September 29, 2017
Tamariki show energy in science quest
Tamariki from Te Runanga O Ngati Ruanui’s 2Nuicode programme are today presenting their ideas to the wider community at Taranaki’s annual Energy Skills Science Fair.
Runanga Kaiarataki Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the programme came out of her attendance at boot camps run for Maori at Stanford University in California’s Silicon Valley.
Tamariki and rangatahi gather in the runanga’s Hawera headquarters after school and during holidays to learn coding, build robots, and try out other design and science-related activities.
She says it’s the first time they have gone to a mainstream science fair.
"This is an iwi-run initiaitive so they have come up solutions challenging the mining, the power, the energy sector,so today they go up about against 100 others. We are feeling really stoked because they are in it," Ms Ngarewa-Packer says.
The projects include a system for converting rubbish and compost into energy and a proposal for a space-based solar power collector.
DEBBIE NGAREWA PACKER INTERVIEW
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