futureintech
A career in technology, engineering and science
enewsforschools
Number 47 / MAY 2013
Exploring sustainability, 2
ethics and the impact of
new technologies
Interacting with a practising
technologist, engineer or scientist
will help your students to develop
their understanding of the
‘participating and contributing’
key competency.
Teaming up to talk about careers
In order to provide you and
your students with efficient
and effective information about
careers, Futureintech works in
partnership with organisations
such as Careers New Zealand,
Competenz and the Institute
of Information Technology
Professionals.
4
Futureintech at a Distance 6
The Distance Facilitation team is
now at full strength.
News and events
7-8
New Distance Facilitator
New careers materials
e-news will be changing
Completing the circle
New engineering website
Budget 2013
Hi-Tech Young Achiever Award
Vocational Pathways
Will.i.am donation
For your diary
About Futureintech
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Ambassadors in schools
Exploring
sustainability, ethics
and the impact of
new technologies
Interacting with a practising technologist,
engineer or scientist will help your students
to develop their understanding of the
‘participating and contributing’
key competency.
P
roviding a context for curriculum-based
learning is one of the keystones of Futureintech’s work
in schools. But it’s more than just bringing in a surveyor to
demonstrate how they use trigonometry in their day-to-day
work. It’s also an opportunity to get an in-depth look at the
responsibilities of engineers, the ethics of new technologies
and how scientific advances affect society.
Role models make a positive contribution
One of the five key competencies in the New Zealand
Curriculum is ‘participating and contributing’. The
Curriculum document explains this competency as being
about understanding the importance of balancing rights,
roles and responsibilities, and of contributing to the quality
enewsforschools
Food technologist Sam Harper from Bluebird Foods mentoring
NZIFST/CREST Product Development Challenge students at
Sancta Maria College.
and sustainability of social, cultural, physical and economic
environments.
Futureintech Ambassadors can support development of this
competency by:
• Mentoring teams working on technology, engineering
and science projects in their community
• Acting as role models for contributing positively to
society and the environment
• Using their presentations to highlight careers where
people can make a difference
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Ambassadors in schools
Easy ways to enrich learning
The Curriculum also highlights ‘future-focused issues’ as a
rich source of learning opportunities that are relevant to
students and encourage connections across learning areas,
values and the development of key competencies.
Students can be encouraged to explore issues such as:
• Sustainability – including the long-term impact of
scientific and technological practices on society and the
environment
• Citizenship – what it means to contribute to the
development and well-being of society
• Enterprise – what it is to be innovative and entrepreneurial
Left: Charlotte Brown shares her experiences of working
in developing countries to enrich Cashmere High School’s
‘How people’s management of resources has an impact on
environmental and social sustainability’ topic.
Right: Natalia Palamo from Beca explains to students at Aorere
College how becoming an engineer fits with her personal values
of helping her family and giving back to the community.
enewsforschools
Futureintech Ambassadors are an excellent source of
in-depth and personalised information. Talking to them
– either in person or via our online ‘Ask an Ambassador’
forum – provides an opportunity for students to get both
up-to-date information about a specific topic and also to
discuss the actual experience of finding solutions.
The code of ethics for engineers has never seemed so
important as during the investigation of the CTV building
collapse in the Christchurch earthquake, so inviting a
structural/civil engineer to talk to your students should
provide a stimulating discussion. And sustainability issues
are the ‘bread and butter’ for a wide range of engineering
disciplines, from water resources to finding the best ways to
move people around large cities.
There are also plenty of hot topics in science, from the
impact of dairy intensification on New Zealand’s ‘100%
pure’ brand and the debate around climate change to the
ethics of DNA profiling. For example, your students might
want to ask a biotechnologist about genetically modified
crops, an environmental scientist about how the Resource
Management Act (RMA) actually works, or an ecologist for
their view on Gareth Morgan’s ‘war on cats’.
Developments in technology are rich opportunities
to explore a range of individual and societal issues.
Ambassadors from the IT industry or with GIS (Geographic
Information Systems) skills are well placed to explain
developments such as geotagging – when information about
your physical location is incorporated into the photos, texts
and comments shared online from a mobile device – and
discuss how this can affect your security and privacy.
