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Rediscovering traditional Māori navigation

Recently, there has been renewed interest in understanding how Polynesian peoples navigated the Pacific. Teams of people have built waka (canoes) using traditional designs and sailed them long ...

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ARTICLE

The Waka Tapu voyage

Navigator Jack Thatcher commanded the two waka hourua that sailed from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Rapanui (Easter Island) and back. Te Aurere and its supporting vessel Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, known ...

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ARTICLE

Navigating the Waka Tapu

The Waka Tapu journey from Aotearoa to Rapanui (Easter Island) and back, which closed the Polynesian triangle, was navigated without instruments. The three main techniques that navigator Jack ...

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ACTIVITY

Scale model for satellite orbits

In this activity, students use a scale model of the Earth and identify altitudes of various satellites. They then use a smaller object on a string to model gravity and satellite motion. By the ...

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ACTIVITY

Constellations in the night sky

In this activity, students learn about star constellations and that various cultures have their own names and legends about them. They will appreciate that identifying constellations and ...

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ACTIVITY

Navigating by the stars

In this activity, students learn the cardinal points of the compass. They also learn how to use the Sun and star constellations – the Southern Cross and the Pointers – to identify the cardinal ...

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CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Planet Hunters

Search data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft for the dips in star light intensity caused by exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. As these exoplanets pass between the star and ...

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CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Globe at Night

Globe at Night is an international citizen science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen scientists to measure and submit their night sky ...

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CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Loss of the Night

Loss of the Night is an international citizen science project aiming to quantify the illumination of the night sky caused by artificial light. By monitoring how bright the night sky is over time ...

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TEACHER PLD

Hub resources with te reo Māori

The Science Learning Hub has a selection of resources that have been translated into te reo Māori and a number of resources that feature both te reo Māori and English. Our webinar Opportunities ...

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TEACHER PLD

Learning science from home – secondary

Science is everywhere, so it’s a great subject to learn from home. You can start by thinking about what science skills you want to develop, knowledge you want to learn or just what you are really ...

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TEACHER PLD

Teachers using the Hub – Space and astronomy

In this online PD session recorded on 13 August 2015, secondary school teacher Steve Chrystall describes how he uses the Science Learning Hub’s satellites and rocket resources to teach space and ...

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VIDEO

Gravity keeps satellites in orbit

Dr Allan McInnes and Dr Adrian McDonald, from the University of Canterbury, explain how gravity and projectile motion keep natural and artificial satellites in an orbital path.

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VIDEO

Why visit a comet?

The Rosetta Mission has been a long and complex mission to land a probe on a comet. What exactly is a comet and why land a probe on one? Avionics engineer Warwick Holmes explains how comets may ...

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VIDEO

Cooking a comet

Using party ice, water and charcoal, Rosetta Mission engineer Warwick Holmes and University of Waikato’s John Little create a model of a comet in front of a live audience.

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INTERACTIVE

Satellites and orbits

The size, orbit and design of a satellite depend on its purpose. In this interactive, scientists discuss the functions of various satellites and orbits. Accompanying fact files provide ...

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INTERACTIVE

Measuring the weather – a timeline

This timeline lets you see the historical developments in technology related to weather monitoring, measuring and forecasting. It also shows how scientific thinking changed over the centuries as ...

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INTERACTIVE

Te iwa o Matariki

Matariki is the name for the cluster of stars that signals the beginning of the Māori new year. Identify each star by moving its name to its location in the star cluster.

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