80% of our Year 8 students are achieving below the desired level in science (ERO)7% of primary school teachers* do not teach science in any of their classes, and just 22% teach the subject regularly,
but the appetite for science education is strong, with 90% of teachers wanting to teach it more often95% of primary school teachers who completed a PLD (Professional Learning and Development) workshop by Nanogirl Labs
report increased confidence and willingness to add science teaching into their classrooms
Amidst sharply declining results in science, New Zealand students are disengaging with STEM (science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics) subjects at primary school, leading to fewer students going on to study these areas at
secondary, NCEA and tertiary levels[1].
Dr Michelle Dickinson (PhD Engineering) Co-Founder of Nanogirl Labs, together with Dr Kate Sparks (PhD Marine Biology)
Science Educator, have today published an impact report based on their research called Hands-on STEM professional development program for teachers in primary schools across New Zealand, detailing the effectiveness of training for boosting primary teachers’ confidence in science.
The report contains the outcomes of a large, multi-year professional development program for primary and intermediate
teachers, based on pre and post-training surveys with over 420 primary school teachers.
Teachers were surveyed about their confidence, readiness and opportunities to teach science in their classrooms, as well
as the impact of taking a Nanogirl Labs professional development workshop.
Negative experiences with science in primary school have previously been blamed on teachers’ lack of skills and
subject-matter knowledge, however the report finds that a teacher’s confidence in and attitude towards science also
plays a crucial role.
These findings follow the recent Education Review Office (ERO) report which found that 80% of our Year 8 students are
achieving below the desired level in science, and that the performance of Year 9 students has declined. The need for
STEM-qualified workers, on the other hand, is so large that it has been estimated that a 34% increase in STEM tertiary
graduates every year would be needed to meet the growing demand[2]
Nanogirl Labs has been delivering hands-on STEM focussed PLD workshops to primary school teachers since 2017. Taught by
trained STEM professionals, these workshops are designed to increase teachers’ confidence and knowledge around science
topics and science teaching by giving teachers the opportunity to carry out hands-on experiments for themselves.
Starting with basic experiments, the workshops work towards building up science experiment skill levels with the goal of
supporting teachers to try a practical science lesson with their class. These PLD workshops have reached over 1000
teachers across New Zealand, 30% of whom taught in low socio-economic communities (classed as decile 1-4).
Dr Michelle Dickinson says, “New Zealand’s ability to lead in science and technology-based industries depends on a steady supply of
science-literate and STEM-qualified workers, a journey which starts in primary school. Implementing professional
development in STEM subjects for all primary school teachers can help to strengthen the development of the next
generation of thought leaders and innovators.”
“What we have found confirms international research which shows that low teacher confidence is one of the main reasons
why primary school teachers do not teach STEM subjects in their classrooms. One of the ways we can help to change this
is by empowering our teachers to up-skill in what can sometimes seem like an intimidating field. With targeted
investment we can help to increase student and teacher engagement with science at primary school and create a strong
foundation for our young people to build on.”
Funding for STEM PLD is a struggle for many schools across New Zealand and additional funding support will likely be
required to achieve sufficient upskilling of teachers in STEM fields.
Currently there are 42 schools who have requested a Nanogirl PLD workshop but are not able to financially make this
happen. Nanogirl has partnered with Bright Future Trust to help fund some of these visits. For more information and to
learn how to help more schools access these workshops please click here.
[1] Murphy and Beggs 2003
[1] Augustine 2005, Xue and Larson 2015
NotesImpact report – Hands-on STEM professional development program for teachers in primary schools across New Zealand – available on request.*In total, 424 teachers answered surveys delivered before and after attending a Nanogirl Labs hands-on STEM PLD
workshop. 50% of these teachers were from decile 1-3 schools, 29% from decile 4-7 schools, and the remaining 21% were
from decile 8-10 schools. The teachers that responded to the survey had 14 years teaching experience on average, but
this varied widely from 0 - 50 years. 85% were female and 15% male which matches the gender diversity within the
teaching profession estimated by Statistics New Zealand
[1] Murphy and Beggs 2003
[2] Augustine 2005, Xue and Larson 2015