House of Science

The MacDiarmid Institute has had a close with Tauranga-based charity, House of Science, which is passionate about raising scientific literacy by providing inspiring resources to schools and teachers.

This partnership enabled us to extend the reach of our Kōrero to many more students and teachers.

The House of Science resources include MacDiarmid Institute NanoChem boxes, which introduce students and teachers to polymerisation, crystallisation and hydrophobic surfaces. This kit continues to be one of the House of Science’s most popular resources, with over 17,000 students a year learning about Nanotechnology through the use of this kit.

The boxes are available at House of Science branches from Auckland through to Christchurch. 

From 2021 the Institute sponsored the Kapiti/Horowhenua Branch of the House of Science. Since our Branch sponsorship started, the number of member schools receiving House of Science boxes in this region has grown by 30%.

It is extremely rewarding seeing students so engaged with the hands-on science experiments – hopefully some of these budding scientists will join us at the MacDiarmid Institute in the future.

House of Science Nano-Chem kit 2020

14 copies in circulation

221 times it was booked by schools (for a week at at time) in 2020

A reasonable statistic considering interruptions to classroom teaching in 2020.

House of Science Nano-Chem kit 2019

13 kits in circulation

210 classrooms used a Nano-Chem kit in 2019

7,350 children engaging in nanoscience

House of Science Nano-Chem kit 2018

10 kits in circulation

238 classrooms used a Nano-Chem kit in 2018

Over 9,500 primary school students, including...

2,800 (30%) Maori,

and 760 (8%) Pasifika students