Any Questions - Popular Topics RSS

NCEA exam papers

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:36:55 GMT

Where can I find old exam papers for NCEA?

External assessments - including exams - are available from the NZQA site. This is the link for the subject resources page. You will find exam papers (external), exemplars (real answers, with comments about why it was marked like that), and lots of other information.

Remember, websites change all the time - so the links we have now may be different in a couple of months! Just let us know in the comments.

HOT TIP: try your local library, or school library, as they may have some printed out for you. A list of New Zealand public libraries (those with websites) is available at the National Libraries' directory of New Zealand libraries.

We also have tips on finding exam papers for IB.

Skateboard ramps

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:03:17 GMT

What is a good site that will help me build a skateboard ramp?

Level: Intermediate/Secondary

This sounds like a cool project!

We started by doing a Google search for the question "how to build a skateboard ramp" and looking through the results. There are lots of good sites out there! The trick will be finding one with clear instructions that you can understand.

HOT TIP: When searching Google, if you put speech marks ” ” or ‘ ‘ around your search term, Google will search for it as a phrase. Very handy if you’re looking for something in particular and you know the words will be in that order.

This website Xtremeskater has free skateboard ramp plans, including mini ramps and half pipes. You can also have a look at the Project Pages for pictures and notes of other people who have built their own skateboard ramps. It's always helpful to try and see what other people have done and what they have found useful or what could go wrong.

DIYskate has heaps of different skateboard ramp plans as well. You can also find handy ramp building tips, including what sort of wood (like lumber and plywood) to use.

There are also lots of instructional videos on YouTube. Again, this will be a case of watching a few of them and deciding which video works best for you.

If you are new to woodworking it is a very good idea to learn some basic techniques first. This website Instructables will take you through a few of them, including some introduction to the tools to use.

Your public library will also have good instructional books on woodworking or building, so don't forget to check that out as well!

Māori carving - Whakairo

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:21:37 GMT

What do the different patterns in Māori carvings mean?

Have you ever wondered where and why carvings were used by the Māori people? Are you interested in finding out how such work has evolved over time? What do the different patterns mean?

The word whakairo is the Māori term used for carving and is often associated with Whare Whakairo (The Carved House). Most whakairo are seen on the marae, but in more recent times whakairo have been used to adorn most Government buildings, learning institutes, schools and public buildings to embrace our countries heritage.

Te Ara has some fantastic information about carving, see the links below for more (LEVEL: Secondary):

Also, by typing the term 'carving' into the search box (top right hand corner) you will see a list of stories about whakairo that might be useful.

Maori.org also has some good general information about carving and its meanings that could be helpful such as:

carvings, head shapes and patterns

You will find the information you are looking for under 'carving' in the drop down menu on the front page.

Tip: Beware when using a search engine such as google to search for Māori carvings - most of the sites you will see are commercial sites, remember that sites with .govt and .org in the address are the best.

Rugby World Cup 2011

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:53:47 GMT

Rugby World Cup 2011

Level: Primary / Intermediate / Secondary.

The official web site for the 2011 Rugby World Cup will give you up to the minute information. It does have a commercial aspect though, so be aware that parts of that site are about selling you things, not giving you information!

A list of useful websites on the 2011 Rugby World Cup is available on the National Library’s High Interest Topics Page.

If you use the search term “Rugby World Cup 2011” in the search engine Google you will find more information.

HOT TIP: You can click on ‘news’ on the left hand side of the Google search results to limit the hits to news items. You can also click on ‘pages from New Zealand’ to only get New Zealand information.

HOT TIP: When searching Google, if you put double speech marks ” ” around your search term, Google will search for it as a phrase. Very handy if you’re looking for something in particular and you know the words will be in that order.

Nearer to the start of the competition there may be more sites added to the internet as interest in the event builds, and there will be more news articles after the start of the games – check your local newspaper and television.

HOT TIP: The database Index New Zealand has many articles from magazines, journals and newspapers about rugby and the Rugby World Cup. Ask a teacher to help you find and order articles from the National Library to come to your school for free.

Check out our entry on the First Rugby World Cup.

Sir Apirana Ngata

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:26:53 GMT

What did Sir Apirana Ngata do in his life?

LEVEL: Intermediate / Secondary

Sir Apirana Ngata (1874-1950) was a Ngati Porou leader, lawyer and politician who is famous for his work in Maori land development and reform, and for his support for the creation of a Māori battalion during the second world war.

A great site for information about famous New Zealanders is Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. We used the keywords Apirana Ngata. We then chose 'biographies' from the left hand side of the search results. The second result is the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography entry for Sir Apirana, but there are 130 biographies in which he is mentioned!

