2024 He Ao Hou STEAM Education Professional Development Day a Success!
The 2024 Murihiku Regeneration He Ao Hou New Futures Programme hosted its 2024 STEAM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) Professional Development Day, at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), in Invercargill on Friday 21 June.
The day was led by the Murihiku Regeneration Education Workstream Lead, Ivan Hodgetts and supported by Dr Dave Warren and Professor Sally Brooker from the University of Otago. Other speakers included the region’s Director of Education, Julie Anderson and Curriculum Advisor Loretta Schmidt.
22 schools registered for the 2024 programme, that includes outreach visits led by Dr Warren.
Ivan Hodgetts commented that, “it was great to provide a STEAM education focused professional development day again. We appreciated the numbers attending and enthusiasm for the topic. Dr Warren and I are looking forward to getting out into the schools with our expanded range of energy technology.”
“On Friday, 38 people attended, which was great given the rate of illness in the community. There were some apologies due to illness etc, but we expect to pick these up through the year,” said Ivan Hodgetts.
The He Ao Hou programme is a part of the Murihiku Regeneration Te Ara Aukati Kore Workstream, and is sponsored by Meridian Energy, Woodside Energy, the Ministry of Education and the University of Otago.
The programme provides hydrogen kits to participating schools, gives teachers guidance on how to build green energy technology into school planning and curriculum. It also provides practical support from the University of Otago and the Ministry of Education, to help teachers and their schools to share with their students.
We would really like to thank our sponsors for their commitment to help build curiosity and interest in STEAM based learning, through something interesting like creating green hydrogen, for young people in our Murihiku community.
“This is going to be critical for their own future, but also for the future of our communities,” said Terry Nicholas, Programme Director for Murihiku Regeneration.
Over the coming weeks, further work and support will be provided through the programme to the participating schools.
For those Murihiku-Southland schools who still want to participate - please contact us.
Posted: 1 July 2024