CPb: Overview: An introduction to the NZC and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

1. Overview: An introduction to the NZC and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

 In this very first module, we explore an approach of setting the socio-group participatory norms, where every child is empowered to participate in learning, engage in learning, and learn deeply. The key aspect that sets this aside from a more traditional approach centred around the teacher making sure that all children learn and succeed is the notion of whānau or family where the children themselves learn to ensure that nobody is left behind. Thus encompassing the Pasifika values of family and belonging (Tapasa cultural competencies framework) and the Māori values of whānau, mahi kotahitanga and whanaungatanga. This might be seen through ākonga working as part of a group on a Social Sciences inquiry where they all share and make sense of their past experiences and their thinking which emerges from this or participating in scientific exploration and contributing their thoughts around what they notice and what they observe. 

2. The Arts

Learning in, through, and about the arts stimulates creative action and response by engaging and connecting thinking, imagination, senses, and feelings. By participating in the arts, students’ personal well-being is enhanced. As students express and interpret ideas within creative, aesthetic, and technological frameworks, their confidence to take risks is increased. Specialist studies enable students to contribute their vision, abilities, and energies to arts initiatives and creative industries.

What are The Arts About? 

The arts are forms of expression, that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character if Aotearoa, New Zealand (tki, 2014). The universal languages of the arts allows for people to transform creative ideas to communicate meaning. The arts are: Powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealanders. (NZC pg 20)

Learning in, through, and about the arts stimulates creative action and response by engaging and connecting thinking, imagination, senses, and feelings. 

Unpacking The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum

Visit Te Kete Ipurangi to explore further learning and resources associated with the arts in the New Zealand Curriculum: https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/The-arts. 

2.1. Key Concepts in The Arts

Key concepts are the ideas and understandings that we hope our ākonga will gain through learning in the arts. Key concepts are explored through contextualised learning experiences.

Connection

The arts can be seen as vehicles for making connections between self and the world around you, between ideas and practices. The arts examine relationships within, between, and across spaces, cultures, and ideas.  

Invention

Invention involves imagination and taking risks through the process of inquiry into self, knowledge, and practice. It is through this that new spaces of experience and understanding are developed. 

Transformation

The arts serve as agents of change. Ideas of transformation can be interpreted internally or externally in social or cultural contexts. Transformation allows new perspectives to be taken of self, others, and the world. 

2.2. The Key Principles of The Arts

The Arts Curriculum Follows 7 Key Principles

Contrast or Emphasis in a composition refers to developing points of interest to pull the viewer’s eye to important parts in the composition of the work.  

Balance is a sense of stability in the body of work. Balance can be created by repeating the same shapes and by creating a feeling of equal weight.

Harmony is achieved in a body of work by using similar elements throughout the work. Harmony gives an uncomplicated look to your work. 

Tension or Variety refers to the differences in the work, You can achieve variety by using different shapes, textures, colours, and values in your work.     

Movement adds excitement to your work by showing action and directing the viewer’s eye throughout the picture plane.

Rhythm is a type of movement in drawing and painting. It is seen in repeating of shapes and colours. Alternating lights and darks also give a sense of rhythm.  

Proportion or scale refers to the relationships of the size of objects in a body of work. Proportion gives a sense of size seen as a relationship of objects such as smallness or largeness.     

2.4. Dance

Dance is expressive movement that has intent, purpose, and form. In dance education, students integrate thinking, moving, and feeling. They explore and use dance elements, vocabularies, processes, and technologies to express personal, group, and cultural identities, to convey and interpret artistic ideas, and to strengthen social interaction. Students develop literacy in dance as they learn about, and develop skills in, performing, choreographing, and responding to a variety of genres from a range of historical and contemporary contexts (TKI, 2007).

The key Concepts of Dance 

Relationships and Connection

Dance is a socio-cultural art form in which relationships and collaborations are naturally developed through co-constructive artistic practices. 

Dance requires sensitivity to and awareness of the actions, ideas, and responses of others to cultural practices and to conventions of particular dance forms.

Invention and Creation 

Dance creation is a cycle of invention and reinvention. 

Dance works are created and re-created through the process of manipulating a range of elements, devices, structures, and choreographic devices. To dance is like “dreaming with your feet” (Constanze) where the learner is empowered to create movement based on feeling and on trial and error.

Embodiment and Performance

Dance is self-expression through movement, which is felt in the heart, body, and mind. 

Performance is integral to dance as the means to communicate ideas, concepts, stories, and feelings. Existing ideas are challenged and new ideas explored through the process of active reflection

Dance Pedagogies

During contact week you will see the following pedagogies being used…

• Modelling
• Role playing
• Scaffolding (movement bank)
• Cumulative progression

What value do each bring to the teaching of Dance?

Useful Resources

You can find more resources for teaching dance at: https://artsonline.tki.org.nz/Teaching-and-Learning/Secondary-teaching-resources/Dance/Reviewed-resources/Key-collection/Dance-Wall-Charts-Teacher-Support-Material 

Dance Elements

The elements of dance can be remembered by the acronym – BERTS: BODY/ENERGY/RELATIONSHIPS/TIME/SPACE

• Body awareness
• Energy
• Relationships
• Time
• Space

Read pages 148 – 151 of Dinham, J. (2016). Delivering authentic arts education (3rd ed). Cengage Learning Australia 

Initiating dance in the classroom

This snapshot illustrates the type of lesson that can gently lead children into dance. The teacher has observed children playing ballgames in the playground and decided to build on that interest and skill.

Mr Lui takes his class of Year 6 students to the hall where there is room to spread out. He has a tub of basketballs ready.

