Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā | Mātauranga Māori Science and Design Fair

Reflections from whānau, kaiako and ākonga showcase how locally grounded, purpose-driven inquiry strengthens both scientific understanding and cultural identity. It emphasises the value of connecting curiosity to real-world issues within the local community.

One group investigated natural fibres as a solution for oil spills in waterways, earning recognition from Bay of Plenty Regional Council with the Mana o te Wai Enhancement Achievement Award. Another inquiry explored te maramataka, examining whether its tohu continue to align with observed energy levels.

The video demonstrates how Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā is a valuable medium that fosters curiosity, critical thinking and cultural connection.

Kupu Māori

• Maramataka – Māori lunar calendar.

• Tohu – sign.

Questions for discussion

• How did beginning with a student-generated pātai influence the direction and depth of the learning inquiries described?

• What are the benefits and challenges of inviting whānau and community members to contribute to inquiry projects, for example, the maramataka energy level surveys?

• How can kaiako create classroom conditions where both environmental science and mātauranga Māori are explored in ways that are respectful and meaningful?

Transcript

Elva Conroy

I’m a parent of one of the students, and over the last 4 or 5 years, I’ve been following the awesome work that Te Arawa Lakes Trust have been doing in terms of hosting Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā, the science and design fair. I’ve been trying to encourage the teachers at our school to check out the science fair and I offered to provide some support if they were keen. I’m someone who’s worked in the environmental field, both in terms of planning and, and restoration, working with councils and iwi. And so I think there was this natural thing of wanting to find something to support the kids, support their curiosity, but also find something local because there’s so many amazing projects that we could have developed locally.

Amelia

Our science fair project was about getting oil out of our waterways and using natural fibres to soak it all up.

Luka

We won the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Award, the Mana o te Wai Enhancement Achievement Award.

Sheryl Helleur

The science fair was a really great way for the tamariki to gain purpose for their learning. They would go from the idea and then were quite determined and motivated to then have that end product. So the science fair helped guide them with their purpose and then sort of pushed them from the pātai, the first initial question, and then helped their learning then evolve because then they had so many other questions and curiosities and then that helped it then think about the future and then how could they then take action? So that science fair really helped them have a true purpose in their learning.

The maramataka today is Tangaroa-ā-roto. The tohu is high energy, so how are you feeling today?

Kupa-Tāne

Oh, more mid-energy.

Sheryl Helleur

OK, what about you?

Israel

I’m also more mid-energy.

Kupa-Tāne

My project was about te maramataka and are the tohu of the maramataka true? The question I was trying to answer was how is the maramataka used now? We did a couple of surveys on the energy levels. If you looked over here, usually our energy levels with the phases, they didn’t really match up.

Sheryl Helleur

So what was your findings with the junior classes, how did they respond to your survey?

Kupa-Tāne

So we came to a conclusion it’s because little kids usually just have higher energy, or they could have higher energy in the morning, and they might have just been confused because usually their highest energy level was high. The most interesting thing I’ve learned is probably how maramataka affects so many different things. I thought it would affect only like the basics, like it would back in the day, but it affects like your energy levels. It affects what time you want to go hunting, what time you want to go fishing, when fishing is good and all that kind of stuff.

Sheryl Helleur

We could test more of a variety of people rather than just the tamariki.

Kupa-Tāne

We could also ask our whānau.

Sheryl Helleur

Yeah, that would probably be a good one.

I think definitely all of the learning, if it has a purpose, then it really increases the motivation as well. They were going home and doing more learning because of that purpose. They also were really driven to find ideas for what could happen in the future.

Acknowledgements

Elva Conroy, Conroy | Donald Consultants
Amelia and Luka, Pāpāmoa Primary School
Sheryl Helleur, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School
Kupa-Tāne and Israel, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School

Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā | Mātauranga Māori and Science Design Fair, Te Arawa Lakes Trust.
Website images courtesy of Bay Science
Students presenting work, researching by stream, at Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā and experimenting with fibres, Pāpāmoa Primary School
Kī-o-rahi project board, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School