Many students (and their parents) don’t know about the full
variety of ‘making a difference’ careers beyond the obvious
doctors, teachers and police officers, and our Ambassadors
can provide authentic stories of how their jobs allow them
to give back to people, communities and the environment.
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Careers focus
Teaming up to talk
about careers
There’s a lot of information out there in the
careers space and we understand that it can be
difficult for schools to decide which activities are a
priority for their participation.
Part of the Futureintech strategy is to identify and
work in partnership with other organisations that
provide high quality information about careers in
technology, engineering and science.
The following examples showcase some of the
collaborations we’ve been involved in recently.
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South Auckland ‘spotlight on engineering’:
PLD day for teachers and careers advisors
This month, Futureintech Facilitator Gay Watson worked
with Competenz and Careers New Zealand to organise a
professional development day for teachers and careers
advisors in South Auckland. The event highlighted the
engineering skills shortage in local industries and explained
how this shortage provides opportunities for students.
Futureintech contributed speakers for two panel
discussions to complement an array of short presentations
and a keynote address from Kim Campbell, the Chief
Executive of the Employers & Manufacturers Association.
The first panel featured four Ambassadors and the
second a group of managers who provided an employer’s
perspective. The day finished with a site tour guided by
Transportation engineer Martin Peat from Beca, civil engineer
Michael Tokoma from Brian Perry, software engineer Kipi
Wallbridge-Paea from Auckland Transport and mechatronics
engineer Alicia Evans from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gave short
presentations and answered questions from the audience.
Matt Lee and Antony Burness, two Ambassadors from host
Fisher & Paykel Appliances.
Feedback from participants was very positive, with one
commenting: “It gave me a good insight about how to
motivate my students to opt for a course of study in
engineering.”
Where the work is in the Waikato
Futureintech Ambassadors contributed to the Waikato
Engineering Careers Association’s two-yearly careers
day. Students and their teachers learnt about the skills
that are in demand and visited local engineering and
manufacturing companies to get an idea of what it would
be like to work in this industry.
A small careers expo ran alongside the visits with
Ambassadors Andrew McCullagh, a mechatronics engineer
working at Fonterra, and Rene Nielsen, a civil engineer
from Beca, on hand to provide in-depth information about
degree-based qualification pathways and different areas of
engineering.
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Careers focus
Project Christmas Tree:
Hands-on electronics
Christchurch Facilitator Catherine Smith has been working
with Peter Rue from the IET – the UK-based Institution of
Engineering and Technology –­ to develop an engaging,
hands-on electronics project that teaches electric circuits,
soldering and computer programming. The Year 7-8
students who participate take home an electronic Christmas
tree-shaped decoration that they can reprogram with
different jingles and light sequences as often as they like.
This initiative is supported by Tait Communications and
Mark Beckett from Airways New Zealand.
“We started with four schools participating in Project
Rudolph [the first decorations were reindeer shaped] and
now the current Christmas Tree project is so successful that
we’re planning to grow the programme into other regions
as funding and resources permit,” explains Catherine.
Having correctly soldered together the electronic circuit, students
learn basic computer programming skills while customising the
music and light sequence.
Focus: Careers in IT
Also in Christchurch, Futureintech has been involved in a
special IT-focused careers expo organised by the Institute
of IT Professionals (IITP) as part of their ICT-Connect
schools programme. This initiative is supported by the New
Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information
Technology Teachers (NZACDITT), and similar events are
planned for Auckland and Wellington.
The evening was hosted by Burnside High School and
attracted about 500 students, parents and teachers from
the Greater Christchurch area. As well as a range of stands
and interactive displays, the evening featured short
presentations from four Ambassadors: technical manager
Jessica Gough from Telogis, applications developer Mo Nda
from Orion Health, robotics engineer David Bentall from
Invert Robotics and embedded software developer Wei Li
Jiang from Tait Communications.
Google software engineer Josh Bailey gave the keynote
enewsforschools
Ambassadors gave presentations and talked to hundreds of
students at the IT Careers Expo in Christchurch.
speech and talked about how problem-solving is one of
the most important aspects of his work – just like in other
areas of engineering. Josh is a Futureintech Ambassador
in Wellington, where he shares his enthusiasm for fun
projects that involve the application of maths and science
knowledge: from building a Tesla coil capable of producing
multi-metre electrical arcs to taking infrared photographs
of what his cat gets up to at night.