Mr Lui then explains that he has a tub of balls from which each child selects one. The trick, he says, is for children to return to their spots without dropping the ball while carrying it behind their backs

Children are then led through a sequence of moves such as passing the ball around their body, turning around with the ball between the knees, rolling the ball from one foot up over the torso or their heads and down to the other foot. After these non-locomotor moves, children form a large circle and walk clockwise while holding the ball in the positions Mr Lui calls out: over your head, under your arm, behind your neck

children are then asked to select their three favourite moves and find a way of stringing them together in a repeat pattern that they can do five times over. This means that children may need to devise connecting moves.

The session draws to a close by Mr Lui consolidating learning around the dance elements of directions, levels and pathways. He asks children in their pairs to devise names for each of their three main moves, such as the ‘sliding ball pass’ or the ‘bounce twist diagonal’ before sharing this information with another pair.

FOUNDATIONS OF DANCE LITERACY: CONCEPTS, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

If you are planning to engage children in dance that expresses and communicates meaning, then you need a dance ‘language’

Elements of dance Rudolf von Laban was a choreographer and movement theorist who made a major contribution to contemporary ideas about dance and movement. One of his most significant contributions was his development of a vocabulary for describing and cataloguing the elements of expressive movement. He also developed the system of dance notation known as Labanotation, which has been further refined by others including Lisa Ullman and Ann Hutchinson Guest. While Laban’s original categories of dance elements have been modified for different contexts, all such systems essentially codify the same sort of information.

Exploring movement possibilities is a core aspect of dance education and experimenting with different combinations of dance elements builds a movement vocabulary.

Space Space refers to where the body is – the three dimensions within which it moves. Space can be thought of in terms of how the body, or parts of the body, occupies big and small spaces, expands and contracts personal space, occupies general space as part of group circles and how the dancers manage performance space by not bumping into others

Time Time refers to the the way the movement uses the dimensions of time such as tempo, momentum and duration. These dimensions of time are shared with music, so learning about them can occur in various combinations of dance and musical experiences.

Dynamics (energy) Dynamics largely determines the character of a movement.

Think in terms of the difference between an unfolding movement, like a flower opening, and a bouncing or exploding movement. Weight of the movement is expressed in terms of strong and light. Strong movement is heavy like an elephant’s walk, and engages the body’s mass, whereas light movement is delicate Time in relation to the dynamics of the movement refers to how the time taken to complete the movement creates qualities like sudden, sharp or sustained. Space refers to the trajectory of the movement – whether the shortest path is taken or a more meandering one. It is described in terms of direct or indirect. Flow is described in terms of bound or free. A bound movement is precise and highly controlled. A free movement is an unrestrained, uninhibited flowing movement such as gliding like a bird.

Exploring and performing with others While dance can be an individual activity, dancing with a partner or in a group are established dance conventions. By dancing in pairs or groups, children explore different roles and relationships. They can work in unison, act as mirrors to each other or complement each other. Individual children in a group can provide the physical support or be a counterpoint to contrast with the action of the others. They can take the lead. Group work develops children’s understanding of the bigger dance picture and the space around them. They need to avoid bumping into each other, for a start.

2.6. Drama

Drama expresses human experience through a focus on role, action, and tension, played out in time and space.

they learn to use spoken and written language with increasing control and confidence and to communicate effectively using body language, movement, and space. As they perform, analyse, and respond to different forms of drama and theatre, they gain a deeper appreciation of their rich cultural heritage and language and new power to examine attitudes, behaviours, and values.

Connection – Embodiment and performance

Drama utilises both personal and universal experiences to inform the creative process. 

Drama expresses ideas, emotions, and stories through body and voice. 

Transformation – Reflection, challenge, and transform

Drama reflects or holds a mirror up to our world. 

Drama interprets the way in which others interact in past and present cultures. 

2.7. Drama Elements

The Key Elements of Drama

 A comprehensive drama programme should explore, analyse and utilise all of these elements. 

Dinham (2023) identifies the elements of dance as: 

• Role, Character and Relationships
• Situation
• Voice and Movement
• Space and Time
• Focus
• Tension
• Language
• Ideas and Dramatic Meaning
• Mood and Atmosphere
• Symbol

179 – 181 of Dinham, J. (2016). Delivering authentic arts education (3rd ed). Cengage Learning Australia

FOUNDATIONS OF DRAMA LITERACY: CONCEPTS, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Developing children’s drama literacy so they can effectively create and communicate in this art form is an integral and important aspect of drama education.

Elements of drama

The elements – or building blocks – of drama are employed in shaping the dramatic action to create meaning

Principles of narrative (story)

The narrative impulse runs deep within the drama tradition. Narrative is a particular way of knowing the world – knowing what it is like

In drama, children develop and enact stories using the elements of drama. This means they:

• learn how to put events in sequences that make sense
• use their understanding of narrative devices to plan a story that will hold the listener’s attention
• develop their vocabulary, use of descriptive language and capacity to express ideas clearly
• develop their self-confidence and therefore their public speaking ability more easily because they have an investment in the story.

Being able to construct and communicate meaning through narrative has application in all aspects of the school curriculum. Review the following Starter ideas to see how you can begin to engage with storytelling.

