Augusto Partner With Nano Girl To Bring ‘Breaking It Down’ Science Lessons To Kiwi Kids Homes

Augusto has partnered with ’Nanogirl’, Dr Michelle Dickinson on a fast turnaround informative and engaging home learning series ‘Breaking it Down’ airing now across TV, Digital and On Demand.

Developed in line with the New Zealand national curriculum, and in partnership with the Ministry of Education and TVNZ, nanotechnologist and science educator Dr Michelle Dickinson fronts this exciting new show that embraces a new way to teach science for Kiwi kids learning from home.

Six x 30-minute episodes that feature lockdown friends experiments and activities designed to be fun, interactive, and educational have been created by Dickinson and the Augusto team, the first of which delivered in only three days in response to the evolving COVID 19 crisis.

"We've known Michelle Dickinson for a number of years, so when she called us to say she had 6 x 1/2 hour episodes with the first to be delivered to TVNZ in 3 days - of course, we said "we're in!" said Augusto’s head of Production, Simone Goulding. “She's a brilliant mind, and anything we could do to support Michelle's vision of bringing everyday, amazing science to kids at this time we were fully supportive of. Schedule wise, it’s been pretty gruelling, but we've immensely enjoyed turning "Breaking It Down" around in record time, to hopefully bring some educational and entertaining goodness to kids learning from home during lockdown".

Dr Dickinson adds “I am so thrilled that with the help of Augusto and our partners that we have been able to create and build something epic and professional in lockdown. This pivot has enabled Kiwi kids to experience a new way of teaching subjects that are often perceived as “hard”. By creating free teacher resources for each episode we hope to help teachers during these challenging times while also connecting students to real Kiwis in NZ using STEM knowledge to help change the world.”

These six episodes will cover a range of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) lessons and run over the next three weeks on TVNZ Home Learning. Topics include Light, Brains, Plastics, Materials, Energy and Sound, with the full schedule of episodes broadcast as below.

• Ep 1 – Light (now on Demand)
• Ep 2 - Friday 1st May at 12:30 - The Human Brain
• Ep 3 - Tuesday 5th May at 12:30pm - Plastics
• Ep 4 - Thursday 7th May at 12:30pm - Materials
• Ep 5 - Tuesday 12th May at 12:30pm - Energy & Electricity
• Ep 6 - Friday 15th May at 12:30pm - Sound

All episodes of Breaking it Down with Nano Girl will air on TVNZ 2 + 1, Sky 502 and on TVNZ On Demand (search Kids, Home Learning, Age 12-15, Senior Science with Nanogirl)

Free Teacher resources can be found at www.nanogirlslab.com

Thanks to funding support from TVNZ, Callaghan Innovation, The Macdiarmid Institute, Dodds-Walls Centre, Brain Research New Zealand and The Photon Factory.

© Scoop Media