“I think it was a pretty successful evening with a good buzz
of interest from the crowd,” Catherine says.
Get involved
We’re always on the lookout for ways to communicate
the opportunities for challenging and rewarding careers
in technology, engineering and science, so get in touch if
you’ve got an idea or if you’d like to be involved this sort of
activity in your region.
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Distance Facilitation
Futureintech
at a Distance
students in taking those next important steps to get the job
that is right for them.”
The Distance Facilitation team, which helps students
Lynne says: “I believe in enabling every student, whatever
their location, to have the opportunity to interact with
people working in industry and get an up to the minute
understanding of what happens. For example, at the
moment I’m organising a software engineer from Dunedin
to drop in to a school in Queenstown while he’s there
on holiday. Once he’s back in the office, he’ll repeat his
presentation over a web link for students in Napier.”
outside the main centres to learn about challenging and
rewarding careers in technology, engineering and maths,
is now at full strength.
W
e’re setting our sights on reaching more young
New Zealanders and supporting Maths, Science and
Technology learning in schools around the country. The
Futureintech Distance Facilitation team is taking advantage
of the new technologies that are increasingly available in
schools in order to reach areas outside the main centres.
The team is now at full strength with Laura Stockton (see
news story on page 7) joining Lynne Newell (formerly our
Dunedin Facilitator) and Distance Co-ordinator Kristal Kitto.
Laura is now building up the programme in the Waikato
while Lynne focuses on getting Ambassadors into schools
in the Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Dunedin. Kristal,
who is also responsible for the Transpower Neighbourhood
Engineers Awards, will be working with Laura to link in the
rest of the country.
“I’ve already had a great response from schools in
the Waikato so I’m looking to train some more local
Ambassadors to help meet demand,” Laura says. “Studying
maths, science and technology in Years 12 and 13 opens
so many doors. Futureintech can offer unique guidance to
enewsforschools
While there are still a number of technical challenges to
meet, the team is enthusiastic about the opportunities
presented by video conferencing technologies.
The Distance team is supporting a Transpower
Neighbourhood Engineers Awards team at Bunnythorpe
School, near Palmerston North. The two students are
working on a solar battery charger with the help of mentor
Hamish Harding from Veolia Water in Whanganui. Hamish is
enjoying the opportunity to be involved, and uses Skype to
check in with his team regularly as it’s a two hour round trip.
“I love doing this kind of stuff – I used to give lectures to
science students while I was doing my Master’s degree,
simply to help them understand that the sciences are
actually relevant and exciting in ‘the real world’,” he says.
And in Christchurch, Facilitator Catherine Smith used video
conferencing to link up Aranui High School, St Margaret’s
College and St Bede’s College – as well as Blue Mountain
College in Tapanui, West Otago – to Yike Bike inventor Grant
Ryan’s presentation at Burnside High School.
Burnside High School’s John Creighton commented: “It was
a great opportunity to see an entrepreneur and inventor talk
that drew on solid education as a background. The students
were able to see an individual reacting to a need, and then
the process of implementation and the greater long term
thinking and planning approach.”
A recent innovation is the development of ‘careers cases’ – a
set of suitcases containing everything needed to set up a
stand at a careers event – which Kristal will be sending to
Ambassadors around the country.
“Coming from a small town myself, I am excited to be
coordinating the delivery of the Futureintech service outside
the main centres,” Kristal says. “It’s a valuable programme
and I can’t wait to see it in my home town.”
If you’re outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch,
please contact the Distance team to find out about
opportunities to get Futureintech support for Maths,
Science, Technology and careers learning in your school.
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Futureintech News
New Distance Facilitator
New subject-specific careers materials
Completing the circle
Futureintech welcomes
Laura Stockton, who has
just joined Lynne Newell
and Kristal Kitto in the
Futureintech Distance
Facilitation team.
Futureintech has
recently published
three new
brochures that focus
on three subjects
– Maths, Science
and Technology –
and explain how
continuing with
these subjects
allows students to
take advantage of a
wide range of career
opportunities. The
brochures feature
Ambassadors with
relevant career
pathways.
