Lesson 5: Zoo Design Capstone — He Whakaaro Hou!
The culminating challenge — using all unit skills (maps, coordinates, scale, area, perimeter) to design a new sustainable section of Hamilton Zoo that prioritises animal welfare and kaitiakitanga.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
How to integrate grid references, coordinates, map scale, area, and perimeter in a single design task; the principles of sustainable zoo design that prioritise animal wellbeing over spectacle.
Design a new 'Aotearoa Native Species' section for Hamilton Zoo, including a scaled map, coordinate labels, enclosure area calculations, and a visitor pathway with distances.
🎥 Media Anchor & Mathematical Scaffold
Zoo Design and Environmental Planning
Video: kaiako to select — guidance below.
🎬 Kaiako: Select and embed a video here
Suggested search: "Zoo Design and Environmental Planning"
Search YouTube for a short clip (5–10 min) on this topic. Verify it is age-appropriate and plays correctly before embedding. Add data-oembed-verified="true" only after verifying via YouTube oEmbed.
🧠 1. Before Viewing
You're now the designer. Hamilton Zoo has given you a 200m × 150m piece of land to design a new Aotearoa Native Species section. You need to house: kiwi, kākāpō, tuatara, and kōkako. What do you need to know to design this well?
👁️ 2. During Viewing
- Early in the clip: What information do you need BEFORE you start drawing? List: minimum space per species, visitor access, pathways, rest areas, kaitiakitanga principles.
- Midway: Your design must balance two things: what's best for the animals AND what will give visitors a good experience. Where might these goals conflict?
- Later in the clip: Kaitiakitanga means guardianship. How does your design reflect responsibility to these native species? Is it designed FOR them or FOR visitors?
🗣️ 3. After Viewing — Kaiako Move
Kaiako Move: Show examples of real zoo master plans (Wellington Zoo, Auckland Zoo are publicly available). Discuss: what mathematical thinking went into designing these layouts? How do zoos balance conservation, education, and visitor experience?
Task: Zoo Design Project: Create a scaled map (1cm = 10m) of your new 200m × 150m Aotearoa Native Species section. Include: four species enclosures with (x,y) coordinates, calculated areas, a visitor pathway with distances, and a written kaitiakitanga statement.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now (5 mins)
Brainstorm: what would an ideal kiwi enclosure look like? What does a kiwi need (nocturnal, burrows, insects, native bush)? How would this change your design?
📐 Activity 1: Guided Mathematical Exploration (25 mins)
Design workshop: using graph paper (1cm = 10m), students plan their Aotearoa section. Every enclosure must have a correct area calculation, coordinate labels, and meet minimum species requirements.
✍️ Activity 2: Application & Reflection (20 mins)
Gallery and feedback: students display their zoo designs. Class provides feedback using sticky notes: one thing that shows strong mathematical reasoning, one welfare improvement suggestion, one design they admire.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Curriculum Alignment: Te Mataiaho Mathematics Phase 3 — Integrated project: apply geometry, measurement, and spatial reasoning in an authentic design context.
Hamilton Zoo Context: All mathematical tasks use the real Hamilton Zoo layout. Students work with actual zoo map coordinates, real enclosure distances, and genuine visitor pathway data where possible. This authentic context increases motivation and real-world transfer.
Cultural Connection: Connect coordinate navigation to traditional Polynesian wayfinding — stars as coordinate systems, waka routes as vectors, mauri/kaitiakitanga of animal species at the zoo.