Getting Māori research to the classroom faster

Long lead times from research to curriculum materials are hardly a new frustration. But with materials sometimes lagging discovery by 20 years for Māori-medium teachers the delay is acute. They face challenges in low rates of te reo Māori literacy growth, and have few resources in non-language subjects or in materials reflecting a Māori world view. All of which, says Jenny Lee, made the knowledge exchange project, Uku, an ideal candidate for creating a new digital curriculum resource that her team at Rautaki Ltd, through Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, is on track to deliver at the end of November 2006. Reflecting Māori pedagogy and tikanga, the curriculum resource draws on the Uku: Earth-Fibre Housing project, led by Kepa Morgan and Rau Hoskins at the University of Auckland developing building material using earth reinforced with flax fibre or muka. Working alongside the researchers, Rautaki will deliver a complete teaching package for te reo Māori immersion classrooms (years 6 – 8) including teacher’s notes, student activities, using website and DVD resources. The resource centres on the pūtaiao (science), hangarau (technology) and tikanga-ā-iwi (social studies) curriculum document. The Uku resource development has progressed to its third phase, with the last workshop involving the presentation of unit objectives, course outlines and activities to Māori-medium teachers. The teachers also participated in the science experiments and provided valuable feedback – they said they looked forward to the translation of more Māori research projects into unique resources in the future.

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