It was a 360 degree moment for South and East Auckland
Facilitator Gay Watson when one of her newly recruited
Ambassadors explained that her career choice has been
shaped by a Futureintech visit.
Laura brings an
understanding of the
wider career opportunities
available to those taking
science at school, having
completed a Master’s degree in Physics and followed that
pathway into the telecommunications industry. She worked
in the Optical Fibre Research and Network Design team at
British Telecom and was there at the dawn of e-commerce
supported by broadband internet connections. After a
career break, Laura moved into supporting Physics teaching
in secondary schools, where she also provided students
with careers advice.
“I can see that Futureintech plays an invaluable role in
providing school students with the knowledge of science
and technology-based careers that they may not previously
have been aware of,” she says.
Laura is based in our Wellington office and her contact
details are:
Laura Stockton
Distance Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 803
distance2@futureintech.org.nz
enewsforschools
Maths
Maths is so much more than what you do in class!
If you like Maths, you can choose from lots of
challenging and rewarding jobs.
These free brochures can be ordered online from
www.futureintech.org.nz/order-form.cfm
e-news will be changing
After publishing 47 issues of e-news for schools and 52
issues of e-news for industry in PDF format, we’re going
to move to an online magazine-style format for both
newsletters.
While this will be the last PDF version of e-news for schools,
all previous issues will still be available in our e-news
archive.
Amie Duan says she didn’t have a clue what she wanted
to do until she was sitting in her Year 13 Food Technology
class and listening to food technologist Steven Cope from
Cerebos Greggs talk about his career.
Amie was inspired to study Food Science at university –
luckily she was also taking the necessary Calculus and
Chemistry subjects. She’s now a product evaluator at
Fisher & Paykel Appliances, where she tests the ability of
refrigerators to keep food fresh.
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Futureintech News
New engineering website
The Metro Group of institutes of technology and polytechnics
have produced a new website which introduces senior
secondary school students to the Bachelor of Engineering
Technology degree: www.engineer.ac.nz
published on the Youth Guarantee website: youthguarantee.
net.nz/vocational-pathways/education-providers
Contact alex.hill@minedu.govt.nz for more hard copies or
if you have not received a pack.
Will.i.am: Computer science is hip (hop)
Budget 2013
In the tertiary education sector, Budget 2013 committed
an additional $9.3 million over four years for engineering
tuition subsidies, $17.9 million for science, $32.4 million
to increase the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds with
qualifications at Level 4 or higher, and $28.7 million
for private training establishments in order to ‘close the
remainder of the gap’ with public tertiary education
institutions. Futureintech welcomes the Government’s
on-going commitment to supporting tertiary education in
engineering and science areas.
Vocational Pathways
The Ministry of Education has sent out the finalised
Vocational Pathway booklets to secondary school and other
education sector organisations. The pathways have also been
enewsforschools
Public lecture series: ‘Understanding epigenetics through
mathematics’, 11-20 June
World-leading bioinformatics expert and 2013 Royal
Society of New Zealand Distinguished Speaker Professor
Terry Speed will be talking about why blood, nerve and
skin cells – and other body parts – are so different, despite
containing the same DNA sequences.
Auckland, Palmerston North, Dunedin, Christchurch,
Wellington – see www.royalsociety.org.nz/events/annual/
distinguished-speaker/2013 for venues, dates and times.
ChemEd 2013 conference, Dunedin, 14-17 July
A biennial conference for Chemistry teachers.
See www.chemed2013.com
RSNZ Teacher Fellowships applications close 20 August
These Fellowships offer teachers the opportunity to learn
how maths, science and technology are applied outside
of the classroom. See www.royalsociety.org.nz/teachinglearning/teacher-fellowships/
Hi-Tech Young Achiever Award
Robert Bell, who helped develop a foreign exchange
platform specifically for small Pacific Island nations, has
won the Hi-Tech Young Achiever Award for the second year
running. IT company Fronde interviewed Robert and the
other finalists – who’ve developed everything from ceramic
coatings for spacecraft to wall-climbing robots.