Steps into storytelling

To start children on the path of thinking like a storyteller, try activities like these:

• Say a noun–verb–object type of sentence such as, ‘The man stepped through the door’. Children go around a circle and each child adds descriptive detail. For example, The old man stepped cautiously through the weather-beaten door. The tall man stepped smartly through the narrow door.
• Circle stories require each person to add an extra line to a story that evolves around the circle. For example, the first child says, There once was a boy who lived in Sydney. The second child says, He had three older sisters. The third child says, He had no brothers but he did have a special friend. You can set requirements about something having to happen or that an interesting story is told in three complete revolutions of the circle.
• Read a story to the class and then arrange children in pairs to retell the story to each other. The first child begins to retell the story and at a signal the second child continues where the first left off.
• Say a word such as sand and ask children for other words that refer to the same thing, such as dirt, grit, gravel, dust, soil, earth and so on. Ask them to create a story using all the words they have listed.
• A child writes a sentence at the top of a page to initiate a story. The second person writes the next sentence underneath but folds the paper so that the following person only sees what they have written, and not what was written by the previous person. This continues around the group until the page is unfolded and read. The group then shapes the odd sequence of events into a story.

Drama participation skills

In drama, children participate as performers and as audience members. They make drama – and they respond to it – by being creative and reflective learners. The first skill for participation is a willingness to get up and work through ideas using body and voice in the physical space. In this context, the teacher can begin to educate children about using the elements of drama to make the dramatic performance a more meaningful way of learning and expressing ideas.

When children participate in drama education by watching it, they become audience members. In their role as audience members, children learn that certain protocols apply.

Performance skills

Movement

Like dance, drama is an embodied arts subject whereby the body (voice and movement) is the primary vehicle for expression – the instrument. Many learning activities that involve children in developing their understanding of how meaning is communicated through placement in space and in relation to others – as well as mime, posture, gesture and facial expression – have application to both drama and dance.

Non-verbal communication skills are dependent on physical coordination and control.

Using masks that have a neutral expression is a strategy that highlights how the body communicates without the contribution of facial expression.

Vocal expression

Drama provides children with opportunities to attend to, and develop, confidence in their speaking abilities. This refers to their diction (clarity), pronunciation (accuracy), voice projection and expression.

Children develop vocal modulation by attention to tone (timbre), intonation (pitch), volume (dynamics) and pace (tempo). They also explore their vocal capabilities by making sounds with their voices (roar like a lion). Vocal expression involves the elements of music so activities around music and speaking should be beneficial.

Character

The skill of inhabiting a character is an important one for children to develop. Thinking in the first person, understanding the role and creating a backstory for the character are ways of learning to inhabit a character. Becoming different characters also invites children to experience different ways of being in the world.

Personal focus

Children are required to pay attention during the development of drama activities.  Developing personal focus underpins their ability to communicate effectively using their instrument: the body.

Social participation

Drama provides a ready way for children to learn how to work together and to work cooperatively. Children’s self-awareness (self-image, self-control, self-reliance) underpins their ability to do this effectively. Getting to know their peers and developing an empathetic relationship with them helps build strong group bonds that are necessary for successful group work.

Audience skills

An audience is intrinsically part of the dramatic arts and children learn to perform to an audience as well as be an audience for a performance. In the school situation there are extra responsibilities related to responding by providing constructive feedback and participating in learning through reflection.

2.8. Sound Art – Music

Students develop literacies in music as they listen and respond, sing, play instruments, create and improvise, read symbols and notations, record sound and music works, and analyse and appreciate music. This enables them to develop aural and theoretical skills and to value and understand the expressive qualities of music.

As students learn to communicate musically with increasing sophistication, they lay a foundation for lifelong enjoyment of and participation in music. Some will go on to take courses in musicology, performance, or composition.

Basic Elements of Music 

The elements of music can be seen as the building blocks of music. Think of the elements as ingredients to a recipe or parts to a car. The elements of music are essentially the different things you can hear when you listen to music. They are what differentiates a piece of music from other sounds. There are a range of different elements you may come across in music: 

• Melody – A sequence of notes and rhythms
• Harmony – the sound of two or more notes at the same time
• Rhythm – short and long sounds which convey movement
• Texture – the layers present in the sound
• Beat – like a pulse 
• Pitch – how high or low a sound is
• Tempo – the speed
  • lento – very slow;
  • largo – very slow and ‘broad’;
  • adagio – slow;
  • andante – at walking speed;
  • moderato – at moderate speed;
  • allegro – fast and lively;
  • vivace – lively.
• Structure/Form – how it is sorted into sections 
• Dynamics – musical expression – how string or soft a sound is 

2.9. Elements of Music

 elements can then be used by ākonga to express themselves through music, as well as providing sophisticated methods for appreciation and reflection on compositions. The elements also provide a structure for teachers when planning for explicit teaching within music education. 

 pages 253 – 254 of Dinham, J. (2016). Delivering authentic arts education (3rd ed). Cengage Learning Australia.

FOUNDATIONS OF MUSIC LITERACY: CONCEPTS, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

for children to express themselves musically in more sophisticated ways and to appreciate music, purposeful attention has to be given to this learning. You can do this by planning practical learning experiences that highlight certain elements. For example, children walk to a beat. Always aim to develop understanding through engagement in music – singing, playing, moving, listening, creating, reading and writing.

an active problem-solving approach where children are required to find solutions to a challenge is a better way to progress.

2.10. Visual Arts

Visual arts learning begins with children’s curiosity and delight in their senses and stories and extends to the communication of complex ideas and concepts.

In visual arts education, students develop visual literacy and aesthetic awareness as they manipulate and transform visual, tactile, and spatial ideas to solve problems.

meaning-making is further informed by an investigation of the contexts in which artworks are created, used, and valued. As they develop their visual literacy, students are able to engage with a wider range of art experiences in increasingly complex and conscious ways.

The visual arts develop students’ conceptual thinking within a range of practices across drawing, sculpture, design, painting, printmaking, photography, and moving images. Art history may include a study of theories of the arts, architecture, and design. Theoretical investigations also inform practical inquiry. Opportunities to explore and communicate in the visual arts continue to expand as technologies and multi-disciplinary practices evolve (TKI, 2007).

