Apii Nikao Marae 4 students have created stunning interactive scientific models to demonstrate their understanding of the solar system.

The scientific models are currently on display in the school’s foyer.

Temarangi Nicholls, Marae 4 school teacher, expressed how proud she was of the finished projects.

Nicholls said the students have worked really well on these projects at school and at home, and their interest in the solar system shines through.

Student Mican Piua was excited to see her creative umbrella science project on display.

“We’ve been learning about the solar system umbrella, my aim was to be as creative as possible to try and get more points out of my project and I’m very proud of it,” said Piua.

Cindy Milanovic, science advisor at the Ministry of Education, said the Apii Nikao children have done well with their projects.

“They have been learning to create scientific models that need to be scaled as well as the need to demonstrate an understanding of the solar system,” said Milanovic.

“As well as try to be interactive, plus interesting and have visual features that are appealing.”

The projects were indeed interactive, and the planet sizes were scaled and positioned very well.

Student Jeremiah Elikana added a special touch to his project by using suitable recyclable materials like buttons, beads, and shells to display the scale sizing of his planets.

Milanovic said: “To teach with these science models is to teach other people about the solar system and that’s what a scientific model is …  they have integrated art into their unit and it’s a different way to show what they’ve learnt, it’s not all writing.”

The projects are marked for accuracy, position, size, information, and colors.