Schools must ensure they are following the Safety and Science Guidelines from the Ministry of Education. This means students must consider the health and safety risks associated with their projects, and ensure that all their experiments comply with safe practice and standards.
Research projects and activities should not put students in situations where their health or safety is at risk. Before you undertake any experiments for your project you should consider the risks associated with your project that could put you, or others, in harm’s way.
The following document is a good master guide when reviewing health and safety within your project:
[Safety-and-science-pūtaiao-2023.pdf]. We urge students to find the appropriate section that applies to their type of project, as it gives important, practical advice. For example, a project that uses potting mix needs to be aware of the following:
“Section 33.8.6 – Soil and potting mix
Care should be taken when opening bags of potting mix and using home-made or commercially made potting mix. Potting mix commonly contains Legionella bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease, which is a type of pneumonia. It is recommended that people using potting mix wear dust masks to avoid inhaling the dust.”
Ethics
“Ethics” is about balancing the need for animal and human protection with the need for learning and development.
Why do we have Science Ethics?
- Caring for animals and people is the right thing to do. Sometimes you may not be aware that something could be unethical in your plan – no one expects you to be an expert! Even experienced researchers make mistakes, which is why they get other people to check their plans. The way to be sure is to do an ethics check.
- Learning to “do” science and technology includes learning to do things the right way. Ethics checks are a part of every science and technology investigation. So start now and be better educated for the future.
- New Zealand Law requires it. The Animal Welfare Act 1999 makes it very clear that investigations and experiments with animals as part of school studies must be checked for ethics. Even keeping a pet or other animal at school must meet the requirements of this Act. The Privacy Act 1993 also controls how you collect, use and report information about people. There are other laws too, such as those controlling the health and safety of people at work, people having medical treatment, and testing things on people.
- Science and Technology Fairs are sponsored by organisations that also have to keep to the law – their reputation is affected if students don’t show ethical care.
Essential points:
- Projects involving animals or humans must have ethics approval to be eligible for entry.
- Approval is required before any experiments begin. Approval will not be given after the project has been completed.
- Animal Ethics Guidelines can be found at https://animalethics.org.nz/?page_id=179
- The NZ School’s Animal Ethics Committee only meets at set dates. If you intend to start your investigation before next year, or early next year, then your last date to apply for animal ethics review and approval is: Monday 30th November (therefore, submitted by 23rd November to: animalethicscommitteenz@gmail.com (meeting dates are given here).
- Any project involving animals but not requiring an Animal Ethics Approval should complete a Care and Safety Review Form. The Teacher in Charge of the Science and Technology Fair at your school should check this form. Once completed and checked this form must be placed inside your logbook.
- Any project involving humans needs consent from each human subject (Consent form), and needs an IRB approval (IRB Registration form).
- Native Fauna:ifyour project involves catching, killing, or obtaining the eggs, dead bodies or parts, of any native mammals, birds (except game birds), reptiles or amphibians, or bush and ground wetas, ground or carab beetles, Nelson cave spiders, snails, black and red coral, or spotted black groper, you need to also get a permit from the Department of Conservation (www.doc.govt.nz/). A permit may also be required to remove native species from National Parks or Reserves.
Who has to do an Ethics Check?
Actually, everyone must do an ethics check for every investigation. This applies to schools, universities, research laboratories, farms and factories and field workers – anyone investigating or testing anything in the broad area of science and technology. In most cases the check is a simple personal test to make sure what is being done is ethical.
Who has to do an Ethics Approval?
Student, class or teacher investigations and projects which involve humans or animals must comply with ethical standards. Considering the ethics of a piece of work, and applying for approval if necessary, is a valuable learning experience for students.
Information provided here is based on material from the Royal Society of New Zealand (Human Ethics) and the New Zealand Association of Science Educators (Animal Ethics). Full details can be found on their websites: Royal Society of NZ and NZASE.
Animal Ethics:
Under the Animal Welfare Act ‘animal’ means any live member of the animal kingdom that is a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish (bony or cartilaginous), octopus, squid, crab (including half crab), lobster or crayfish (including freshwater crayfish), and includes any marsupial pouch young or mammalian foetus, or any avian or reptilian pre-hatched young, that is in the last half of its period of gestation or development.
Under the Animal Welfare Act ‘manipulation’ means interfering with an animal’s normal physiology, behaviour, or anatomy. It includes subjecting it to unusual or abnormal practices (e.g. exposure to parasites, microorganisms, drugs, chemicals, biological products, radiation, electrical stimulation or environmental conditions) or depriving it of its usual care. If you are unsure whether your activity will require ethics approval, first check the flowchart on the next
page and then if you are still unsure apply for approval and the ethics committee will instruct you if it is needed or not.
Note: for the Manawatu Science and Technology Fair we ask all participants who are using animals but do not require ethics approval as indicated above to show they have done a Care and Safety Check, to ensure all animals are treated in an appropriate manner.
Human Ethics:
There are two main considerations for activities involving humans:
- when humans are involved in activities such as tasting or smelling, when the substances involved may be toxic or provoke an allergic reaction, or undergo exercise which may trigger unexpected effects in the subject. Experiments should not be carried out on yourself.