Key concepts in Visual Arts

Creativity and Connection 

The visual arts are about giving ideas and expressions for the purpose of engaging and interacting with self and others. The creative process explores the notion of identity and community.

Inquiry and Production: The process of reflecting, evaluating, and critiquing work

Challenge and Invention: The visual arts aim to create contexts where students take risks with their ideas and concepts generated from their interaction with the worlds they live in. 

They are premised on the notion that instability in terms of knowing or knowledge is a productive space for invention or the creation of the ‘new’.

Transformation and Empowerment: Creation is a process of transformation – change, conversion, alteration, metamorphis – realised through expression and production. 

Transformation creates the conditions for the empowerment of both individuals and (on a more collective basis) groups or communities.

291 – 297 from Dinham, J. (2016). Delivering authentic arts education (3rd ed). Cengage Learning Australia

A closer look at colour – one of the elements

There is so much you can teach about colour that will enable children to express themselves more effectively. For example, on a rainy day, colours are greyish or dull. If children learn how to make dull colours (for example, by mixing grey into all the colours, or by mixing blue, red and yellow together in different proportions) they can then employ these greyish colours to create a picture of a rainy day. Equally, dull colours reinforce the mood of a sombre occasion or the light effects at dusk, so children are able to convincingly create these as well.

We are discussing colour in terms of making visual artworks, but you will see the principles of colour demonstrated in home decor magazines and TV shows: a sage green sofa is finished with red and beige patterned scatter cushions (complementary colour highlight); a set of blue and green coloured underwater photographs hangs on a deep-blue coloured feature wall (analogous colour combination). When you look around, you will see colour principles at work everywhere in your daily life.

Compare two ways of teaching about colours

 The first teacher uses a didactic approach rather than an experiential approach, as exemplified by the second teacher. The second approach is favoured in The Arts learning area.

A teacher is conducting a lesson about colour mixing by describing the colour wheel. Children learn that the secondary colours are made from the primary colours positioned on either side of them.

Blank colour wheel templates are then handed out to the children so they can colour them in using their coloured pencils. The teacher moves around the room, checking that the children are colouring in the segments in the right order, carefully working within the lines, using the pencil to get a rich colour and naming the colours accurately.

Naturally, when it comes to filling in the green segment, children reach for their green coloured pencils and carefully fill in the segment between the blue and yellow. The same thing happens when they colour the orange and purple segments.

Unfortunately, the concept of colour mixing was not conveyed in this lesson. While, children managed to place the secondary colours correctly between the two primary colours that constituted them, the reality of these colours being a mixture of the two primary colours on either side was lost. Children needed to mix blue and yellow to make green – rather than use the green pencil.

In another room, a teacher is taking a colour mixing session with a class of excited young children. Each child is at one of three tables with a piece of white paper in front of them. In the middle of the table are two recycled polystyrene meat trays with a kitchen sponge in each. Each sponge is saturated with one of the primary colours: red and blue on one table, blue and yellow on another and yellow and red on the third table.

As instructed by their teacher, the children carefully press the palm of one hand onto one sponge and then onto their sheet of paper. They make brightly coloured hand prints. Next, they repeat the process by pressing the palm of their other hand into the second colour.

The teacher then asks the children to ink their hands again before holding them up so she can see a forest of primary colours. She asks the children to rub their hands together and print again. The two primary colours mix together and create the secondary colour. An excited discussion follows. By sharing the discoveries from the different tables, children learn that there are three secondary colours.

All colours have hue, value and intensity

 There is more to discover about colours besides how to mix them. Every colour has:

• hue – colouration

• value (or tone) – lightness and darkness

• intensity – brightness and dullness. By planning activities that help children learn about these features, you open up the possibility for them to use colour to greater effect in their artwork.

Exploring the hues of colour

• Match paint sample colour cards to natural items: different leaves, bark, shells, driftwood matched to different hues of colours. Children can also make colour cards to match found objects.

• Each child glues a square of patterned fabric to one side on a piece of drawing paper. A matching square shape is outlined beside it and children replicate the patterned fabric and match the colours by mixing paint.

• From magazines, tear out variations of a nominated colour (e.g. reds). Use these to make a collage picture

Exploring the tone (value) of colour

• Create a grey version (like a newspaper image) of an arrangement of objects or of a painting completed earlier.

• Create a painting such as a portrait using shades and tints of one colour: an entirely blue painting or a red one.

• Create a textile applique´ piece using dark coloured fabrics and another using light coloured fabrics.

Exploring the intensity of colour

• Each student outlines their name on a page and then segments it into postage stamp-sized pieces; likewise, the background. Colours at the bright end of the range are painted on the name. Dull colours are painted into the background. Students learn that bright colours advance and dull colours recede.

• Paint a rainy day scene using dull colours and soft outlines to capture the atmosphere.

• Paint a street scene on a sunny day and again on an overcast day.

• Create an artwork matching bright or dull colours to the mood.

2.12. Hei Mahi Whā: Dancing with Crayons

Activity : Stage 1 of Dancing with Crayons

Using a blank piece of paper – draw as many different marks or lines as you can think of. name each of these marks and lines e.g. wiggly, zig zag, straight, dash

Activity : Stage 2 of Dancing with Crayons

Using only a pencil or pen – draw a continuous line to the music you hear. You cannot lift your pen off the paper.

Activity : Stage 3 of Dancing with Crayons

Take a handful of different coloured crayons or felt pens.

Listen to this different style of music below and draw what you hear.

Change your coloured crayon for each new piece of music, instrument or drop you hear. You might want to challenge yourself and hold a colour in each hand. Focus on the movement of the music.

Where do you start?

