Using multiple knowledge systems in your science classroom

Kaiako, ākonga and whānau share their learning experiences of culturally grounded approaches that have created safe, collaborative spaces where curiosity grows, different perspectives are explored and ākonga take increasing ownership of their learning.

Kaiako and whānau offer practical insights into how they plan by drawing on community knowledge, collective expertise and giving learners voice in how they inquire and share their learning.

Kupu Māori

• Karapipiti – an enhanced or embellished pepeha, often poetic or metaphorical in nature, that includes a whakataukī or Māori proverb specific to local iwi.

• Mana whenua – referring to a group people as holders of the rights, power and authority of their land. Also known as power associated with the occupation and possession of local lands.

• Maramataka – Māori lunar calendar.

Questions for discussion

• What shifts in engagement, ownership or depth of inquiry have you noticed when co-constructing learning intentions?

• In what ways did bringing together mātauranga Māori and Western science strengthen understanding rather than competing with each other?

• How were ākonga supported to think critically when encountering different perspectives or conflicting information?

Transcript

Sheryl Helleur

When we’re planning, we will have the overall kaupapa and then we will have possible learnings that might come out of it. And then when we’re bringing it to the tamariki, we will then co-construct our learning intentions and success criteria with them. And then as we go, they might decide that they want to dive deeper into an area, and so then we will help facilitate and guide that learning into different areas.

Simone Marsters

Our latest project was, we revisited a karakia waiata, and when I did a little bit more digging behind what they knew about this karakia, they could tell me in depth about the creation story from a te ao Māori perspective, but not all of the tamariki knew about the creation of the universe from a Western science perspective as in the Big Bang theory. And so as soon as that was mentioned, I just though, oh, here’s an opening, we can explore this further. And the kids were really engaged in what was happening there, which led us down this small inquiry that we’ve done.

Sheryl Helleur

You try and provide that Whare Tapa Whā space where they feel safe and then you post questions, which then draws them on to wanting to learn more.

Simone Marsters

You work as a team and so the planning is never done individually. Our kaupapa is to have an overarching theme for each term, and then everyone brings in their strengths around that.

Sheryl Helleur

When we were doing our science projects, Whaea Kim, she has a lot of knowledge about the wai. And so she took our tamariki down and they looked at the Te Ara o Wairākei and they did some water testing and things like that. And one of our other kaiako here with the maramataka rōpū, her dad was a fisherman and he was out at sea in Australia at the time. So all the tamariki told me their pātai, and then I emailed and he sent us a video back.

TK Walker

The Moon and its effect on fishing – it’s everything. So, it’s a, it’s a major contributing factor to when fish feed.

Kupa-Tāne

It was pretty hard to look through different perspectives, but we were sent a video, which helps us see the fisherman’s perspective. He talked about when the Moon is in Rākaunui, which is high energy, the fish don’t want to come up ’cause it’s too bright. So that’s not usually a good time to fish. But it is a good time when it’s super dark ’cause that’s when they will rise up and feed on all the algae.

Sheryl Helleur

We connect with mana whenua as well. They have given us some karapipiti. There’s a wealth of knowledge in our mana whenua.

Simone Marsters

We’ve been very fortunate by having a really good relationship with mana whenua. They work closely with our Kāhui Ako in providing a lot of the pūrākau, a lot of the knowledge or local histories that we can then teach in our classroom. The place-based learning, Kāhui Ako as in the learning community, where schools are joined and they work together to provide a localised curriculum. That is another powerful tool.

Elva Conroy

Definitely keep it local. For us, we had to stay within a kilometre. We were lucky we had a stream nearby. Use your networks or ask for help. Especially at the beginning, I sought the advice of the city council freshwater ecologist. I wanted to understand the nature of the oils and the, the gunk that was in the awa.

Sheryl Helleur

When we’re including mātauranga Māori and now pūtaiao kaupapa, they really connect because they have a strong buy-in and they have more questions and then they become more passionate about the subject. For example, our Te Ara o Wairākei rōpū, they felt compelled to send an email to the council.

Arna-Maria

It made us feel really like, you know, bad ‘cause it’s horrible. It’s like living in a house of smoke, can’t really breathe, can you?

Mikaela

We wrote to the council to ask for a better way for the eels to get out and migrate.

Arna-Maria

We actually got a few replies – yeah, they put it to the storm drain department to help with Wairākei. And they said they’ve got a few underwater ground pipes that can help the eels living a much better life.

Sheryl Helleur

They’re really good at deciding different ways they want to share their learning, so they might make an animation or they might do a retell on a video.

Elva Conroy

You provide guidance to the kids, but allowing enough space for the kids to design their project or to be thinking about how they want to display things, because they have a lot of amazing ideas. So providing that leadership where it needs to be but providing that support to stoke that curiosity for the kids.

Acknowledgements

Sheryl Helleur, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School
Simone Marsters, Arataki School and Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao
TK Walker
Kupa-Tāne, Arna-Maria and Mikaela, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School
Elva Conroy
Photos of Whaea Kim and students, Te Ara o Wairākei, maramataka project board, students testing water, Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School
Interview with fisherman, TW Walker and Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School
Aerial footage of Pāpāmoa Primary School and students on beach, Pāpāmoa Primary School
Students weaving, fenced stream, Te Ara o Wairākei, culverts into stream, students testing materials to soak up oil, student presenting to class and students at science fair, Science Fair 2025 worksheet, Pāpāmoa Primary School
Te pūrākau ō kī-o-rahi animation, by Ada, Jonty, Kerenga, Kora, Hailo, Kupa-Tāne and Skyla. Courtesy of Te Ākau ki Pāpāmoa School