This year Kōtui Ako VLN Primary introduced several new programmes - one of which was Aotearoa Histories. We had two classes pick it up - St Joseph's Waihi, and a mixed class with schools from around the motu. As our Curriculum Lead, I was excited to delve into the refreshed social sciences resources and see how it would go being taught in two different online class models.

Hands-on in Zoom

All students got stuck into hands-on learning along the way and I loved the opportunity to do the same. The activities in Zoom purposefully combined various subjects, ways of learning, and drew on a range of student skills. In Zoom we practised drawing waka from different perspectives, used maps, mathematics and cardinal points to determine wind direction and calculate speed of travel, analysed images of clouds to predict weather, watched video to make sense of te kapehu whētu (the star compass), and the movement of our bodies to understand how a change in swell direction indicates you’ve sailed off-course.

Student choice

Independent learning followed the same kaupapa with akonga choosing projects to build on their strengths and interests. Near the start of semester when we were looking at the migration from the Philippines and Indonesia, most of the learners opted to draw and interpret Lapita designs, but several decided to research linguistic connections between Pasifika languages. 

To better understand the tikanga of harvesting harakeke, I asked tamariki to interpret sections of the pūrākau Rata and Tree. It was great to see a mixture of drawings, audio recordings and performances come through as students interpreted the story!

After investigating where the ancestors of Māori originated, we delved into how they travelled. When looking into waka design, Sienna, Grace and Brianna summarised several paragraphs of university level text on Māori sail design, whereas many others opted to try their hand at weaving with harakeke, or test out stability and floatation with plasticine hull design.

Lachie, Lucas and Gus combined materials research and construction by creating waka which they tested out in water. Check out Lachie's video here!

Our final projects tied into the tools and knowledge navigators used to cross the world’s largest body of water, Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa. From artworks that showed how animal migration or feeding habits helped find land through to swell experiments in the bath - students drew on their learning in Zoom and made sense of it in their own way.

Continuing the journey

Working with the Aotearoa NZ’s Histories curriculum continues to be an awesome journey. 

The ‘understand, know, do’ approach necessitates ‘big-picture’ thinking about what you’re planning to teach, why it’s important, and guides (but does not determine) how.

This pilot programme has come to the end of its first year and I’m looking forward to reflecting on what went well, what could be improved and what further opportunities have presented themselves for next year. 

He mihi nui tēnei ki ngā akonga nō te karaehe o Ngā Hītori o Aotearoa ki Kōtui Ako!