• It is a common mistake many teachers make to find a picture they like on Pinterest and set about trying to mass produce this in their classroom. You end up with carbon copies and colouring in with little or no creativity and no understanding or concept of what artistic skills are being developed.
• Much school art these days is formulaic and conformist – more illustration than creative art. This is a shame because inquiry and creative expression are the  basis of all learning and is inclusive of various forms  of literacy and authentic aspects of numeracy (Hammond, 2012)
• Einstein claimed that creativity is much more important than intelligence. Imagination requires divergent thinking.  Divergent thinking also decreases as we become better at imitating or copying.  Gardener (2007) discussed the idea that schools are more geared towards enhancing mirror neurons (imitating or copying) and assessment of imagination is becoming increasingly harder to validate. 
• Additionally, art education struggles to find legitimacy in the hierarchy of subjects as society in general continue to demand a back to basics focus on education.
• (Hoeberigs, Johnston & MacKinnon, 2012).
• Visual art doesn’t always need to (and shouldn’t) be about creating a picture or an artwork.  Children need time to explore different media, shapes, space and textures.  They should be provided with a variety of materials to use for painting and dying.  All too often in a classroom operating under the constraints of an overcrowded curriculum and the pressure to get a ‘display’ up on the wall that parents will find appealing, teachers are limiting visual art to the reproduction of a modelled picture.
• Children need to develop an awareness of techniques, skills and knowledge to engage fully in the arts. Before you can undertake formal drawing activities, children require some ‘art language’ to understand aspects you will be focusing on.

3. Science

Why Teach Science?

“In science, students explore how both the natural physical world and science itself work, so that they can participate as critical, informed, and responsible citizens in a society in which science plays a significant role” (NZC, p. 17).

In the past Science education has typically focused on developing student knowledge. Recently though, there has been an international shift towards developing student competence and abilities to problem solve in science related contexts. The goal of most Science curriculums is now to develop future citizens who can take effective action. This proficiency is termed Scientific Literacy (Levrini et al, 2019; Roberts and Bybee, 2014; Skamp and Preston, 2021). The New Zealand Science Curriculum emphasises the importance of developing Scientific Literacy through its aims to:

• develop an understanding of the world, built on current scientific theories
• learn that science involves particular processes and ways of developing and organising knowledge and that these continue to evolve
• use their current scientific knowledge and skills for problem solving and developing further knowledge
• use scientific knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about the communication, application, and implications of science as these relate to their own lives and cultures and to the sustainability of the environment

Levrini, O., Tasquier, G., Branchetti, L., & Barelli, E. (2019). Developing future-scaffolding skills through science education. International Journal of Science Education, 41(18), 2647-2674.

3.4. Mātauranga Māori in Science Education

Mātauranga Māori incorporates all aspects of the Māori world view. This includes traditional knowledge, cultural knowledge, tikanga, spiritual knowledge and values. Science too is therefore part of this interconnected body of knowledge. It is important to remember that Mātauranga Māori is not just traditional or historical knowledge, but also a contemporary body that is constantly developing with a myriad of applications today. Mātauranga in Science is also place based, and can be held by individuals, whānau, or whole communities. Frequently this has been passed down through generations and can so can differ between areas. For example fishing practices, or harvesting practices in one place might differ from those in another (Whaanga, 2019). 

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/topics/m%C4%81tauranga-m%C4%81ori

(great PLD resources)

3.5. Science in the New Zealand Curriculum

• What stood out for you in reading about this learning area?
• How is the NOS strand different to the four contextual strands?
  • what science is and how scientists work  – nature of science is learning about how science works, which can then be applied to understanding the different aspects of science through the living world strand, planet earth and beyond strand, physical world & material world strand
• What might you teach in each of the four contextual strands?
•  
• Which contextual strand are you most excited to teach?
• What questions do you have about Science teaching in Aotearoa now?

3.6. The Nature of Science and Science Capabilities The Nature of Science in the NZC

The Nature of Science (NOS) strand in our curriculum intends to address several challenges in science education over recent years. The first being that many students experiences of science has historically seemed irrelevant and difficult, resulting in low retention of students in Science related subject areas as they move through the education system. The NOS component intends to make science both more engaging and more equitable for learners through highlighting that science is all around us, interactive, and relevant to our every day lives. The second challenge that the NOS strand aims to address is the awareness of how science operates as a knowledge system, and “big ideas” inherent in Science (i.e., how science explains natural events) that are important to understand for current and future citizenship. Thirdly, the NOS aims to address ongoing concerns about the need for future scientists from a diverse range of demographics by providing experiences that show ākonga what careers in science might look like (Hipkins, 2012). 

Science Capabilities

The five science capabilities are as follows:

• Gather and interpret data: making careful observations and differentiating between observation and inference
• Use evidence: supporting ideas with evidence and looking for evidence that supports or throws into question other people’s explanations
• Critique evidence: evaluating the trustworthiness of data
• Interpret representations: thinking about how data is presented and asking questions about what it reveals
• Engage with science: drawing on the other capabilities to engage with science in authentic contexts 

(Hipkins and Bull, 2016 p.127; TKI Five Science Capabilities)

Hei Mahi Toru

Watch the video at the link below by The Science Learning Hub to better understand the Science Capabilities and what these might look like in action at different curriculum levels in the classroom (17:22 onwards). This will also be useful for you to come back to also when developing your Microteaching plans in Module 3 of the course. 

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/3079-having-fun-with-the-science-capabilities

4. Social Sciences/ Tikanga ā-iwi

By the end of this section you should be able to:

1. Discuss the nature of social sciences knowledge and how it is reflected in the NZC
2. Align NZC’s Achievement objectives with relevant concepts and contexts for teaching
3. Identify key points from the recently published draft of the Aotearoa NZ’s histories curriculum. 

