Auckland school pupils flock to university lectures

Year-12 and year-13 pupils from 25 secondary schools across Auckland poured into lecture theatres for a day of university-style learning at the Albany campus this month.

With about 700 pupils attending on June 3, it was the largest turnout to the annual Academic Experience Day since it began three years ago.

"Students and teachers alike found these lectures to be very beneficial," says student liaison adviser Aisling Kennedy. Many students commented on how much they enjoyed the experience of university learning, and also how impressive they found the campus.

The pupils were split into subject-based streams for business, humanities, mathematics and biology, to hear lectures relating to their school curriculum studies.

Business lectures were given on topics including economics and ecology, financial literacy and consumer behaviour, while humanities lectures covered sociology, social anthropology and New Zealand 19th century history. Mathematics lectures included insights into how maths and statistics can be used to model changes in the environment, predict the size and arrival time of a tsunami, and other applications from astronomy to analysing Eftpos data. Biology lectures embraced wide-ranging topics from molecular biology and genetic engineering to research on the significance of native birdsong and the survival of the kakapo.

And in the same week, on June 1, a group of professors and senior lecturers from all five colleges at the Albany campus attended year-13 classes at Orewa College to bring pupils a taste of university teaching.

The event is a pilot for a scheme to be offered to other schools in the region, with several having already expressed interest in hosting the visiting academics later this year and next, student liaison adviser Deb Buchanan says.

Among the 17 staff were Professors Paul Spoonley (sociology), Professor David Raubenheimer (nutritional ecology), Associate Professor Peter Lineham (history), Dr Jenny Lawn and Dr Mary Paul (English), Dr Simon Sigley (film and media studies), Dr Ajmol Ali (sport and exercise science), Chris Chitty (Engineering and Advanced Technology), Oliver Neuland (Auckland School of Design) and Dr Brendan Moyle (business).

Ms Buchanan says each lecturer gave a one or two-hour session "offering academic enhancement in topics the students are covering in their NCEA level three curriculum and to showcase the style and expertise of our academic teaching staff".