Observation and mana taiao
As the people of Aotearoa paused to enjoy our first public Matariki holiday, we remember that Matariki is intrinsically connected to the environment.
Observation plays a key role in mātauranga Māori and science and it underpins mana taiao – environmental awareness. The Hub has new content to grow observation skills and mana taiao both inside the classroom and beyond.
Recording bird species
A year 4 student records the different species of birds visiting her garden at home for the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey. Other online citizen science projects offer variations on bird data collection depending on desired learning outcomes.
Citizen science – opportunities to look around and to look up
Look around!
Global Earth Challenge explores plastic pollution, insect populations, air quality and food sustainability. Winter is a good time to document local air quality – it’s easily done with a phone and an app!
Capture information on species abundance and distributions with projects like New Zealand Garden Bird Survey and the Great Kiwi Earthworm Survey.
Look up (via your computer)!
AI4Mars helps teach Mars rovers how to classify Martian terrain so that future rovers don’t get stuck in the sand.
Planet Four identifies and measures features on the surface of Mars.
Go online to hunt for galaxies – it’s more of a galactic Where’s Wally than citizen science, but it’s just as addictive.
The projects are ideal springboards for learning and are supported by related Hub resources. Keep an eye out for new projects coming soon: New Zealand fish (Spyfish), kelp forests and wild sourdough.
Te Kāhui o Matariki and the environment
Mana taiao is the central theme uniting our Environment Aotearoa 2022 resources. The final articles in this series are:
Hiwa-i-te-rangi
Hiwa-i-te-rangi provides motivation to step into the unknown. This whetū represents environmental aspirations and actions in Environment Aotearoa 2022.
Source: Ministry for the Environment, Stats NZ and data providers and licensed by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
They are supported with cross-curricular activities, which are ideal for engaging observational skills and competencies:
For a quick overview of the entire suite of resources along with pedagogical suggestions, check out this short webinar and curated collection.
Understanding kaitiakitanga – PLD webinar
The concept of kaitiakitanga has deep meaning and history. Tame Malcolm (Kaimahi Matua at Te Tira Whakamātaki) shares some of his understandings – including pūrākau connected to caring for the whenua in this recorded PLD webinar.
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We hope you enjoy using the Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao in your teaching and would love to hear from you. Your comments, ideas and feedback can be emailed to enquiries@sciencelearn.org.nz.
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Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao
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