Pedagogical point: Note that each of the learning outcomes starts with an active verb that is directly measurable. All learning outcomes should start in this way. Tip: Don’t start a learning outcome with the word understand. You cannot directly measure understanding. Students have to demonstrate an understanding in some way (discuss, perform, explain, identify..)

4.2. Social Studies or Social Sciences?

“Social Sciences is an umbrella term for a NZC learning area which has social studies as its major constituent but acknowledges the place of the disciplines of history, geography, economics, and classical studies particularly in the senior school”  (Mutch et all 2008, p. 4).  whilst Social Studies is an integrated subject of several social sciences subjects, taught at schools mostly from years 1-10.

4.3. The nature of knowledge in Social Sciences

a) What is the current aim of the Social Sciences? To better understand our society and all its aspects

b)  How is the Social Sciences learning area structured?

Identity, Culture, and Organisation – Students learn about society and communities and how they function. They also learn about the diverse cultures and identities of people within those communities and about the effects of these on the participation of groups and individuals.

Place and Environment – Students learn about how people perceive, represent, interpret, and interact with places and environments. They come to understand the relationships that exist between people and the environment.

Continuity and Change – Students learn about past events, experiences, and actions and the changing ways in which these have been interpreted over time. This helps them to understand the past and the present and to imagine possible futures.

The Economic World – Students learn about the ways in which people participate in economic activities and about the consumption, production, and distribution of goods and services. They develop an understanding of their role in the economy and of how economic decisions affect individuals and communities.

4.4. Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories

Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories in the New Zealand Curriculum

Selecting meaningful topics

ask the following questions:

• How will the topic help students explore the big ideas: the foundational and continuous history of Māori, the impact of colonisation and settlement, the power people and groups hold, and the relationships that shaped our history?

• How will the topic draw on stories, examples, and perspectives so that students learn about the history of their local area and of Aotearoa New Zealand?

• How will the topic draw on stories from iwi and hapū about their history in the rohe?

• How will the topic support student-led inquiries into the history of Aotearoa New Zealand, the rohe, and the local area?

• In what ways is the topic important to the rohe or local area now?

• How will this topic support students to apply their learning to new and more complex contexts?

Understand (Big ideas)

• Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Colonisation and settlement have been central to Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories for the past 200 years.
• The course of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories has been shaped by the use of power.
• Relationships and connections between people and across boundaries have shaped the course of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories.

Know (Contexts)

• Whakapapa me te whanaungatanga – Culture and identity
• Tino rangatiratanga me te kāwanatanga  -Government and organisation
• Tūrangawaewae me te kaitiakitanga – Place and environment
• Kōwhiringa ohaoha me te whai orange Economic activity

Do (Inquiry practices)

• Identifying and exploring historical relationships
• Identifying sources and perspectives
• Interpreting past experiences, decisions, and actions

4.6. Suggested Pedagogy

Te Takanga o te Wā – Māori History Guidelines Year 1 – 8

MĀTAURANGA

Māori history is the complete human history of Aotearoa New Zealand – from the earliest Polynesian navigators to the people that English colonists named Māori, to the occupiers of land and the settlers of grievances, to the movers and shakers of our parliamentary system.

Mātauranga is a gathering of knowledge. Students use their knowledge, values, worldviews, and experiences to form opinions.

Using a student-centred, localised curriculum makes sense when discussing the history of local people and places. It also makes sense when teaching students whose ideas of history may be based on their own short lives and memories. Understanding change over time is central to historical thinking.

Encourage students to learn the skills of historical thinking – examining chronology, continuity and change, causality, significance, impact, intent and motivation, and bias and perspective.

SUGGESTED PEDAGOGY

Acknowledge students as experts and draw on their prior knowledge
Be willing to step back and listen to your students, acknowledging a special place for tangata whenua. Recognise that some students have experience that you may not have It is important to identify any misconceptions students may have. Students’ misconceptions affect their learning of subsequent concepts. They may be unable to make links to new knowledge, or may make links based on their misconceptions, which creates further confusion.

Use a range of strategies to uncover students’ prior knowledge and possible misconceptions, including:

• conducting student interviews
• using images to prompt discussion and questioning
• sorting or categorising relevant artefacts or images
• accessing prior knowledge through pre- (and post-) tests, surveys, and questionnaires.

Focus content on whānau and community

What does the community want their children to learn?

• What do the students want to learn?
• What is the history of the local iwi/hapū?
• Who are the people in your local area who can help you to bring this history alive for your students?

Use narrative (both oral and written storytelling)

Storytelling and narrative can be used to teach new concepts, reinforce those previously encountered, bring new perspectives, and address misconceptions. Stories also provide students with a shared prior knowledge and learning experience.

Use artefacts

Viewing and handling artefacts provides concrete support for building conceptual understandings

Use experts

Every community has experts who can inspire your students’ historical thinking, provide information, and add emotional impact to historical events. You can choose to invite experts to the classroom or to visit them at an historic site so that students are able to relate events to where they took place.

Use images

Images can play an important role in shaping our ideas about ourselves and other people. Photographs are a good way to introduce new topics and add to students’ knowledge about other places or other people’s lives.

They can provide a forum where students can begin to share, discuss, and question their ideas.

Use the news

Topical and current events can help students to make connections to the past and enhance the relevance of new learning.

Take education outside the classroom

Taking students to historic sites, marae, museums, and notable buildings takes history out of books and helps to bring it alive. Students place their learning in real-life contexts and use all their senses to learn about their local area.

Create timelines

You may choose to look at a certain time period with your class, or choose an event that affected your local community. Co-constructing timelines and other infographics with students supports their learning.

