🕘 Lesson at a Glance | Te Hōtaka
Lesson Overview | Tirohanga Whānui
Last lesson, ākonga weighed our responsibilities to communities facing climate impacts. This lesson they meet a knowledge system that has tracked environmental change in Aotearoa for over 700 years — the maramataka and ngā tohu o te taiao. Ākonga work with real ecological indicators, research how different iwi read their own rohe, and consider how mātauranga Māori and Western science strengthen each other in the climate response.
Learning Intentions | Ngā Whāinga Ako
- Explain how the maramataka and ngā tohu o te taiao work as a long-term environmental knowledge system.
- Analyse how climate change is disrupting traditional ecological indicators, using real examples.
- Evaluate how mātauranga Māori and Western science can work together in Aotearoa's climate response.
⚡ Do Now
⏱ 5 minBefore instruments, how did people know the seasons were turning?
- Notice (2 min): in your book, name one sign in nature you've noticed that tells you a season is changing — a tree flowering, a bird returning, a shift in the sea or the wind.
- Wonder (3 min): Māori have read signs like these — ngā tohu o te taiao — for over 700 years. What might someone who has watched one place their whole life notice about the climate that a satellite cannot?
Activity 1 · Maramataka — The Environmental Calendar
⏱ 15 minWhat it is: The maramataka ("the turning of the moon") is far more than a lunar calendar — it's a centuries-old environmental observation system. Ākonga unpack how it works, then see how kaitiaki are using it to detect climate change.
🌌 Astronomical signs
The rising of Matariki (the Pleiades) marks the Māori new year in mid-winter; moon phases guide planting, fishing and harvesting; star positions are seasonal navigation markers.
🌿 Ecological signs
Plant flowering and fruiting cycles, bird migration and breeding, ocean and freshwater temperature cues, and wind and storm signs — all read together as one system.
📡 A climate sensor
Kaitiaki have logged shifts for decades: kōwhai and pōhutukawa flowering earlier, kererū movements changing with fruit timing, and toheroa, pāua and kina shifting as the moana warms.
Run it
- Unpack (6 min): in pairs, sort the signs above into sky, land and sea. Why would reading all three together be more reliable than any one alone?
- Connect (5 min): pick one disruption (e.g. kōwhai flowering earlier). What would it throw off for someone who plants or fishes by the maramataka?
- Share (4 min): add these disruptions to the tohu you listed in the Do Now — which are people in your rohe already noticing?
🪶 Mātauranga (kaiako / kaumātua to lead): the maramataka is taonga — each iwi and hapū has its own version adapted to their place. Approach with humility and, where you can, invite local kaumātua or use your region's own maramataka rather than presenting any single one as universal.
Activity 2 · Ngā Tohu — Reading the Signs
⏱ 20 minWhat it is: Māori observation identifies specific plants, animals and natural events as tohu — signs of environmental conditions and seasonal change. Ākonga work with real tohu, then trace how climate change is disrupting them.
🌸 Plant tohu
Kōwhai flowering signals spring and planting time; pōhutukawa blooming marks midsummer; harakeke growth tracks soil moisture. Disruption: flowering 1–3 weeks earlier in some regions.
🦅 Bird & animal tohu
Kererū and tūī movements follow fruit availability; kōkako calls signal forest health; kahawai schools read ocean temperature. Disruption: migration and breeding timing shifting.
🌊 Ocean & water tohu
Pāua, kina and toheroa track ocean temperature and kelp health; tuna (eel) migration reads freshwater and rainfall. Disruption: marine heatwaves hitting mahinga kai.
Run it — read the tohu
- Match (6 min): in pairs, for each tohu say what it signals and what its disruption tells us about the climate.
- Compare (8 min): what can a kaumātua who has watched one place for 60 years notice that a satellite cannot? And what can the satellite catch that they cannot? List both.
- Decide (6 min): why might it matter to fund climate research that uses mātauranga Māori alongside instruments? Write your best reason.
