This story is about a classroom, bees and beats. A couple of Massey researchers in conjunction with two Wellington schools are using the arts to engage students in learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics - turning STEM into STEAM.
RNZ Music's Kirsten Johnstone headed to Avalon Intermediate to find out about their buzz.
Avalon Intermediate is a hive of activity when we arrive – There are rangatahi putting the final touches a music video they’ve made, decorating their classroom in yellow and black balloons and others practising their raps and speeches for their album launch.
Yellow Black Nation has eight songs inspired by their classmates – the honey bees.
For the past three years, Avalon Intermediate has had an apiscope in their classroom – a glass beehive where children can observe the bees and their comings and goings, and learn all about the very important jobs they have.
“Without them, we wouldn’t have very much food” 12 year old Theo says. His friend James puts it more bluntly: “without bees, we would die.”
It’s part of a research project by Massey University professors Anne Noble and Tracey Riley, who wanted to study how the apiscope could engage learners, and how teachers could tailor learning to the students.
Paascalino Schaller, is a teacher and film-maker who’s been working with Avalon Intermediate to bring the Yellow Black Nation project to fruition, who says it’s been a great way to connect science and art in the classroom.
“The opportunities that come up when we talk about song writing, or photography, are endless. And what it really does is it gives students the space to develop curiosity around subjects.”
Student Jasper Taito says that rapping and dancing were her passions anyway, and she’s enjoyed making music videos for the songs, and learning about bees.
Her group wrote a song called 'Heart & Soul', which explores the different jobs each type of bee has. She tells us she identifies most with the ‘housekeeper bee’: “I like to be organised.” Her friend Tihei says she’s most like the worker bee: “I’m always busy.”
Theo says that the project has given the class closer connections with each other, and that people have really “opened up.”
Paascalino says that the pupils have got a buzz out of hearing and seeing their classmates finished work.
“In those moments, suddenly kids would be like ‘oh wow, you’ve got that skill!’ and it gave that kid a lot of mana, and allowed them to feel good about having that ability to rap really well, or sing amazing harmonies or dance.”
The kids have had help from songwriters Warren Maxwell and Soloman Crook to get their rhymes down and learn how to produce music, they’ve made music videos with Paascalino, and visited a beekeeper as part of the project.
No one has been stung yet – “yet…” says James.