Acknowledge differing perspectives

Thinking historically requires that students interpret an historical event and learn to look at it from different perspectives. This can be difficult for younger students, and they will need guidance and modelling to learn to view information or events from different points of view.

• Some guiding questions might be:
• How do I think these people felt?
• Why did they feel this way?
• How do I feel?
• How did I first react? Do I now think differently?
• What things do I hear, touch, or see that remind me of something I already know?
• Who else thinks like me? Why?
• What does this mean?
• What could be different today?
• Is it important to talk about this? Why?

Take action

As a conclusion to this knowledge gathering, students can take part in social action to show that they too can create history.

Whakapapa

We are history, past, present, and future. Our past informs our future and helps us see our part in the present. We acknowledge the actions of our ancestors and use them to inform future decisions. We cannot change history but we can shape the future and our own behaviours as a result of historical events.

Where do I fit in?

Help your students to understand that they are a part of something bigger than themselves, that their history shapes who they are.

Who is around me?

Examine the concept of community with students. Start with your local community and note important landmarks or people. Find out from the students about the places or people in their community who are most important to them and why.

Tūrangawaewae

For students, history starts locally, exploring the features of the land of hapū and iwi, tūpuna, stories, protocols, and taonga. Places in Aotearoa New Zealand are significant to different people for different reasons and are used in different ways.

Our identity builds from where we come from.

Where is my place?

Tūrangawaewae are places where we feel especially empowered and connected. They are places linked to the stories of the tūpuna and are woven through the identity of an individual, hapū, and iwi. Students may feel that they have their own tūrangawaewae, and this can be investigated and shared to give context and a personal connection to the subject.

There may also be students (Māori and others) who don’t have a sense of tūrangawaewae. Encourage these students to show and strengthen their connections to their tūrangawaewae. This may include exploring the physical and natural environments of the local area, researching personal and family histories, and including parents and wider whānau in discussion about what tūrangawaewae means to them.

What is significant about your local area?

All communities in Aotearoa New Zealand have a unique history. Students start from what they already know when they are in the process of acquiring new knowledge.

Gather information on your local area.

Mapping history

Maps provide an often-overlooked source of information and a compelling perspective on the past. Maps provide not just a pictorial view of land, and cartographers’ labels reflect the mores and values of those who were responsible for drawing them up.

Migration within your own land If you are in an urban centre, the way tūrangawaewae is felt or expressed may have changed over time. Examine the reasons for these changes and some of the long-term consequences over time.

Where do I fit in?

When students learn about where they live and link local history to a larger event, they can see they are part of a larger story. Students can understand that they are a part of history and that they make history every day.

Mana Motuhake

Belonging – Identity – Mana – Controversy – Conflict – Consequences – Tino Rangatiratanga

The status of Māori as tangata whenua is significant for all in Aotearoa New Zealand. Exploration and innovation create opportunities and challenges for people, places, and environments. Students examine how far-reaching the consequences of actions can be when examining the historical efforts by Māori for a return to self-determination.

A return to self-determination Show students an image based around issues of mana motuhake, preferably one of local places or people that will prompt thought and speculation. Possible examples might be of the occupations at Bastion Point or Moutoa Gardens, the 1975 Land March, the cutting down of the pine on One Tree Hill, or Hone Heke cutting down the flagpole at Kororāreka.

Encourage students to think about the people behind the image. Ask: What do you think has happened here?

What or who could help us to find out? Who may have witnessed this event? Could they help us find out more?

Each local area has its own story

Encourage students to examine and engage in the perspectives of different groups in the search for mana motuhake, especially in communities that experienced conflict and loss.

Holding on to mana motuhake

Students can consider the responses and decisions made by the local community when faced with a loss of autonomy over many aspects of their lives.

Make a documentary

While younger students may not comprehend the scale of mana motuhake, they will be able to grasp the need to hold on to meaningful treasures or acknowledge important people. A documentary project will allow them to share their learning, even if it is about only one person or object.

Create a tour

Make your class knowledge accessible to the rest of the local community by creating a virtual tour of a local historic landmark. This could be a podcast or virtual website tour

Kaitiakitanga

Time – Context – Perspective – Knowledge – Tikanga – Guardianship

Historically, guardianship and ownership of the land in Aotearoa New Zealand has been subject to the conflicting values of different cultures. These values have shaped the land and the people. For students, local landmarks and natural resources are a foundation for looking at a history of guardianship, ownership, confiscation, conflict, and settlement.

Conflicting values

The New Zealand Settlements Act in 1863 authorised the confiscation of land belonging to any tribe that was judged by the Crown to have rebelled against the British Queen’s authority when attempting to protect their land. This, along with other direct effects of colonialism, means that in most areas of Aotearoa New Zealand students will be investigating the historical loss of kaitiakitanga.

Try to find out where local iwi had to go when land was confiscated and if anyone remained behind. Iwi and hapū may have travelled and re-formed, or split up.

Inevitably, traditions, buildings, and relationships will have changed.

A question of guardianship

For some students, understanding the concepts that underlie kaitiakitanga may require examining understandings about land ownership. Focus primarily on the history of the local land, the relationships different groups of people have had with it, and how different values and perspectives have influenced decision-making.

What is around me?

Explore the history of the local area with students. Research the history of a local landmark or the names of streets or mountains. Visit the local marae and ask a kaumātua to explain the significance of whakairo in the wharenui. Find out about local Māori leaders from history and investigate the influence they had on the local community and why people chose to follow them.

Restoration and rāhui

The restoration of environment and culture has always been an important part of Māori history. For a contemporary viewpoint, students can research the settlement processes of recent history to find ways in which iwi look after the local land today.

