What You Can Do At School

There are many free learning resources and modules for teachers that may spark children’s interest in a later career in agri-science. Note that most of these resources have been created with funding from industry partners, and the source of funding may sometimes influence the resource created. A critical lens should be applied by teacher and students.

• There are several resources for primary school teachers on the DairyNZ Schools website, aligned with the New Zealand curriculum:
  • Can It Icecream?  (year 1-6) – using science knowledge to turn breakfast food into icecream.
  • CLASS-ified Mystery Challenge  (year 4-8) – to create real world connections between rural and city kids.
  • In The Milk Business (year 5-8) – examining the relationship between dairy farming and the economy.
• DairyNZ Schools also runs a School Farm Visit programme to help your school connect with a local dairy farm for a field trip.
• The Agrication website has teaching resources for primary and secondary students, as well as career opportunities and events.
• The Wool in Schools programme (year 7-8) has syllabus ideas across STEM, economics, English and art.
• The Growing NZ Innovation Challenge (year 10) is a one-day programme where teams of students solve real-life primary sector challenges
• The LEARNZ website has several lessons and videos that allow children to take virtual field trips to remote places throughout NZ. Some recent field trips that are relevant to the work of Our Land and Water include:
  • Our Primary Industries
  • Water – a balancing act
  • Unpacking the apple story
• Growing NZ has a long and growing directory of teacher resources.
• The Ministry for Primary Industries has teacher resources, including lesson plans for year 4 and up and plenty of ideas for using information and data from the Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries (SOPI) report in the classroom.
• 3D Dairy is an interactive model for children to find out where in the world our dairy products go.
• The Science Learning Hub has a page about Our Land and Water and links to collaborative school resources for primary school aged kids. There are also reference articles for high school aged kids (eg denitrification beds; managing nutrients).