There is a lot more information on Sir Apirana Ngata on Te Ara. Reading Sir Apirana's biography will give you some ideas of which keywords to use. We tried the keywords Apirana Ngata Maori Land, and found lots of results including this story on Ahuwhenua - Maori Land and Agriculture, which mentions Sir Apirana's work on land reform. Using the keywords Māori battalion we found a chapter on new Maori organisations in the 20th century that mentions Sir Apirana, and which is part of the story Nga Ropu - Maori Organisations. The keywords Apirana Ngata achievement bring up the New Leaders chapter of the Ngati Porou story, which sums up Sir Apirana's major achievements in a few paragraphs. Te Ara has lots more info about Sir Apirana - for example, check out this video of Sir Apirana Ngata farewelling soldiers going away to war.

HOT TIP: When you're reading stories on Te Ara, remember that the Short Story gives you a quick overview, and the Full Story gives you a lot more detail.

There's also some information on Te Ara from the 1966 Encyclopedia, but remember that this information was written in 1966 and has not been edited, and you should compare the information here with other websites or information in books.

Apriana’s most famous quote or whakatauki /proverb, E tipu e rea was composed for Rangi Bennett to encourage her in her education. In this NZONSCREEN link you can see the whakatauki and the translation. This whakatauki has slight variations. We think the original version is the one written in the mihi in Ngata’s dictionary, as this dictionary was written by his grandson Hōri Mahue Ngata.

We also like the the NZHistory Online, which has this article on Sir Apirana Ngata. NZ History Online has lots more information about Sir Apirana, so you could try the same keywords you used in your Te Ara search. We used the keywords Apirana Ngata, and found over 40 results.

HOT TIP: NZHistory Online search results also include links to other images and websites related to your search. You can choose these from the tabs at the top of the results page. We found this site for the 28th Maori Battalion using the 'other sites' tab.

HOT TIP: Another place to look is Wikipedia which has great coverage of many topics, including Sir Apirana Ngata, and the Māori Battalion. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

There have been a lot of books written about Sir Apirana Ngata, so you could visit your school library or local library for more information.

HOT TIP: for more on searching for information about people, try our ManyAnswers entry on finding biographical information.

Kids in the world

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:11:15 GMT

How many kids are there in the world?

Level: Primary/Intermediate

That's a great question! There are lots of places online that we can use to find out about demographics. Demographics are a collection of numbers we can use to find out information about people.

The Statistics New Zealand website has lots of demographic information about New Zealand. Some of this information is collected during the census that is held every five years. For example, we can find out things like how many people in New Zealand speak Japanese, or how many people live in Auckland.

But we want to know about the whole world, not just New Zealand, so we have to look in other places for more information than Statistics New Zealand can give us. The two best sites I found for demographic information for the whole world was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook and the Population Reference Bureau World Population Data Sheet, where you can find a huge table of many many countries and the percent of their population that are under 15. It's a little tricky to get to the information on the CIA website, because the CIA like to be extra secure on the internet. You will need to use the search feature in the top right corner of the home page and type in 'field listing: age structure'. At the PRB website linked above, you will need to click to download the pdf of the fact sheet, and jump down to page 10.

HOT TIP: We like these sites because they’re either from a government organisation (Ministry or Council) OR a reputable organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have either .org or .govt in their address. Overseas government websites will have .gov in their web address.

Lastly, to get information on demographics for the whole world in one place, I had to go back to Google. The website Index Mundi has used the information from the World Factbook to estimate (an 'estimate' is an educated guess, based on information you have) the number of people under 15 in the world. From their home page you can also find out lots of interesting facts about world demographics. The website Poverty Facts and Stats also has an estimate of the number of children in the world (search for 'number of children' on the page using your browser's search function), but it doesn't define what they mean by 'children'.

Just remember that all of these websites (except for the Poverty Facts and Stats site) will give an age range, and it's up to you to make sure you say what you mean when you say 'kids'.

Conservation status of the quetzal (bird)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:44:58 GMT

What did people do to the quetzal to make it endangered?

LEVEL: Intermediate, Secondary

A good way to start this topic is a search for background information using a general encyclopedia like Wikipedia. Simply use your keyword Quetzal in the search box at the top of the right of the screen.

HOT TIP: Wikipedia has great coverage of many topics, but you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

The Quetzal article says that: “None of the Quetzal species are under immediate threat in the wild, although the Resplendent Quetzal is at Near Threatened status”, which definitely needs checking! Click on the Near Threatened link to get a table of different conservation statuses used by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

We found the best explanation of all these different terms by going to Google and typing in iucn status definition. One of the results which appeared is the official IUCN website which has a list and description of the different statuses. This information is reliable as the .org in the address tells us it is the official website for the IUCN.

Now that we have a better idea of the meaning of endangered and threatened species, let’s see how people have treated the Resplendent Quetzal, which seems to be the most threatened type of quetzal.

Start with Google by typing Resplendent Quetzal into the search box. Check each site to see if it contains information on human treatment and conservation status of the birds. It is a good idea to check the first two pages of Google results as the best websites don’t always appear in the first 10 results. Neotropical Birds at Cornell University has a very detailed answer - when you are looking at this site it helps to use the index panel to the left of the main picture. Arkive is another good site on the Google list – you should use the handy tabs above the main text box, especially those for Facts, Status, Threats, and Conservation.