🪶 Mātauranga (kaiako / kaumātua to lead): tohu are place-specific and belong to the iwi and hapū who hold them. Use local examples where you can, and invite that knowledge in on its own terms rather than treating it as data to extract.
Activity 3 · Iwi Climate Knowledge — Research a Rohe
⏱ 25 minWhat it is: Different iwi hold environmental knowledge adapted to their own rohe. In groups, ākonga research one iwi's relationship with climate and ecological observation, then share with the class.
Ngāi Tahu — Te Waipounamu
Read Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (Southern Alps) snowpack as a freshwater indicator; mahinga kai on the braided rivers (Waimakariri, Rakaia, Waitaki) sensitive to rainfall and glacier melt. Find their Papatipu Rūnanga climate-adaptation work.
Ngāpuhi — Te Tai Tokerau
Coastal observation (Hokianga, Bay of Islands); kauri-forest ecology tied to seasonal rainfall; subtropical species as warming markers. Find Te Tai Tokerau climate-adaptation submissions.
Te Arawa — ngā roto / the lakes
Lake Rotorua health (algal blooms as stress signals); tuna migration through the Waikato system; geothermal and groundwater links. Find Te Arawa freshwater work with the regional council.
Tūhoe — Te Urewera
Deep forest ecological knowledge; the Wairoa River as a health barometer; Te Urewera Act 2014 — the first law to grant a natural place legal personhood. Find Tūhoe's climate-adaptation mahi.
Run it — He Mahi Rangahau
- Choose & research (15 min): in groups, pick one iwi and find — its rohe and main ecosystems; two examples of environmental knowledge specific to that place; and one way the iwi is documenting or responding to climate change today. Then find how that iwi describes its own relationship with this place, in its own words, from its own website or rūnanga — quote it exactly and record where it came from. If the source offers a whakataukī, take it as they use it, with what they say it means; if it does not, do not go looking elsewhere for one to attach. A whakataukī is not a decoration to collect, and one lifted away from the people who use it stops meaning what it means.
- Share (10 min): each group reports one thing that surprised them. As a class: what's common across all four, and what's unique to each rohe?
🪶 Mātauranga (respect protocol): use each iwi's own sources first (their websites, their rūnanga). This knowledge is theirs to share on their terms — represent it accurately and acknowledge whose it is.
Activity 4 · Two Ways of Knowing — He Whakaaro Rerekē
⏱ 15 minWhat it is: Mātauranga Māori and Western climate science are two ways of knowing the taiao — different methods, not enemies. Ākonga weigh what each contributes, and where they are strongest together.
⏳ Time depth
Mātauranga: 700+ years of place-based observation, passed through generations. Science: ~150 years of systematic instrument measurement.
🔬 Method & scale
Mātauranga: direct observation, oral tradition, highly local to a rohe. Science: instruments, satellites, models — strong at the global scale.
🌿 Relationship
Mātauranga: whakapapa — people are part of the taiao, with kaitiakitanga built in. Science: often positions humans as separate observers, ethics applied after.
Run it — bring them together
- Map it (7 min): draw two overlapping circles. In each, write what that way of knowing does best; in the overlap, write what they can only do together.
- Take a position (8 min): answer in a few sentences — "Should mātauranga Māori have equal standing with Western science in NZ climate policy?" Use a reason from your map. (In 2021 the Royal Society Te Apārangi affirmed mātauranga Māori as a valid, distinct knowledge system alongside science.)
🪶 Mātauranga (frame with care): the goal is not to rank one knowledge system above the other, nor to fold mātauranga into science — it stands in its own right (Kaupapa Māori — Graham Smith). Kaiako Māori / kaumātua can deepen this framing.
Exit · Quick Check — He Aha i Mau i a Koe?
⏱ 5 minOn a slip or in their book, each ākonga finishes these three sentences before they leave:
- One tohu o te taiao, and what its change is telling us about the climate:
- One thing the iwi I researched knows about its rohe that surprised me:
- One way mātauranga Māori and science are stronger together than apart:
🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga
This lesson's focus: Ākonga learn how mātauranga Māori — the maramataka and ngā tohu o te taiao — works as a long-term environmental knowledge system, how climate change is disrupting it, and how it stands alongside Western science in Aotearoa's climate response.
