The Port Moresby Nature Park has partnered with Sister Zoo, Zoo’s Victoria and PNGAus Partnership Secondary Schools to provide materials to teach the STEM and the Environment curriculum activity to PNG students at the secondary school level.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics and refers to any subjects that fall under these four disciplines
The curriculum includes:
- A self-directed course to familiarize students with the curriculum activity, in PowerPoint format,
- A teaching guide, to complement the self-directed course and provide a step-by-step guide on how to teach the STEM & the Environment curriculum activity, in PDF format,
- A student workbook, for students to use as they undertake the STEM and the Environment curriculum activity, in PDF format,
- A YouTube playlist of all the activity videos for teachers to use as they teach the STEM & the Environment curriculum activity.
The activity asks students to use the Connect, Understand, Act model and choose from one of two animal species, the Blue-eyed Cockatoo or Tree Kangaroo and to come up with enrichment items that that animal would be able to use as an activity to continue in its welfare and wellbeing at the Nature Park.
This program enhances the student’s capabilities to use science by understanding behavior of animals, technology in the animal’s movement and engineering in the building of the enrichment device and mathematics in problem solving.
The three key objectives of the PNGAus Partnership Secondary Schools initiative are to:
- Improve secondary school education capabilities in targeted areas, such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), English language, youth agency and leadership, girls’ education and inclusive education,
- Build student empowerment through the development of leadership skills and an expanded world view and,
- Strengthen the public diplomacy between the two countries.
Initially, the course was designed to allow face-to-face teaching but due COVID-19 travel restrictions preventing these learning activities to occur.
The PNGAus Partnerships Secondary Schools are running a number of online projects and activities to continue to strengthen the school partnerships and community and build on the outcomes achieved to date.
The website: https://www.pass.edu.au/learning-bank/teaching-learning-resources/stem
The Port Moresby Nature Park’s vision is to be PNG’s leading recreational space, inspiring through education for the guardianship of PNG’s unique natural environment.