The First Wetland Bioblitz in New Zealand

Click on this link to see what happened on the Bioblitz held recently in the Waikato, that scientists from Landcare Resources were involved in:
The first wetland Bioblitz in New Zealand

A Bioblitz is an event where you conduct an intensive survey of the biological diversity of a particular area over a period of time.  The goal is to count as many species as possible.  It is unique opportunity for scientists, students, teachers and families to experience the array of biodiversity in a particular location.  It is an opportunity for everyone to work together in the same place at the same time on the same project.

Later on Cockle Bay will be having its own Bioblitz in 2019!  We will be finding, identifying and recording all the different bacteria, fungi, insects, spiders, invertebrates, vertebrates, birds, trees and plants we have in our school grounds.  It will be a task for the whole school community, but first, we will have to learn all the scientific skills we need to conduct our own Bioblitz efficiently - watch this space!

Some women Scientists from Landcare Research talk about their work

Landcare Research has more than one hundred women working as scientists and researchers, and women make up about 46% of the company.  To celebrate the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science,  the company has published this video which shows a few of these remarkable women chatting about their roles, why they got into science and what it is like working as a female scientist.  Click on this link to view the video:

Women in Sciences at Landcare Resources

Jessie explains how her love of nature led her into a career in Science.

Where is Mrs Bear?

Mrs Bear is currently participating in the Science Teaching Leadership Programme, and will be working with her host company, Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua in term 1 and term 2.  She is doing a variety of scientific tasks out in the field or back in the lab - life is very varied at Landcare. 

Mrs Bear is learning how to work like a scientist, so that she can teach everyone at Cockle Bay to work like a scientist using their scientific skills when she comes back to school in term 3.

Here is a small sample to some of the things she has been doing:

Working in the lab

Working in the field

Experimenting to find different ways to investigate things

Sea Week Fun

Science club activities during Sea Week involved a hands-on experience of the fishy kind!

The young and very eager scientists got to use their senses to explore a fish species that looks a little different. Some great vocabulary was used as we noticed the smell, felt the fish and paid close attention to the eyes, gills and scales. Many observations were noted. The next part of this activity is to share some facts about the species …. Watch this space.

Welcome to 2018 and our exciting science blog

Our first session of 2018 involved exploring bubbles ...

First, we used different kinds of detergent to try and make a bubble mix. It was decided that shampoo didn't work well but the pink and green detergents made the best mixture. So what does the best mixture mean? We decided we wanted our mixture to make lots of bubbles and we didn't want them not to pop!

After lots of trial and error, the scientists agreed that mixture using either pink or green detergent made the best bubble mixture. Pipe cleaners were used to make bubble wands and some scientists tried using wands of different sizes... some of us felt that smaller wands made better bubbles and we wondered if the surface area made a difference to the bubble blown. A magic ingredient was added to the mixture, this allowed the bubbles to sit on our hands and the carpet, we noticed the bubbles didn't pop so easily ...