Education For Enterprise

A book about a group of students from Hutt Valley High School who built a solar-powered car for the World Solar Challenge race. The 3000-km journey went from Darwin to Adelaide through the Australian outback. The students were motivated by the technical challenges that building the car involved. They also wanted to raise the profile of alternative energy.

‘Solar Challenge’ demonstrates enterprise skills such as:

• using the skills and abilities of team members to produce an outcome and solve problems
• planning
• belief in yourself and in your team to achieve the goals that have been set.

The students in ‘Solar Challenge’ were faced with a number of different challenges, such as securing sponsorship, constructing the vehicle, and working to a tight timeline. The students created partnerships with local businesses in the community and used their expertise to develop their concept into a solar car.

An article about high school students Bowen Pan, Tianwei Pang, and eleven of their classmates, who entered the nzoom.com Schools Web Challenge. The students chose The Solar System as the topic for their project. With some assistance from their teacher, Mr Bertram, the team designed, coded, and developed the content for their award-winning website.

‘Web Challenge’ illustrates enterprise skills such as:

• working with others
• sharing ideas
• using the process of decision making in a team
• solving problems using skills and knowledge.

The students implemented their creative ideas in an innovative way, using planning and delegation to achieve their finished product. The article demonstrates how the students engaged with their idea and followed a systematic process to achieve their final designed website.

An article by Kapiti Coast High School student Mahina-a-rangi Baker, who recalls the loss that she and her community suffered when the Historic Rangiātea church was destroyed by fire in 1995. Together with her family and the church community, Mahina-a-rangi contributed to the rebuilding of the church. This helped the community to start to recover from the loss of an important local landmark.

‘Up from the Ashes’ illustrates enterprise skills such as:

• planning and organising
• working with others towards a common goa
• overcoming challenges
• dealing with change.

Rebuilding their church in the face of sadness and tragedy was a significant challenge for Mahina-a-rangi and her community. The process taught Mahina-a-rangi about the willingness of her community and her church to work together for the benefit of each other and for the community as a whole.

An article about the students at Tamariki school in Christchurch, who wanted to grow native bush at their school. The students enlisted the help of Robert Guyton, a Southland man who used seed balls to help re-grow native bush. Robert helped the students to make the balls from clay and other nutrients, and the students thought up inventive ways to disperse the seeds.

‘Seed Balls’ illustrates enterprise skills such as:

• finding a creative solution to a problem
• using the skills and advice of others to develop a process for solving a problem
• Looking at the wider implications of the project for the community and the environment.

The students found a local nursery who was willing to donate native seeds, and many of the students brought materials from home to use to make the seed balls. The students thought up different ways for getting their seed balls onto difficult-to-reach terrain as part of their project.

An article about students from Auckland Point School in Nelson, who submitted an entry into the Fair Go Ad Awards. The students chose to make an ad about Richard Pearse, a pioneer New Zealand aviator, and his first flight. They designed and built a replica plane out of materials that they had sourced. The ad was scripted and filmed in different segments and was edited using a programme on the school computer.

‘ High-flyers’ illustrates enterprise skills such as:

• using ingenuity
• using creativity
• planning, delegation, and gathering information
• acquiring skills and knowledge to use in the construction and creation of a product.

The students focused their ideas in the development of the ad by using a storyboard to plan their filming. They re-created a model of the original plane constructed by Richard Pearse using a 3-D image. The filming was done in a creative manner by the student cameraman, using techniques learnt during the project.