Getting our Māori and Pasifika rangatahi engaged in STEM is critical
To solve the 8•16•40 Crisis, we need to ensure that Māori and Pasifika students can see themselves in STEM.
STEM drives economic growth, product innovation and workforce sustainability across all industries. From healthcare to finance, energy to agriculture, businesses depend on a workforce with strong problem-solving, analytical and technical skills.
With a growing STEM talent shortage, who will fill these critical roles in the future?
At Kelston Girls' College, students got a firsthand look at STEM’s role in food innovation — an industry vital to Aotearoa New Zealand’s export economy. By exploring the chemistry behind baking, emulsions and traditional Pacific food preparation methods, they saw how STEM fuels everything from product development to large-scale food production. Their experiences — working with researchers, industry experts and food scientists — mirror the kinds of real-world skills businesses need.
It might not seem obvious, but a lot of maths and chemistry goes into baking the perfect chocolate cake. That’s what the junior students at Kelston Girls' College discovered while investigating the everyday chemistry processes that occur during cooking.
This transdisciplinary project integrated English and chemistry topics to inspire students through fun, hands-on experiments that also helped them develop their numeracy, literacy and scientific skills.
Throughout the project, the students focused on Pacific food and preparation (e.g. fa’ausi). This showcased different cooking techniques and chemistry processes.
To add to their understanding, the rangatahi received a visit from Amy Maslen-Miller, who discussed her PhD research on the revitalisation of traditional Samoan diets.
The students also took a field trip to Massey University’s School of Food and Advanced Technology, where they received a tour from senior lecturer Dr Tony Mutukumira.
A final experiment involved testing different chocolates to determine which one created the best ganache.
To understand the highly technical aspects of cooking with chocolate, the students studied the chemistry behind the emulsion and how the fats and oils impact the texture of ganache. They then visited the Kitchen Collective in Glendene for a practical lesson on tempering chocolate with chocolatier Tom Hilton from Ao Cacao.
“Chemistry can seem a bit dry and abstract, but the process of learning the science, doing the hands-on experience and writing up the formula makes everything tie together — and you can see that little light bulb go off.”
Rebecca McGrath, lead teacher
Kelston Girls' College