Professional Development Grants to Promote Diversity in STEM Education
Image caption: Guests are guided through Te Kōhangu Museum of Waitangi
To meet future economic demands, New Zealand needs to produce more science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates than ever before. Those with STEM qualifications are the developers of new technologies, they’re problem solvers and they’re creating jobs that have never before existed. It’s important that everyone in Aotearoa has the opportunity to engage with STEM and be a part of our digital future.
Building a diverse workforce starts with our schools and teachers and, unfortunately, not all schools have the same opportunities. Monika Kern from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds is looking forward to giving teachers in the Far North access to quality Professional Development (PD) this year. “The Far North District is full of beautiful people and places, but access to professional development opportunities can be limited due to the distance from major cities. We look forward to providing learning and development for our local teachers in our local area, grounded in our local stories.”
Image caption: Guests at Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi learn through the waka interactive touch screen.
With the newly gazetted Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum content, educators at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds recognise their critical role in upskilling teachers to implement this content. By offering teachers workshops in the digi-lab, focused on exploring new digital tools that teachers can apply to their own unique learning contexts, Monika hopes that “this will allow our local tamariki and rangatahi to experience similar opportunities as their city counterparts.”
Educators will learn through exploring new digital tools and applying these technologies to the teaching of big ideas, contexts and practices. For example, learning about Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the museum, guided by facilitators, to understand how to connect student learning to local and national historical contexts.
Over the past decade, more than 20,000 have benefited from Google’s Educator Professional Development Grants program across Australia and New Zealand. The program is focused on providing regional teachers and those from low-socioeconomic schools with the opportunity to engage with Digital Technologies PD.
We’re excited to announce the 2023 grant recipients for New Zealand:
We are excited to work with these partners on their 2023 PD workshops and look forward to seeing the important impact they will have in their communities.