Ecosystems — Core Connection (Phase 4 | Years 9–10)
"Indigenous knowledge systems, such as mātauranga Māori, are often founded on long-term observations of environmental patterns. For example, ngā tohu o te taiao can be used to monitor seasonal changes and ecosystem health."
📑 View the full verified Te Mātaiaho curriculum alignment for this unit → — Phase 4 · Years 9–10 (statements pulled verbatim from the live curriculum).
📦 Materials & Resources
📋 Handouts & what you'll need
- Ngā Tohu Cards — used in Activity 2 (Ngā Tohu)
- Iwi Climate Knowledge Research Template — used in Activity 3 (Iwi Research)
- Student books; devices for the iwi research; your region's maramataka if available
🔗 Research starting points
- Te Ara — Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- NIWA — Mātauranga Māori & climate research
- Te Mātaiaho / Tāhūrangi Curriculum Hub
- Each iwi's official website & rūnanga (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi, Te Arawa, Tūhoe); your local Matariki / maramataka resources
🪶 Cultural note
Maramataka and tohu are taonga held by specific iwi and hapū. Where you can, invite local kaumātua or use your region's own iwi resources — and engage with this knowledge on its terms.
📊 Assessment Framework
This is a single lesson, so assessment here is formative — reading for learning as it happens. The unit's summative assessment sits at the end of the unit, not in this lesson.
What to look for, mapped to the learning intentions
- The maramataka as a system (LI 1): in Activity 1, can ākonga explain how reading sky, land and sea together makes the maramataka reliable — not just list signs?
- Disrupted tohu (LI 2): in Activity 2 and the exit, can they name a specific tohu and say what its change signals about the climate (not just "things are different")?
- Two ways of knowing (LI 3): in Activity 4, can they say what each knowledge system uniquely contributes — and hold the position that they're complementary, not ranked?
🚀 Extension Activities
🏠Mahi Kāinga — Kaumātua Kōrero
Self-directed. Interview an older whānau member or community elder: what has changed in their lifetime about the weather, seasons, birds, ocean or land? What knowledge guides how they understand it?
🌙Maramataka of My Rohe
Research the maramataka of your region or local iwi (Matariki / regional iwi resources). What does it reveal about the seasonal patterns where you live?
📓Nature Journal
For one week, record daily tohu where you live — temperature, bird activity, plant changes, wind, rainfall. This is the start of your own ecological knowledge.
🔗 Unit Progression & Next Steps
This is Lesson 3 of the 8-lesson Antarctica unit. Today ākonga added a second way of reading the climate — mātauranga Māori, the maramataka and ngā tohu. Where it sits:
← Lesson 2: Local Climate Impacts
NIWA projections, Cyclone Gabrielle and Pacific voices — the data on what's changing here.
→ Lesson 4: Youth Climate Action
From knowing to doing — young people in Aotearoa and the Pacific taking action, and planning our own campaign.
Into Lesson 4: we now have the data (Lesson 2) and two ways of knowing (Lesson 3) — what do we do with it? Next lesson turns understanding into action.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can explain how the maramataka reads sky, land and sea together as one system. (LI 1)
- ✅ I can name a tohu and say what its change tells us about the climate. (LI 2)
- ✅ I can say what mātauranga Māori and science each contribute, and why they're stronger together. (LI 3)
Differentiation for this lesson
- Tohu matching: give entry-level ākonga the tohu with its meaning already paired; ask extension ākonga to find a local tohu of their own.
- Iwi research / ELL: assign roles within research groups (reader, recorder, presenter); allow first-language kōrero before reporting back.
- Cultural safety: some ākonga hold this knowledge personally — invite, never require, sharing. Frame mātauranga as taonga, and centre local kaumātua voice where you can.
Broader differentiation and the unit-wide mātauranga framing live on the unit overview.