Instructional Series
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Welcome to the English medium literacy instructional series teaching and learning resources for years 1 to 8.
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Search results
55 items - Showing 41 - 50
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Building for the Future
by Adrienne Jansen
The Samoan village of Sa’anapu is under threat from tsunamis, cyclones, and rising sea levels. To protect their village, the Council of Matai are working with an architect and scientist from New Zealand. Together, they’re drawing on cultural, scientific, and technological knowledge to build a safer future for Sa’anapu.
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I Am Alice
by Bronwen Wall
Alice is a tunnel-boring machine used to build two tunnels for Auckland’s Western Ring motorway. Hear about the experience from Alice herself as she provides a first person account of the impact of new technology on our land and infrastructures.
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Fostering Felines
This article demonstrates how students at Sir Douglas Bader Intermediate School designed a technological device to solve a community problem – how to care for the thousands of newborn kittens handed in to the SPCA each year. It encourages the reader to consider the issues, giving a model for how the same process could be applied to other problems.
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Red Rattlers
by Philippa Werry
This report describes the old Wellington cable cars and compares them with the current cable cars.
It includes an explanation, supported by photographs and diagrams, of the technology behind how the
old cable cars worked. The text concludes with an interview with a present-day cable car driver.Gold 2
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Connected 2018 Level 4 - Digital Space
The focus in this issue of Connected is on computational thinking for digital technologies and designing and developing digital outcomes.
At times, Connected themes require the introduction of concepts that students at this curriculum level may not be able to fully understand. What matters at this stage is that students begin to develop understandings that they can grow over time.
Look inside this issue
Emotional Robots
This article explores the development of artificial intelligence (AI) from a social and ethical perspective. It invites the reader to consider high-level questions about the future for this technology, what emotional intelligence is, how humans think, the ethical implications of building AI that act like humans, and what would happen if AI became more intelligent than us.
Saving the World, One Swipe at a Time
This article describes how three Kiwi companies have used digital technology to help solve health or social problems. It demonstrates how digital technologists think through a problem and how a seemingly abstract issue can be turned into a series of tasks that digital technologies can solve.
Kiwis in Space
In January 2018, New Zealand became one of only eleven countries that have successfully built and launched a rocket capable of sending satellites into space. This interview with Rocket Lab Avionics Manager Naomi Altman explains the science and technology behind that incredible achievement.
Under the Sea
This article reports on a survey of a 100-metre long rocky reef located 11 kilometres off the Taranaki coast. Students from local high schools are partnering with divers, biologists, engineers, fishers, and local iwi to discover and record the plants and animals that make the reef their home. The article focuses on the survey methods being used and the different technologies involved in each method.
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Connected 2018 Level 3 - Cracking the Code
The focus in this issue of Connected is on computational thinking for digital technologies and designing and developing digital outcomes.
At times, Connected themes require the introduction of concepts that students at this curriculum level may not be able to fully understand. What matters at this stage is that students begin to develop understandings that they can grow over time.
Look inside this issue
To Build a Bot
This article describes the process undertaken by three students from Feilding’s Manchester Street School as they designed and built a robot that won the New Zealand VEX IQ Challenge. The article offers an authentic way of introducing students to programming and computational thinking, as well as physics and engineering concepts related to energy, weight, and balance.
South Pacific Beats
Wellington designer Rachael Hall has developed a modern version of the traditional Tongan lali. Called Patō, Rachael’s drum keeps the traditional sound of a lali but incorporates digital capabilities. Her hope is that Patō will allow musicians to mix traditional Pacific sounds with modern music.
Square Eyes
Siali is selected to trial a new augmented reality device called SquareEye. While the trial starts off fun, he slowly starts to notice that SquareEye is affecting his experiences in ways he doesn’t necessarily consent to. This story, set in the not-so-distant future, explores how digital technologies can alter our experiences without us knowing.
Listening to the Land
Pauline Harris, a scientist of Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Kahungunu descent, is working with a team of researchers to collect and record mātauranga from iwi and hapū about plants and animals in Aotearoa. The team is using a computer program to record the mātauranga and connect it to particular times and places in history. They hope that this information will help us understand how climate change is affecting Aotearoa’s wildlife and ecosystems, knowledge that we can then use to plan for the change.
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Connected 2018 Level 2 - Step By Step
The focus in this issue of Connected is on computational thinking for digital technologies and designing and developing digital outcomes.
At times, Connected themes require the introduction of concepts that students at this curriculum level may not be able to fully understand. What matters at this stage is that students begin to develop understandings that they can grow over time.
Look inside this issue
Amazing Algorithms
This article introduces and explains the concept of algorithms in a simple and engaging way. It supports understanding of this abstract concept by providing concrete examples from everyday life, mathematics, and computer programming.
The War on Weeds
Students at Kaniere School are helping scientists combat the spread of weeds. They’re using simple digital technology to identify the weeds and upload the information to a national database. The article shows how students can use digital technology to become citizen scientists and act locally on a national issue.
Lighting the Sky with Raspberry Pi
Students at Fernridge School have created a digital light display for Matariki using Raspberry Pi computers. This article shows how the students created the light display, providing a real-life context for exploring how computers work.
Animation Creations
Ryan Kothe, an animator from Auckland, uses stop-motion animation to make short videos and advertisements. In this article, he explains how to create your own stop-motion animation movie.
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More than a Box
by Dave Armstrong
“More than a Box” describes the processes and practices used when planning, designing, and building a large indoor sports centre. It outlines the science and technology behind the building process, including the steps taken to ensure that the structure remains erect, stable, and safe.
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On the Move
by Sophie Fern
Some animals migrate thousands of kilometres every year - so how do scientists keep track of them? Take a look at the different technologies scientists use to study migration patterns, and discover what they have learnt about great migrations.
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Time Capsules
by Ken Benn
This article describes how the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, destroyed nearly 2000 years ago by a volcanic eruption, were preserved by the eruption and now show people what life was like in these cities long ago. Modern technology has allowed archaeologists to excavate the volcanic ash and to discover details about the eruption and about the artefacts that remain.
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