Practical STEM learning at home with the Manaiakalani Programme

The COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 created new challenges for us to reach disadvantaged families with engaging and inspiring STEM experiences. By collaborating with Manaiakalani, we developed a programme to bring fun, practical science learning into the homes of 1000 students from low decile schools over the summer holidays.

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Manaiakalani is a group of low decile schools across New Zealand where 95 per cent of students are Māori and Pasifika. Offering students full digital citizenship through devices and home internet access, the Manaiakalani programme works to significantly improve students educational achievement outcomes through a digital led, teacher delivered program.

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We partnered with the Manaiakalani group to find different and practical ways of helping children to become engaged in STEM. In an education programme trial made possible through our Buy One Give One programme, 50 students experimented with Nanogirl through a customised version of our Nanogirl’s Lab online learning programme. The students shared photos and videos of their experiences on their school blogs.

Following the success of the initial trial, the programme was then launched to more than 1000 students over the summer school holidays.

​To address the challenges some students faced with accessing basic equipment, Nanogirl Labs volunteers packed 500 packs filled with stationery supplies and interactive experiments to enable the students to complete all of their Nanogirl’s Lab experiments.