Who are we?
We’re Emma and Dani, two teachers passionate about science, sustainability and fun! In 2017 we met as colleagues at an intermediate school, found out we had loads in common, including spending a couple of years teaching in London, loving spending time camping, and a passion for understanding our world through science.
Now in 2023, we have both taken time out of the classroom to start our families, having our baby boys within months of each other! *Our little Harley and Corey*. Being a parent is the hardest but best job in the world and it puts a lot of things about teaching into perspective too.
Birth of 321Science
We noticed as Science Specialist Teachers of intermediate students that tamariki were coming to us with minimal experiences of science learning and 321 Science was born! Over the years, 321 Science has changed and evolved, but our values have stayed the same. We value having the opportunity to influence the lives of young people in engaging ways that get them thinking. We value the tamariki, the people who give us a job in the first place, and light up our lives with their enthusiasm, creativity and light bulb moments. We still believe that education in any subject should captivate and interest our learners. Learning should be fun, hands-on, and relevant.
Why the name?
321 Science is so much more than a name. It is the light hearted easy way of just doing something. Swinging on a rope swing, jumping into a pool, just doing something you know will be fun and rewarding but need a tiny push to leap in! Our name represents how easy and fun science can be for teachers and learners. And how once you “321Science” [verb] you feel proud, refreshed and like you have achieved something….321 Go!!
We are real teachers
With over 25 years experience between us, we know exactly how primary schools and teachers work. We’ve searched for hours on the internet for a great experiment, strategically planning the groups and creating a visual resource to help everyone be successful. We’ve tried to navigate the messy science cupboard only to find out that one thing you needed and were sure was there. We thought the baking soda rocket needed another shake, and had it explode all over us! (Who doesn’t love vinegar as a perfume or food colouring all over your hands?). We know that you have no time to plan these extra curricular topics. Maths, reading and writing takes priority over every other subject. We have seen children who struggle in these topics so spend their whole time hating school. We’ve seen the joy on our kids’ faces when you write Science on the board in the timetable, they spend their whole day anticipating what we will do.
Science isn’t perfect, but what is? Sometimes experiments fail, things get broken or spilt, sometimes our learners end up with more questions than when we started. Sometimes there is absolutely no budget to do the fun stuff so we have to write letters to parents or beg our team leader or accounts lady.
We’ve created 15 science labs to make it easy to provide engaging experiments with minimal resources. We try to give teachers the confidence to integrate science regularly, give you a structure to follow and teachers notes to have a basic understanding of the science behind the experiments. No promises that you will be spared from the hilarious fails, but the look of pure joy when a student makes a connection or sees the wonders of science for the first time will make it all worth it!
Our mission is for NZ primary teachers to feel confident to teach science and for kiwi kids to love it!