The inaugural Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust [MBNZT] award has gone to early childhood centre KiNZ Mission Heights.
The Daltons School Butterfly Habitat Award was established to encourage schools to think outside the square when it comes to butterflies in the school playground.
Jacqui Knight, on behalf of the MBNZT, said many schools – and this covers pre-schools right up to tertiary institutions – do not understand the importance of including our native butterflies and moths in all aspects of the curriculum.
“This is a great initiative of the MBNZT,” said Ian Milne, a retired primary school educator and science specialist.
“Teachers can use the context of nature to enhance their teaching across the curriculum, when exploring, creating and testing explanations arising from a study related to butterflies.”
Knight is delighted they had the sponsorship of Daltons for the award, and how versatile a unit on butterflies can be, both in the classroom, and outdoors as well.
“In the past we have seen schools using butterflies as a theme for environmental education, science, maths, art and English,” Knight said.
“The monarch butterfly can even be used as an example in units on migration – but it’s more than the monarch. We are interested in how schools are designing learning around our other beautiful native species.”
Bianca Woyak, winner of the 2021 Te Puiaki Kaiwhakaako Putaiao Prime Minister’s Science Teacher award, agrees. “As adults we often forget about the small things,” she said.
“Tamariki love learning about insects and moths and butterflies are the perfect, non-threatening insect students can have hands-on learning with. The alien-like change that takes place during metamorphosis excites the young and old and gets learners to think more deeply and be curious about the world around them.”
The staff at KiNZ Mission Heights are right behind the project. “In the past we have done much learning about monarch butterflies,” said teacher Rahimah Milatu.
“Last year we noticed many monarch caterpillars were dying and were concerned about pesticide use. We chose to make a difference by creating a sanctuary for them. Everyone was fascinated by the metamorphosis, and we found it a great learning activity.
“Skills were developed in science, mathematics, technology, art and languages, as well as developing emotional and social competency. This led us to become interested in conservation actions, how to safely observe, identify change, discuss challenges, set goals, solve problems and celebrate our achievements. It’s been a great journey so far.”
KiNZ will receive $200 worth of Daltons products to help them continue their learning journey. Meanwhile the MBNZT is now accepting applications for the spring award, with entries closing on November 1.
