In 2013 I attended an Educafe evening at the National Library with my colleague Mandy Heim. This was my first attendance and I connected with some incredibly innovative educators one of them being Andrew Cowie. Andrew is the development specialist at the National Library. We briefly chatted about the work he has been doing with schools for Digital Citizenship.

Andrew was trialing a pilot programme on DC and I requested that Elim be  put on the pilot programme. Fortunately we were probably the last school Andrew was including in the pilot programme and few months later 5 staff from Elim had the opportunity to trial the programme for 2 days at the National Programme. The programme  included trialing resources created for the 7 DC themes:

1. Defining Digital Citizenship

2. Understanding the Shared Landscape

3. Cybersafety

4. Research and Critical thinking

5. Intellectual Property

6. Personal Currency and Digital Footprint

7. Beyond our Borders

My very first meeting with Andrew as we reflected on how to shape the journey ahead using the 7 DC themes.

The resources created for these 7 themes challenged each of us personally and professionally and we really couldn’t wait to unpack it with our staff.

Andrew was keen to work with our entire staff the following year and before we knew it one brief chat at EduIgnite has led to a robust PL programme on Digital Citizenship for Elim in 2014 with Andrew.

Watch the space for my next blog where I unpack the DC story for 2014.

If you get included in the blogging meme: copy/paste the questions and instructions into your own blog then fill out your own answers. Share on twitter tagging 5 friends.

1. How did you attend the #Edchatnz Conference? (Face 2 Face, followed online or didn’t)

I am a passionate science educator having been exposed to science education at school at an early stage in my life. In New Zealand quality science education is in my opinion not offered consistently across the primary and intermediate schools due to a number of factors.

I was working as I usually do one evening and opened up twitter for a little break. I noticed a conversation between Matt Nicoll and Rachel Chisnall on starting up a scichat forum on twitter. I reflected on this for 60 seconds before jumping into the conversation to offer my help.

Before I could catch my breath we were planning questions for the inaugural launch of #ScichatNZ on July 31st 8.30-9.30pm. This was exciting and we got to put our best ideas together. Come July 31st we were nervous but excited. The tweeps flooded in and before we knew it tweetdeck was moving faster than I could keep my eyes on it.  the primary, secondary and tertiary sector were all represented and it was neat to hear from people across all sectors.

What was the purpose in starting #scichatnz? We aim to bring together educators from all over NZ who have anything to contribute science related to our community. There is much to learn from each other and providing such opportunities will only strengthen our own understanding of the subject and empower us to support each other better.

The NZScience teacher featured #scichatNZ and gave their take on it:

http://www.nzscienceteacher.co.nz/teacher-education-in-science/first-ever-scichatnz-takes-place/#.U-Xc7PmSzsB

Looking forward to meeting more science educators in the near future #scichatNZ

I am a few days behind in writing this exciting blog but am thrilled to be sharing this.

Teaching science in the classroom and hearing from a real scientist are two entirely different things. The buzz around their life story and experiences resonates with some of the things that students often face.

On Monday the 4th of August we were privileged to hear from Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab Ltd about his beginnings and passion for rockets. Such passion is often cultivated over time and may sometimes go by unrecognized. Careers advisers often get it wrong where a test may be used to conclude where a child should be headed which was the case of Peter becks who really did not identify in any such category.

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I am reminded of our capable students who struggle with literacy or some other part of the formal curriculum but have so much content knowledge in specific areas that the school system is almost not made for them- one such student exists in my class.

He is passionate about robots and on his own has achieved much. Probably the greatest excitement for him was knowing that our amazing speaker did not hold a qualification but his works were highly recognized and established. This came with commitment and persisting in what he believed in. It really is a pity that society recognizes titles and degrees and fails those who have so much to offer and achieve this through their own navigated pathways in life.

Creativity is the key to 21st century education- the more you allow students to build and create the more they will find solutions and be inspired to learn more. this was my take home message and I am truly inspired by you Mr. Beck. What a story you have and inspiration you are to our younger generation.