Enhancing science teaching with LearnWell Learning Guides

This November, Sue from LearnWell led an engaging workshop at ChemEd BioLive in Wellington, giving science teachers the chance to experience the full potential of our innovative Learning Guides. Designing material with the learner at the centre is a LearnWell priority, so it was wonderful to have a chance to share the benefits of this approach with a group of skilled science educators.

By stepping into the shoes of a student, participants got hands-on with the resources, exploring features designed to make teaching more effective and learning more engaging.

Experiencing LearnWell Learning Guides firsthand

Teachers explored the guides as students, trying out scaffolded activities and interactive digital features. This approach let them play with the tools and understand how their students might engage with them. At the session’s conclusion, Sue demonstrated the facilitator features—such as viewing student answers, tracking responses to pulses, and monitoring task progress—using the participants’ workshop data. This practical demonstration tied everything together and illustrated how the guides support teaching and learning from both perspectives.

 

Practical activities that go beyond the textbook

To showcase how Learning Guides can extend education beyond the traditional textbook, the workshop included a practical activity. Participants brainstormed what was already known by the group about a scientific concept (cloud formation).  Then, using common household items, they followed instructions to create a cloud in a jar. Though one brave volunteer missed a step, this simply led to less-than-perfect results and plenty of laughter. The hands-on element highlighted how the guides encourage deeper learning while keeping things approachable and fun for students.

The resources incorporate many different New Zealand contexts and, where appropriate, mātauranga Māori ideas. During the workshop, participants explored ways teachers could adapt these ideas to reflect their local context, making the material more relevant to their students. For instance, one activity in the book invites students to investigate the saying,

"Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning."

We demonstrated how this activity could be expanded by introducing additional weather-related sayings for students to research, including Māori and Pacific proverbs, as well as those from other cultures.  At the end of the workshop, participants noted that they felt more confident about the place of mātauranga Māori ideas in their science classrooms.

Positive reactions and growing excitement

The session received enthusiastic feedback, particularly about the careful alignment between print and digital Learning Guides. Teachers appreciated the flexibility and convenience. While a few participants were hesitant at first, by the end of the workshop, they were excited about using the guides in their own classrooms, inspired by what they’d seen and experienced. With these tools, teachers can support students in achieving their best, while saving time with ready-to-use resources that adapt to various teaching styles.