Antarctic education resource project

Abstract

This report looks at identifying, mapping and communicating Antarctic education resources to the school community. The target audience are students and teachers and the objective is to make the content easier to access by the teachers while making the students connect with the topics.

The research involved looking at the New Zealand Curriculum across levels and years and identifying areas where existing Antarctic education resources could be mapped to. The initial resources mapped were from the Antarctica New Zealand website, Antarctica NZ Digital Asset Manager (A.D.A.M), LEARNZ , the International Antarctic Centre , some resources created by individual teachers and lastly some important third party websites. From a comparison standpoint, the Australian Curriculum and the content mapping for Australia was looked at.

The study looks at the Instructional Design angle as well since the content being communicated includes Science and related aspects, which are research based. Sample activity sheets and a website mock-up/design were then created to showcase how content on Antarctica could be effectively delivered. Also, from a project standpoint, some cost indicators have been included for the implementation phase.

The final output is in the form of a spreadsheet for mapped content and a website mock-up with activity sheets. The impact of the study can be assessed during the implementation phase and see if there is an increase in the access and use of Antarctic education resources.