It is important not to oversimplify the way kaitiakitanga is embodied in your local area

Taonga is history

Taonga and heirlooms are imbued with meaning. Invite students to bring taonga from home or local marae to display in the classroom.

Whanaungatanga

Whānau – Hapū – Iwi – Whakapapa – Tūpuna – Connections – Community – Manaakitanga – Kotahitanga – Unity

The foundation of our identity comes from who we come from. Culture and heritage originate and are sustained through familial links and bonds. Kinship comes with rights and obligations and affects responses to historical events. People pass on and sustain culture and heritage for different reasons and this has consequences for people.

Who do we come from?

To deepen understanding of whanaungatanga, students need to consider the significance of collective responsibility and the value placed on the maintenance and power of connections and networks.

Passing on and sustaining culture

Students can move from the personal to the national by creating a timeline or historical narrative of an ancestor.

Compare and contrast their experiences with what was happening to local Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand at the same time.

Some focus questions could be:

• What aspects of local history impacted positively on whanaungatanga? Which impacted negatively?
• How were family and tribal relationships changed by conflict, intermarriage, and forced or unforced migration?
• How were communities changed as their leaders were killed, imprisoned, or undermined?
• Children are an important part of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Find events and stories that involved young children.

The events around the defence of Parihaka are one example. Students engage easily with the lives of other children. Have them consider what a local historical event would have looked like from a child’s perspective.

How would the children of the time have reacted? How did specific events affect their adult lives?

Change makers

Consider those people who might be considered change makers in your local Māori history. Collect as much evidence as you can about them before asking students to consider the following questions:

• What was the problem they were trying to solve?
• Who was involved or affected?
• Why was it hard to solve the problem?
• Was the problem solved?
• What prompted them to stand up and demand change?

A show of unity

Responses to historical events and decision making about action are often underpinned by the rights and reciprocal obligations conferred on Māori by whanaungatanga.

This presents an opportunity for students to look at how a sense of whanaungatanga empowered local iwi and hapū to respond to community challenges throughout history.

4.8. Resources on learning with images

Here are some excellent NZ and international resources on teaching Social Sciences and  History using images:

1. TKI teaching strategies with visual sources
2. Auckland Art Gallery education resources (check the resources for primary school programs!)
3. US national archive worksheet

5. Technology

Defining Technology Education

Technology Education involves understanding and participating in design or technological processes where students appraise products and solutions, identify problems, develop designs and consider cultural contexts. They do this in the contexts like hard materials, textiles, food technology, and digital technology. Technology Education is also centred around humans where individuals’ needs, values and experiences with technology across various locations and points in time influence technological change.

While there are various definitions of Technology Education available, a group of New Zealand tertiary educators have defined this simply as, “The learning area of the curriculum that helps children understand the influences of technology on their past, present and future world as well as developing the capability to skilfully and ethically design, develop and evaluate technologies within authentic contexts” (Fox-Turnbull, 2021 p.1).

5.2. So what isn’t Technology Education

current literature on effective teaching of Technology differentiates between the terms Educational Technology and Technology for Education.

Educational Technology… is where tamariki learn to “understand the influences of technology on their past, present and future world as well as developing the capability to skilfully and ethically design, develop and evaluate technologies within authentic contexts” (Fox-Turnbull, 2021 p.1). 

Technology for Education on the other hand is teacher use of digital tools to make lessons more engaging or motivating. This might be defined as, “children using technology as a learning tool” (Fox-Turnbull, 2021 p.2) and so does not involve learner| ākonga problem solving, design, creation of an outcome/product/system, or the development of technological skills.

Fox-Turnbull, Wendy, Elizabeth Reinsfield, and Alistair Michael Forret. Technology education in New Zealand: A guide for teachers. Routledge, 2021

5.3. Encountering the Curriculum Area

The Technology Curriculum Today

• The Technological areas on the left hand side use Achievement Objectives, and those on the right hand side use Progress Outcomes. It is likely that you are familiar with AOs already as these are found across other curriculum areas, POs on the other hand might be new for you. POs aim to assist teachers in understanding and teaching the new content knowledge related to digital technologies. They are intended to inform quality technology practice and support the design and development of digital technological outcomes within authentic contexts (Fox-Turnbull et al, 2021). You can click on the Achievement Objectives tab on the TKI website and also explore the Progress Outcomes tab to better understand these two ways of articulating progress in the Technology learning area.
• There are three strands interwoven between all of these Technological Areas: Technological Practice, Technological Knowledge, and the Nature of Technology. 

So What does this look like in the Classroom?

 Remember that in Technology each curriculum level spans two years at school: Level one is Year 1 -2, Level 2 is Year 3-4, Level 3 is Year 5-6, and Level 4 is Year 7-8. 

Hei Mahi Tahi

Take a closer look at the Technology Curriculum – you can find that here https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Technology. 

• Your first job is to access the front material in the curriculum and read the intentions for ākonga in the Technology learning area. You will notice that this aligns strongly with the content on the previous pages around Technology Education and the philosophy behind this. 
• Take a look at the Strands of the Technology Curriculum. 
• Take a look at the five learning areas of the Technology Curriculum. 

Then, explore Fox-Turnbull, Wendy, Elizabeth Reinsfield, and Alistair Michael Forret. Technology education in New Zealand: A guide for teachers. Routledge, 2021. There might be various parts of this text that interest you and you revisit later, but for now we recommend focusing on the following:

Chapter 1

• Page 2 on the difference between Technology for Education and Educational Technology

Chapter 4 (discussed further on the following page)

• Pages 109 – 114 describe technological areas.
• Pages 118 gives examples of what might be taught in each area at different levels of the curriculum.
• Pages 119 – 102 describe the Technological Strands