See fronde.co.nz/frondeblog
For your diary
On a recent visit to New Zealand, hip hop artist and Black
Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am (real name William Adams)
donated $100,000 to the Manaiakalani Trust to provide
computers for children in low decile Auckland schools
so that they are not left behind by the technological
revolution. The singer has an inspiring passion for science
and technology, and plans to go back to university to study
computer science. See iamangelfoundation.org
New Zealand Institute of Physics and Physics Teachers
conference, Nelson, 27-30 September
This year’s theme is ‘Physics is a broad church’ – everything
from current theories and practice in teaching to the latest
research results. See www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/62198
TESAC 2013 Technology Education conference,
Wellington, 7-9 October
PATT27, Christchurch, 2-6 December
The theme for the PATT27 (Pupils’ Attitudes to Technology)
conference is ‘Technology Education for the Future – A Play on
Sustainability’. See www.education.canterbury.ac.nz/patt27
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About Futureintech
Futureintech publications
Funded by Callaghan Innovation, Futureintech is an
initiative of the Institution of Professional Engineers New
Zealand (IPENZ). Established in 2003, Futureintech is a
practical attempt to increase the number of young New
Zealanders choosing careers in technology, engineering
and science – crucial sectors for the infrastructure and
social and economic growth of the country.
Futureintech produces an ever-increasing range of
print resources for teachers, students, careers advisors,
caregivers and industry, all of which are available free of
charge by request from head office.
Futureintech Ambassadors
Futureintech Facilitators around New Zealand work
to develop links between schools and local industries.
Central to this work is the recruitment of Ambassadors
– people working in technology, engineering and
science who are trained by Facilitators to volunteer in
schools. Their contribution includes giving presentations,
explaining their work, supporting projects, providing a
real-world perspective and demonstrating the practical
applications of the curriculum. There are currently more
than 800 trained Ambassadors working with Futureintech,
representing a wide variety of industries. Their support
and that of their employers is greatly appreciated.
Futureintech partnerships
Futureintech maintains partnerships with around 400
companies, representing a diverse cross-section of New
Zealand industry. Partners work with Futureintech in
a variety of ways, from encouraging staff members to
become Ambassadors to providing expert information
for publications or promoting Futureintech to a wider
audience. Futureintech’s work would not be possible
without their generosity and commitment.
enewsforschools
Rod Hare
North and Central Auckland Facilitator
Mobile: 021 714 359
northauckland@futureintech.org.nz
Alison Lawrie
Central and West Auckland Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 892
centralauckland@futureintech.org.nz
Futureintech’s website www.futureintech.org.nz is
another key component of the initiative. It offers profiles
of Ambassadors and their employers, a database of
relevant tertiary courses and monthly regional news, and
is regularly updated.
Gay Watson
South and East Auckland Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 802
southauckland@futureintech.org.nz
Futureintech’s monthly newsletter enews is distributed
in alternate months to schools and industries, and aims
to ensure that all stakeholders are kept fully informed of
Futureintech’s activities and of the resources we provide.
Susan Weekes
Wellington Facilitator
Mobile 021 479 891
wellington@futureintech.org.nz
Futureintech Facilitators
Catherine Smith
Christchurch Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 890
christchurch@futureintech.org.nz
Futureintech’s regional Facilitators promote and maintain
relationships with schools and industry employers. This
involves recruiting and training Ambassadors, advising
teachers on how Futureintech can best support their
programmes, arranging, planning and supervising
Ambassador visits and distributing resource materials.
Lynne Newell
Distance Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 804
distance1@futureintech.org.nz
Facilitators are supported by Host Partners, who provide
the office space which enables them to work remotely
from the Wellington national office. Host partnerships
ensure that Facilitators not only benefit from a collegial
atmosphere but also have daily exposure to an industryrelated workplace.
Laura Stockton
Distance Facilitator
Mobile: 021 479 803
distance2@futureintech.org.nz
Kristal Kitto
Administrator/Distance Co-ordinator
Phone: 04 473 2023
enquiries@futureintech.org.nz
If you have a class that might benefit from contact with
a Futureintech Ambassador, or to discuss other ways
Futureintech may be able to help, please contact your
local Facilitator to talk about how we can work together.
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