There is also some useful information at the IUCN website we visited earlier. Simply type Quetzal into the search box and it will bring up the scientific names of the different species. Clicking on the different name will reveal information about each species, including threats.

Tuatara adaptations

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:05:19 GMT

How has the tuatara adapted over the last 300 million years?

Level: Intermediate/Secondary

On the Science Learning Hub website there is some great info about tuatara adaptations in New Zealand. Use the search box on the top right of the site and search for tuatara adaptations. There are some great articles that come up that will help explain animal adaptation and evolution.

HOT TIP: We chose Science Learning Hub because it’s from a reputable organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have .org in their address. They’re also a New Zealand site, so relevant for us. You can trust the information from this site.

There is a really cool video explaining the evolution of the tuatara on Te Ara. To get to it first we need to find the page dedicated to the tuatara. You can do this by searching 'tuatara' in the search box near the top of the page.

There is another way to find the tuatara's page on Te Ara. This way is a little longer but it will show you more of the website as you go, which could be very useful for your homework.

From the home page select 'The Bush.'
A tuatara is a kind of reptile so we want to click on Fish, Frogs and Reptiles.
Now select Tuatara. This will give you the option to read the short story or the long story depending on how much information you want. Click 'read the full story' for the long story.
To find the video about tuatara evolution, click on 'images and media'. This is a yellow tab near the top of the page.
The video is on page two.

HOT TIP: We chose Te Ara because it is from a government organisation (the New Zealand Government). You can tell this by the web address – it has .govt in the address. It is also a New Zealand site, so relevant for us.

Check out the tuatara's entry on Wild Facts by using the search box on the right hand side. Wild Facts is a blog all about mysterious animal behaviour and animal adaptations. It is written by a man with Bachelor of Science degree with a specialisation in Wildlife and Habitat Ecology, so the information is trustworthy.

HOT TIP: Another place to look is Wikipedia which has great coverage of many topics, including the tuatara. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

HOT TIP: To find more general information, see our ManyAnswers entry on the Tuatara here.

Features of a newspaper article

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:18:59 GMT

What are the main features of a newspaper article?

LEVEL: Intermediate / Secondary

We found some good sites by typing features of a newspaper article into Google. We also tried substituting different words for features (like parts and components).

HOT TIP: some of the headings in your Google results list may have [doc] or [pdf] at the start. This means that if you click on the link your computer will download a document.

We like this page from Bitesize BBC, which covers all the features of a newspaper article (they call it a newspaper report). At the bottom of the page we found another link to a related page called Newspapers - Key Features, which discusses the key features of newspaper and magazine articles.

You can find out more at Let's Write a Newpaper Story!, a site put together by The John Hopkins University. Click on the 'for students' section, and you can be guided through all the steps of writing a newspaper article.

Fairfax Media has an online Newspaper Builder so you can follow the steps to produce a newspaper.

Hot tip: Another place to look is Wikipedia which has great coverage of many topics, including an entry on newspaper articles, which lists all of the features of a newspaper article. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

New Zealand Authors

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:48:28 GMT

I need information about a New Zealand author. Where should I look?

Level: All

There are a few really good sites with profiles of New Zealand authors and illustrators. These are our favourite:

A great site to find information about NZ Children's authors is the Christchurch City Libraries Kids page. These interviews have both serious and fun information - so if you want to know their favourite food - this is where to start!

Go to Homework Zone
Find New Zealand authors
Choose A-Z Authors List
Choose the first letter of the author's surname
Scan down the list to find the author you want
Click on their name to read their interview

The New Zealand Book Council has excellent author profiles. You can use this any time you want to look up a New Zealand author. Many of our famous children's authors are listed there too.
Start at the homepage

Click on the tab called Writers
Choose the first letter of the author's surname
Scan down the list to find the author you want
Click on their name to read their interview

The Wellington City Libraries Kids Catalog Web has great author websites.

Open the catalog.
Choose "Find it"
Click on the icon for "authors".
Browse the authors by alphabet (they are sorted by the authors last name) until you find the one you want.

You can also browse through a selection of book series, subjects and famous people.

As this is a book catalog, it will first come up with a list of books. To see web pages, click on the icon with a spider sitting on a web (on the left hand side of page).

Another site for New Zealand authors and illustrators is the Storylines website.

If you would like to find out info on how to write books for children and young adults visit Kiwi Write4Kidz. It is a unique and amazing organisation for adults who like to write tales for children. They have information about technique, direct from the mouths of the finest Kiwi children's authors.

HOT TIP: If you want to find an author's website you could try these things:

Just type their name into a search engine. Often it will come up at the top of the results list!
If there are too many websites (which there might be if the author is very famous) you can also add the words official site onto your search e.g. J.K. Rowling + official site
Sometimes the publisher of an author will also have some great info and interviews at their site - so look for publishers names in the URL address.