Science IS Website

Case Study: Science IS Website
Clients: MOTIVE and the Ministry of Education
Timeframe: November 2005 – July 2006

Science IS (Integrating Strands) is a website created for the Ministry of Education to provide professional development to science teachers. It is targeted at New Zealand science teachers from Levels 1–13, and provides new resources to teach science based on understanding what science is, how scientists work, and how students learn science.

Lift Education’s role is to provide research and teaching expertise in effective science practice. Lift has reviewed relevant research to guide the approach to the website, and developed and trialled teaching activities and supporting resources.

Consultant Rex Bartholemew, a senior lecturer at Victoria University College of Education, was involved in the trialling of activities and providing exemplars. Rex says the site aims to offer new ways of approaching the teaching of science, “so that the real science comes out of the material – that’s the heart of it.”