The Kiwrious team has seen its sensors put to the test at Kaikohe Christian School, a composite school providing both secondary and primary education in the heart of the north of New Zealand.
Theresia Van Wingerden leads the Years 7/8 and 9/10 classes in science and has had the pleasure of introducing her students to the Kiwrious Science sensors.
It’s made my class ‘very cool’, says Theresia.
Using the sensors to discover scientific phenomena that are normally unseen, the students have measured their heartbeats with the heart sensor, and the smell of their breath (and armpits!) with the volatile organic compound sensor.
“It’s so much fun with the kids, they are only limited by their imagination, and we cannot think of enough ways of using them. The beauty of the kit is discovering all sorts of things!”
The heart sensor was placed on their fingers, their thumbs, their temples, earlobes and carotid arteries to see if their heart rate changed. They discovered if they thought about their ‘crush’, it made their heart race almost as much as running around the classroom.
Kaikohe Christian School is a recipient of the Kiwrious Class Kit co-funded by the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Chorus. Associate Professor Nanayakkara, founder of Kiwrious Ltd, wanted to give school children access to scientific tools that would often be out of economic reach.
“We hope that Kiwrious will inspire a new generation of school children, to find the wonder and excitement in scientific discovery.”
Kaikohe Christian School has approx 190 children in Years 1 to 13, their roll comprises 64% Māori, 27% Pākehā, and students from Pacific, Asian and other ethnic groups.
