuring the learning outcomes of citizen science experiences therefore, is important to ensure that development of science learning…

In 2018, a research project funded by New Zealand's Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) explored the impact of online citizen science (OCS) projects on the science education of primary school children in New Zealand. This article provides an in-depth case study from this project in order to share ways in which one teacher used OCS…

In this era of pandemics, asylum seekers, and conflict between super powers, social sciences are a critical subject that can help develop young people who can not only recognise racial and social discrimination but also injustices at a regional, national, and global scale. Mainstream subjects, such as sociology, routinely support learning in the…

In this article, I report a two-year study of working closely with science teachers and examining perceptions of Year 9 (12-13 year olds) students in 13 New Zealand secondary schools. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was used. The questionnaire was administered to 327 students in the first year and 362 students in the second…

In this article we share how developing and following tikanga was integral to our enactment of mana orite in the local curriculum as we (tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti) collaborated on a Year 7 science unit: Plants, Place, and People. Our initial thinking as we approached this unit had been to look for connections between matauranga Maori, the…

The "new" of new literacies are multifaceted social practices to make and share meanings with new communication tools and technology. Despite gaining considerable research focus in recent times, there is scarce evidence of new literacies as instances of practice in secondary science classrooms. In this article students' engagement in…

This book presents the findings of two case studies in the 'Making Connections' two-year project funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. It shows how science literacy was improved in a state coeducational school with Pacific Island students from diverse linguistic backgrounds. This book details ideas and strategies relevant to schools…

Institution-crippling earthquakes limited teaching contact hours and range of teaching environments. New ways became needed to achieve the same learning outcomes in less time. Following that disaster, new methods based on active and test-enhanced learning were introduced into two undergraduate molecular biology courses. The courses had a mixture…

The importance of genetic diversity, especially within small populations of endangered species, is becoming increasingly apparent. Genetic engineering techniques that could potentially enhance diversity are now being developed. However, the use of such techniques would require social licence and yet within the general population there is limited…

How do we support learning and teaching about complex issues? Researchers from the University of Auckland worked with 54 students and teachers from three Auckland secondary schools to evaluate health-science learning designed to investigate this question. The instructional strategies based on context familiarity, systems thinking, and narrative…

When secondary school students were asked about the socioscientific issue of using sodium fluoroacetate (1080) poison to control New Zealand's possum pests, they provided a wide range of responses. Their responses showed that they considered this method of control to be risky and contentious. Such contentious issues are an example of the…