- when information about other humans is collected, stored and presented (e.g. weight, height, preferences etc), their privacy must be ensured. No human survey participant should be named – use code numbers only.
If your project involves either of these two situations then you need to obtain consent from human subjects (Consent form) and file an IRB Registration form. We also recommend you view the Royal Society website, which gives ethics information for students carrying out similar projects. This will provide you with the information you need to decide if you should proceed with your project or if you require guidance from a specialist. All human participants should be made aware of the Disclaimer given below.
Ethics in Science & Technology – A Student’s Guide
Research in science and technology often involves animals or people: finding out about them, using them, or testing things on them. In New Zealand we share values that protect people and animals from unnecessary harm. Good science recognises that the things we do to learn and to improve technology have limits that protect people and animals. “Ethics” is about balancing the need for such protection with the need for learning and development.
What is “Ethics Approval”?
For some investigations your teacher can approve your project if he/she is satisfied it is ethical. In that case “Ethics Approval” is what you get when your teacher says you can do the project. In other cases your project has to be checked by an Ethics Committee. If they approve your project they will issue an “Ethics Certificate” permitting you to do the project. That certificate must be displayed on your project. This section guides you on how to find out if you need ethics approval, and if so, which type of approval you need.
But I’m just a school pupil, I’m not a Real Scientist!
If you are doing a project you are a real scientist. Science and technology are not things only strange geeks in white coats do in hubbly-bubbly laboratories. It’s what you do when you try to find out something about the universe in which we live, or some way of solving a problem – and that’s what you do in a science or technology project. But in any case, there are four very good reasons why school students have to do ethics checks – they are explained next.
What is involved?
The first step is very simple: you just have to decide whether your project involves any sort of animals or any people (including yourself) in any way. If it does, then the next step is simple too: you have to check whether or not you will need a special Ethics Certificate – actually, you don’t have to know why the certificate is needed, just if! And if you do need a certificate, that too is simple (but not as simple as the first two steps!): you have to explain what you want to do to an Ethics Committee who will tell you if you can do your project or not.
How do I check the Ethics?
The best way is to talk with your teacher to see if you need ethics approval. Use the ethics flow chart [NR couldn’t find this. This is the original link from which we took this material, but Heather and I weren’t happy with the ethics check flow chart Ethics Info 19]. If you are using animals it is very likely that you will need approval. If you are not sure you should apply anyway.
Can I start my project without an Ethics Check?
There is nothing to stop you gathering information from books and the internet, nor on planning how you will do
your investigation. When you have decided what your experiments will look like, that is the moment to do an ethics check. If you find you don’t need ethics approval, and everything else is ready, you can start your project straight away! If you need ethics approval, you must get it before you do any experiments or testing. This includes gathering information from people, or observing people or animals.
What happens if I do a project without Ethics approval?
If you need ethics approval and you begin or do a project without it,
• you will not be allowed to enter or display your project at the fair;
• you may have broken the law and you and your school could face prosecution.
But what if I just made a mistake?
Don’t panic! If you have done your checks properly, or even if you have gone too far without ethics
approval, stop and get help. We can all make mistakes, and your teacher and the Fair Committee want to
help you learn and do well. If you have made a mistake we will all help you. Of course, there are
consequences for mistakes, and if a project that needs ethics approval has gone too far it might not be
possible to fix that – in that case you will not be able to enter or display your project. But whatever you do, don’t press on with a project if you have made a mistake with ethics – you must stop and get help.
What happens if my project is selected for the fair?
If your project is selected for the Fair you and your teacher will have to complete parts of the entry form that certify you have done ethics checks properly and have any approval needed. If you have not done this you will not be able to enter your project even though it was chosen by your school. If your ethics checks and approval are correct, your project is now headed for the fair!
Why are all Animal Studies included?
We have a duty to care for all forms of animal life. The Animal Welfare Act has some lists of animals for which ethics must be checked. Some animals are not included in those lists – but the Act also requires we care for all animals, and we know from projects sent to the Fair in the past that there can be ethical issues that students and teachers are not aware of. So to help everyone, to make sure all investigations are ethical, and to help train you in good science and technology, we require proper recording and authorisation procedure for all projects involving animals in any way.
For Care and Safety Review of Animals and Micro-organisms ask your teacher for the appropriate form or download them from the Science Fair website. Any project involving animals but not requiring an Animal Ethics Approval should complete a Care and Safety Review Form. The Teacher in Charge of the Science and Technology Fair at your school should check this form. Once completed and checked this form must be placed inside your logbook. Schools must ensure they are following the Safety and Science Guidelines from the Ministry of Education. Other useful resources relating to the New Zealand Science Curriculum can be found here.
DISCLAIMER: The Manawatu Science and Technology Fair Committee:
- Does not accept any responsibility for human or animal misfortune as a consequence of involvement.
- Does not necessarily support the reported conclusions when product testing preferences, or other findings are identified.
- Do not take responsibility for commercial product testing implications.
Authors: Martica Alico and Nick Robinson
Updated 20/10/2026
