STEM + Mātauranga Māori Integration Lab
STEM + Mātauranga Māori Integration Lab · Years 7–10
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate a scientific concept or phenomenon using observation and evidence
- Apply scientific understanding to explain natural processes and systems
- Connect scientific knowledge to environmental decision-making and kaitiakitanga
- Evaluate how both mātauranga Māori and Western science contribute to understanding
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I can describe the key concept or phenomenon accurately using scientific vocabulary
- I can explain how evidence supports my scientific understanding
- I can connect scientific knowledge to at least one real-world environmental application
- I can identify where mātauranga Māori and Western science perspectives intersect or differ
Video Companion · STEM + Mātauranga Māori Integration Lab
Use this handout before, during, and after viewing.
The Integration Approach
Traditional knowledge + contemporary science = deeper understanding of our world. This lab asks you to apply both lenses to an environmental question — not to decide which is "right", but to discover what each one reveals that the other cannot.
Lab Investigation
Choose one of the following questions: (a) How does the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) predict optimal planting or fishing conditions, and how does this compare with scientific data? (b) What ecological indicators (tohu taiao) signal environmental health, and how do these compare with scientific monitoring data?
Synthesis
After your investigation, consider: Where did mātauranga Māori and Western science reach similar conclusions? Where did they differ? What does each approach reveal that the other misses?
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Complementary knowledge
Describe one specific example from your investigation where mātauranga Māori and scientific data reached similar conclusions. What does this tell us about both knowledge systems?
2. Different strengths
Identify one area where mātauranga Māori offered insights that the scientific data alone could not provide. Explain why.
3. Practical application
How could combining both knowledge systems lead to better environmental decision-making in Aotearoa? Give one specific example.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Level 3–4: Investigate how living and physical systems work; understand relationships between organisms and their environments; collect, interpret, and evaluate scientific evidence to explain natural phenomena.
Level 3–4: Understand how human activity affects natural environments; explore the connection between ecological health and community wellbeing; recognise the role of cultural knowledge in environmental decision-making.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Mātauranga Māori is a sophisticated knowledge system built through centuries of careful observation, hypothesis, testing, and refinement — the same processes that define scientific inquiry. Māori knowledge of ecology, weather patterns, seasonal change, and animal behaviour guided sustainable resource management for generations before Western science arrived in Aotearoa. Understanding science through a dual-knowledge lens — bringing mātauranga Māori and Western science into dialogue rather than hierarchy — produces richer, more contextually grounded understanding. The concept of kaitiakitanga reminds us that scientific knowledge carries obligations: understanding how natural systems work means accepting responsibility for how we treat them.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
- Kaitiakitanga values framework — connecting environmental guardianship to science inquiry
- Evidence sorting cards — for comparing scientific and mātauranga Māori data
- Place-based inquiry planner — for local environmental investigation
Curriculum alignment
- Nature of Science — Knowledge: Science is a way of investigating, understanding, and explaining our natural, physical world; mātauranga Māori offers complementary systems of knowledge that enrich scientific understanding.
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how different knowledge systems — including mātauranga Māori — shape how communities relate to the natural world.