Teacher Highlight: Sky Smale
- Lian Soh
- 21 hours ago
- 6 min read
Meet Sky Smale, an educator, artist, and environmental advocate involved with the Kaharoa Kōkako Trust and Paraiti Catchment Care Group. Born and raised in Rotorua, Sky’s approach to science education blends conservation, visual arts, and ecological knowledge, creating opportunities for rangatahi to explore and observe the world around them through multiple lenses.
Sky can often be found at local conservation events, where the public gets a glimpse of her inventive teaching props and creative, hands-on approach. Through her outreach work, she provides locally grounded experiences that help rangatahi connect deeply with the environments they live in — from the ngahere to the classroom.
I feel like the forest provides so many learning opportunities! We can engage in literacy, numeracy, science learning, the arts (including performing and storytelling), physical exercise, history, positive mental health practices, and ideas around citizen action — and Mātauranga Māori can weave through it all. I see kids just light up in that environment — it’s SO cool! — Sky Smale
The outdoor classroom at Te Ranga Primary School (left), a DOC200 and invertebrate monitoring station (middle) and tools for recording observations (right). Source: Image supplied; © Sky Smale 2025.
Sky’s approach reminds us that science learning isn’t limited to labs, kits, or textbooks. When it’s rooted in place — in local contexts that students care about — they begin to see science as something immediately relevant to their own lives. It becomes a way to notice, wonder, and express what matters to them in the world around them.
Sky’s outdoor classroom blends art, story, science, movement, and conversation together. Observation becomes drawing, a bird call becomes a prompt, and a pattern in the leaf litter becomes the start of a wondering. Her approach encourages learners — and colleagues — to slow down, pay attention, and ask questions, helping rangatahi tune into the environment they are a part of.
The forest classroom isn’t just a backdrop — it is the context. It’s a small slice of Aotearoa’s complex bush ecosystem which also invites mātauranga Māori as a way of knowing. Sky isn’t ‘ticking off’ science capabilities — she’s creating experiences where various ways of thinking and noticing emerge on their own. Asking questions, observing closely, collecting data, making sense of patterns — these aren’t checkboxes, they’re what rangatahi naturally do when they’re curious. Her approach is a reminder that engaging science education occurs between people, places, and ideas. It can be local, joyful, real, and relevant. And yes — it can be really, really cool.
Sky uses her artistic skills to create visually beautiful resources (left) and encourages rangatahi to make observations through art (middle, right). Source: Images supplied; © Sky Smale 2025.
To get to know Sky a little more, we asked her a few questions about her own journey into science and nature education, what inspires her, and what she sees as important for young people learning about the world today:
1) What did you enjoy about science when you were at school, and why?
I was incredibly fortunate to grow up surrounded by scientists and conservation workers throughout my schooling years, thanks to my parents’ work. While I honestly found some aspects of science quite challenging as a student, I was drawn to learn as much about the natural environment as I could, thanks to the enormous passion and knowledge of the adults who modelled curiosity to me and generously shared their stories and wisdom.
The quirks, weirdness, and beauty of the biological world have always captured me, and I vividly remember the teachers who brought science to life through hands-on learning and enthusiastic engagement — the kind I now try to emulate with my own ākonga.
2) What led you to consider science and environmental education as a career path?
Full disclosure — I’m probably not an obvious candidate for science teaching, given that my strengths didn’t lie in that area as a student! I’ve come to understand science as something we can all engage with in some way, regardless of whether or not it is part of the career path we choose. Just as English, maths, and the arts can be approached in a multitude of ways, so can science.
Simply existing as biological beings within a biosphere pulsing with life means we must engage with scientific concepts to some degree if we’re to understand and care for this amazing world we’ve been born into. Key concepts — like developing strong observational skills, the ability to wonder, question, hypothesise, experiment, and make decisions through careful process — are attributes that can benefit us all.
Sky encourages her students to make observations in a variety of ways. Source: Images supplied; © Sky Smale 2025.
Some students may take these skills into a distinctly scientific career. Others may become citizen scientists, with an awareness of how to sustainably care for the resources we depend on, or how to contribute to databases like iNaturalist. And some may simply develop a deeper understanding of the natural world they’re a part of — which, to me, is highly valuable in itself.
Supporting ākonga on their journey towards understanding and caring for Te Taiao is hugely rewarding.
3) What do you see as key learning experiences for students in science?
As you can probably gather from my previous answers, I like to get learners engaging as many senses as possible! I have a background in early childhood education and also in art and design. I find that my previous work with younger children has helped me develop resources that involve creativity and both gross and fine motor skills. Weaving in aspects of storytelling also carries through from my time with preschoolers — it’s often easier to recall ideas when they’re tied into an interesting tale.
It’s not always straightforward to get large groups out into wilderness areas, so if we can’t physically be outdoors (which is such a powerful teaching space), I try to bring the wilderness to the tamariki in some way. I use lots of natural artefacts, toys, images, sounds, and books for identification, as well as a range of other tactile and visual resources.
Sky's artwork features on panels at Te Ranga Primary School. Source: Images supplied; © Sky Smale 2025.
I also like to encourage the idea that the natural world is everywhere. There are tiny lifeforms in every nook and cranny — we inhale fungal spores with every breath, and even tap water contains multitudes of living things. Creepy? Perhaps. Interesting? I think so!
Scientists are constantly developing new understandings of the earth we live on, and a huge part of their capacity to do so starts with the simple act of observing — of wondering.
A primary goal of mine is to help ākonga build their observational skills, using whatever senses are available to them to engage deeply with their world. Then, we refine the skills involved in making identifications and begin to understand the ecological systems at play. What is this creature? Why is it behaving this way? What is its role in this environment?
A kōkako soft toy sits in a fallen nest with clay eggs hand painted by Sky (left). Sky's formative experiences in conservation work also inspires her teaching activities (right). Source: Left image from personal collection, Lian Soh. Right image supplied; © Sky Smale 2025.
These kinds of questions — and the answers we find — help to grow what I like to call environmental literacy. That concept really sits at the heart of what I’m trying to do.
Quite apart from the academic aspects of ecology, getting kids involved in the natural world is also excellent for their mental and physical health. I see kids from all walks of life light up when they get the chance to experience wild spaces. Adults too! It’s wonderful.
Acknowledgements: Thank you Sky Smale for taking the time to share your teaching practice with our readers! Your students are very lucky to have you!
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