Ngā Huarahi Pūtaiao: The science pathways programme at Selwyn House School

Ngā huarahi pūtaiao – The science pathways is a programme designed to teach Year 7 students about the possibilities in science and technology. All photos by Emma Smart Creative.

An oven tray designed for people with arthritis, an AI application to help blind people recognise when a bus approaches their stop, and a longer lasting ice cube are among the creations of a new programme that Selwyn House School students are undertaking this year.

An independent girls’ school located near the heart of the garden city, Selwyn House specialises in future-focused education for ākonga in Years 1 to 8.

For many years, the school participated in the CREST awards, a science and technology programme run by The Royal Society Te Apārangi, but when the programme ended in 2022, the school decided to innovate.

The programme is an opportunity for students to apply their creative and innovative thinking to a practical project.

“It opened up an opportunity for us to purpose-design our own science and technology programme,” says principal Julie Calder. “We have introduced this programme for our Year 7 students this year.”

‘Ngā huarahi pūtaiao – The science pathways’ has been developed by the school’s head of science and mechatronics, Simon Christie, who says it provides an opportunity for students to apply their creative and innovative thinking to a practical project in the science and technology field.

It asks students to identify a problem or an aim, and then take either a science path – te ara pūtaiao – or a technology path – te ara hangarau – to solve or achieve it.

“This is about our students proving to themselves that they possess the creative and critical thinking skills to solve the world’s problems,” says Julie.

“Ngā huarahi pūtaiao is nestled in between our Year 6 exhibition and Year 8 passion projects. All of these projects are personal inquiries that allow the students to apply their learning in a practical way to a relevant issue.

“We’re specifically targeting these year groups because these ākonga are at an age where they are starting to imagine what they could be in the future. Ngā huarahi pūtaiao is important because we want them to know that there are many exciting possibilities in science and technology,” she says.

Students identify a problem or an aim, and then take either a science or technology path to solve or achieve it.

Te ao Māori context

Simon says purpose-designing ngā huarahi pūtaiao also presented an opportunity to make science and technology more relevant to the New Zealand and te ao Māori context.

“Students are asked to identify how their project relates to any of four key concepts in te ao Māori – rangatiratanga, manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga and kotahitanga.

“This helps the students view science and technology through a more holistic lens, and to recognise how they can harness their skills to impact positively on the world around them.

“Mentorship is another important aspect of the programme. We encourage students to seek assistance with their projects, either within or outside of their school community,” he adds. 

At the culmination of the programme, students present their completed projects to judges and the school community. From there, eight projects are selected to compete at the NIWA Canterbury-Westland Science Fair.

“We’re fortunate we can call upon the University of Canterbury,” says Simon. “We’re very grateful to Dr Marie Squire from the university’s Chemistry Department who will judge the final projects, along with some female researchers who will spend time speaking with the students about their inquiries.”

Hannah’s bus buddy for blind people

Hannah developed an AI tool that tells blind people their bus is arriving.

“I wondered how I could make it easier for blind people to recognise when their bus is arriving so that they don’t miss their bus or get into the wrong vehicle,” says Hannah about her project, an AI tool that uses a laptop camera to identify when a bus is arriving at a stop.

“I went down te ara hangarau (the technology path) because I was developing a new product, not testing an existing one. I made an AI using Teachable Machine and coded it using Scratch,” she adds, explaining that manaakitanga is the project’s foundation.

“It serves people who aren’t just me and it serves people who may not be able to do things for themselves.”

Through the programme, Hannah has learned a lot about how AI works.

“I learned that the AI wasn’t just taking in the colour of the bus, but also the shape and other characteristics,” says Hannah. “I only trained it on turquoise and white buses, but it still identified red and purple buses. I realised that AI is really smart and it made me very aware of what could happen in the future if it’s that good at learning now.”

While Hannah enjoyed coding and the process of testing, proving success, and making improvements, getting the data was the hardest part.

“I had to go out multiple times and sit outside for quite a while to get enough photos to use for training data,” says Hannah. “I used 2,468 photos of buses and 5,131 photos of other things on the road that were not buses to train the AI so it knew the difference.”

Abigail: Here to solve your weed problem

Abigail designed a solution to help people with mobility issues weed their gardens without bending down.

“My grandma, who’s in her 70s, likes to garden,” says Abigail about her project, a pole with barbed prongs on its end to aid weeding for people with mobility issues.

“Last year she fell off her bike and broke her hip. This gave me the idea to find a way to help her and other older people garden if they find it hard to bend down to weed.

“I designed a pole that will grab a weed and pull it up when someone pokes it in the ground. The pole means people don’t need to bend down,” she says, adding that her project also relates to manaakitanga.

The project, particularly designing her tool, was challenging, says Abigail, who used a 3D printer to print the prongs for the pole.

“It was hard trying to get the prongs the right size. They need to be a certain width, height and length,” she explains. “I found testing it annoying because it got in my head when the prongs kept breaking.

“I thought the 3D printing would be stronger than what it was,” she adds, noting that the project didn’t quite work out the way she initially thought.

“I learned that making my product with more plastic infill made it stronger but not strong enough because it broke when it fell off the table. I didn’t get the chance to test the prongs, but I think it probably would have been okay to pick up weeds. Next time I’d make stronger prongs out of metal.”

She may not have gotten the result she was after, but Abigail is still pleased with the project.

“The project didn’t work but the final boards still told a story. It all came together.”

Olivia’s crutch cup carrier

Olivia’s project is a 3D-printed cup holder for people using crutches.

“My sister had to get an operation on her leg,” says Olivia. “She always got my mum or me to get her water for her, so I invented a cup holder that you can attach to crutches.”

The cupholder works like a gimbal, a pivoted support that rotates an object about on an axis, keeping it upright even when it’s moving around.

“This keeps the cup level when the crutches swing back and forth,” she explains. adding her project is also about manaakitanga. “There are a lot of people who have issues with not having their hands free, so I did this for them. I didn’t do it for myself because I can just carry my own drink.”

Like Abigail, Olivia used a 3D printer for her invention. She says getting the right size and fit for both the crutch and the cup was the hardest part, noting that a mentor gave her invaluable advice about making the cup holder sturdier.

“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” she says, adding that because she hadn’t done 3D printing before, she didn’t know what to expect. “It took ages to print it.”

For Olivia, the best part is the satisfaction of doing something for others.

“I like that I invented something that’s nice for other people.”