📚 Unit Plans → 🌍 Unit 11: Kaitiaki o te Awa — Water Guardianship
Years 4–6 Pūtaiao / Science

💧 Unit 11: Kaitiaki o te Awa

Ākonga get to know their local awa — who it is connected to, how healthy it is, and what is changing it — then plan and carry out one kaitiaki action, using both their own measurements and the knowledge held by the people of that place.

Unit Overview | Tirohanga Whānui

🌊 The Mauri of our Waterways

Water is the lifeblood of Papatūānuku. In this unit, students explore the health of their local awa (river) through both scientific measurement and cultural observation, developing a deep sense of responsibility as kaitiaki.

Driving Question: “How can we act as kaitiaki to keep our local awa healthy for people, species, and future generations?”

Learning Intentions

Cultural & Ecological

  • Explain why wai (water) is tapu and vital within te ao Māori.
  • Identify human impacts on waterways and propose practical improvements.
  • Collaborate with whānau/community to plan a restoration step.

Scientific Inquiry

  • Measure basic water-quality indicators (clarity, pH, temperature).
  • Interpret macroinvertebrate counts as health indicators.
  • Communicate findings through data-backed visuals and reports.

Learning Sequence | Te Ara Akoranga

Lesson 1: Whanaungatanga

Local pūrākau of the awa and mapping the catchment area.

Lesson 2: Field Observation

Conducting outdoor observations and simple water quality tests.

Lesson 3: Human Impacts

Analysing stormwater, runoff, and "Voices of the Awa" role-play.

Lesson 4: Kaitiaki Actions

Planning realistic improvements and restoration signage.

Lesson 5: Collaboration

Drafting presentations and inviting community partners.

Lesson 6: Action & Reflection

Delivering the action and celebrating with a gallery walk.

📦 Teaching Resources

Field Handouts

Action Tools

📊 Curriculum Alignment

Science / Pūtaiao

  • Living World: How living things depend on each other.
  • Nature of Science: Gathering and interpreting data to answer questions.

Social Sciences

  • Place & Environment: How places influence people and people influence places.
  • Kaitiakitanga: Stewardship and environmental guardianship.

🌿 Cultural & Pastoral Care

  • Consult local iwi/hapū for tikanga and stories specific to your local awa.
  • Be sensitive to students’ experiences with flooding or water hardship in your region.
  • Embed karakia/thanks before and after awa visits to honour the mauri of the water.

📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot

Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions

Students will explore awa (river/water) as taonga, developing understanding of kaitiakitanga through water guardianship — connecting indigenous environmental knowledge with scientific and civic action.

Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria

  • ✅ Students can explain the significance of awa in te ao Māori and their local community.
  • ✅ Students can identify actions that reflect kaitiaki responsibilities for local waterways.

Differentiation & Inclusion

Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters and graphic organisers for inquiry tasks. Offer entry-level observation activities and extension challenges involving community advocacy or environmental data analysis.

ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key te reo Māori terms (awa, kaitiaki, wāhi tapu, tūrangawaewae). Allow visual and diagrammatic responses. Bilingual glossaries strongly recommended.

Inclusion: Connect to students' own waterways and places of belonging. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured field investigation templates and clear step-by-step inquiry protocols.

🔗 Unit Progression & Next Steps

The 6 lessons in this unit, in teaching order:

Pedagogical Foundations | Ngā Tūāpou Akoranga

Rivers are not just waterways — they are tūpuna, living relatives in the Māori worldview, and complex ecosystems under pressure. Three researchers explain why kaitiakitanga of the awa demands a dual-frame pedagogy.

Kaupapa Māori
Graham Smith
Smith’s insistence that kaitiakitanga is a living daily responsibility — not a heritage practice or a cultural supplement to environmental science — frames why this unit treats awa guardianship as continuous with students’ everyday choices about water, land, and waste. Kaitiaki are not guardians of the past; they are stewards of the present on behalf of the future.
Place-Based Education
Wally Penetito
Penetito’s place-based framework requires that water guardianship learning happen in relationship to a specific awa — its unique ecology, its particular pressures, its specific iwi and hapū relationships. “Rivers” in the abstract cannot be guarded. Students who have investigated their local awa know a thing they will continue to know and act on; students who studied a generic river did not acquire the same attachment or responsibility.
Holistic Development
Rose Pere
Pere’s dimension of whanaungatanga — relationship as the foundation of wellbeing — extends in the Māori worldview to include rivers, mountains, and sea as relational kin rather than resources. The legal recognition of the Whanganui River as a person with rights reflects this understanding. Students who learn to speak of the awa as a relative rather than a resource are developing a relational ethic that Pere’s framework describes as foundational to hauora.

→ Explore all theorists at Te Whare Ako — Teaching Theory

🧺 Ngā Rauemi Katoa | All Resources in this Collection

Curriculum Alignment

How Unit 11: Kaitiaki o te Awa — Water Guardianship aligns with the New Zealand Curriculum (Te Mātaiaho). Curriculum connections for this unit are under re-audit; verified statement connections are not yet published.

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Second edition (compact)

A second, more compact edition of the same six lessons, with a shorter lesson-flow layout. Same unit, same handouts; it is not a different programme.

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