SOCIAL STUDIES @ TE PAPA
Programme title
Kupe Sites
Topic
Ngā Tapuwae o Kupe | Landmarks of the Great Voyager
Issue
Should Māori place names be reinstated where English names are being used?
This issue is important for students developing awareness and understanding because:
- They will gain an appreciation of Māori epistemology and Māori perspectives.
- They will gain an appreciation of the many elements that help form our identity as New Zealanders.
- They will gain an appreciation of the significance and history of the naming of various places throughout the country by the explorer Kupe.
- It will enable students to develop the skills for Inquiry and Values Exploration.
- They will appreciate that any change to place names requires legal processes.
Suitability
Years 6-9
Levels 3-5
Learning area
Social Studies
Strand
Place and Environment
Links to other curriculum areas
English - Listening, Reading, and Viewing; Speaking, Writing, and Presenting.
Science - Planet Earth and Beyond
Mathematics - Geometry and Measurement
Values
Excellence, Innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, Diversity.
Key Competencies
Thinking, Relating to others, Participating and contributing
Strand achievement objectives
Students will gain knowledge, skills, and experience to:
- Understand how the movement of people affets cultural diversity and interaction in New Zealand.
- Understand how exploration and innovation create opportunities and challenges for people, places, and environments.
- Understand that people move between places and how this has consequences for the people and the places.
Learning outcomes and intentions
- Research the stories about Kupe’s voyage from Hawaiki (the traditional homeland) to Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Identify some of the areas Kupe named and the reasons why they were given those names.
- Understand what life may have been like for Kupe when he arrived in this strange new land.
- Research how English names were applied to different areas within your community, and find out the original Māori names.
- Make a choice about whether Māori place names should be reinstated.
- Design a set of criteria that will become the basis for which the community makes a decision.
- Describe the legal process for the reinstatement of Māori place names.
- Decide what possible action will be taken by the classroom community.
Learning experiences
Lesson one
- Research some of the stories about Kupe’s voyage to Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Identify some of the sites Kupe named, and the significance of the names to the area.
- Encourage students to think about what are heritage sites, and whether they should they be maintained.
- Get students to describe a place that is significant to them, and the reason why it is important to them.
Lesson two
- Encourage students to construct a comparison chart showing technology 1200 years ago and today's technology.
- Research a particular tool used by early Māori eg: wiri (drill), kete (woven basket), matau (fish hook), toki (axe) etc, and make the tool using modern materials.
Lesson three
- Research how English names were applied to different areas, and who named those areas.
- Identify some sites within your community that have English names, and who gave those names to those areas.
- Investigate the original Māori names and the stories surrounding those names.
Lesson four
- Guided discussion: whole class.
- Compile a questionnaire to survey people’s opinions about whether the original Māori place names should be reinstated.
- Students will brainstorm coming up with open and closed questions.
- Identify the groups that may have an interest in the discussion: Māori, non-Māori, local government councillors, Members of Parliament, young and old.
Lesson five
- Students will collate the information they have gathered into a bar graph.
- Based on the information gathered, students will write a report of their own thoughts on this topic and justify their opinions.
- Students will present one example supporting the topic and an example opposing the topic.
Lesson six
- Collaboratively, students will formulate specific questions to ask either a councillor, MP, or local kaumatua (elder).
- Students will invite either their local councillor, MP, or elder to school, to discuss and clarify the issues surrounding the reinstatement of Māori place names.
- Students will investigate the legal processes for reinstating Māori place names.
- Students will decide what action to take and, in particular, action suitable to the community view.
Resources