Celebrity Treasure Island contestant Dr Joel Rindelaub has chosen South Auckland House of Science as his charity in a battle to win $100,000.
The timing of the announcement coincides with the one-year anniversary of the opening of South Auckland House of Science.
“Our vision is clear: empowering teachers to raise scientific literacy,” says Andrea Lun, branch manager and former medical laboratory scientist.
“My branch covers Howick, Pakuranga, Ōtara, Ōtāhuhu and Māngere. Our comprehensive, bilingual kits (English and te reo Māori) are aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum and cater for Years 0 to 8.
“Kits contain everything the class needs to carry out at least five activities – equipment, consumables, a detailed teacher manual and student instruction worksheets.
“Science can require resources that are impractical for a school to source themselves making our kits a game changer. We take the hassle out of teaching science and offer training/professional development sessions and support to help get the most out of these kits.”
“Impact case studies have shown student science assessment scores increase after using our kits. There are cross-curricular benefits across literacy and maths plus some schools report improved behaviour and improved attendance rates. Kids love hands-on learning and that’s the beauty of these kits.”
Willowbank School has been using House of Science kits this year.
Lisa Neish, assistant principal said, “One of our teachers recently used the Big, Blue Future kit. The learning and engagement were truly amazing. The Year 2 and 3 learners loved the range of activities, and the resulting discussions were ‘peppered’ with science vocabulary.
“Since using the kit, learners have applied their new understandings to a range of contexts by making connections to food chains, aspects of diversity in animals, and different ways of grouping, including food preferences.”
Rindelaub is an aerosol chemist from the University of Auckland.
As a science communicator the mulleted, moustached scientist may be a familiar face from TV as the go-to expert on aerosols and face masks during our Covid-19 pandemic.
Rindelaub has a connection to the Botany area through his recruitment to play ice hockey for the Botany Swarm in 2017.
When asked why he chose South Auckland House of Science as his charity, he says, “It was a no brainer. I’m really impressed by the work that House of Science does.”
So much so, he and Andrea ate dried crickets as part of a promotional video for the ‘Food for Thought’ kit to highlight the world’s unsustainable population growth using current food production methods.
Want to become involved? Volunteer, sponsor a school, sponsor a kit or make a donation via the House of Science givealittle page https://givealittle.co.nz/org/house-of-science-nz, www.houseofscience.nz or contact Andrea at southauckland@houseofscience.nz
