Environment Aotearoa 2022 is a report from New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ on the health of te taitao - the environment.

​

The report uses Te Kāhui o Matariki as the guiding framework. Each whetū in the Matariki cluster is associated with an aspect of wellbeing and the environment.

​

This collection houses the resources the Hub has created to support this innovative report. The yellow notes help to provide context and pedagogical insights. Although the Hub has hundreds of resources that support environmental knowledge and monitoring, we've only used a few key resources for each whetū/environmental domain. Use the links and related content within each Environment Aotearoa 2022 article for additional, wrap-around resources.

Access the full report here:

https://environment.govt.nz/publications/environment-aotearoa-2022/

It has:

• examples of mātauranga Māori for each domain
• graphs and other figures for interpretation
• environmental indicators
• references

​

PLD webinar

​

Te Kāhui o Matariki and the environment is a short webinar that unpacks some of the concepts that underpin these resources. The webinar touches on:

• whetū and their domains
• mātauranga Māori and science
• mauri, wellbeing and sustainability
• cross-curricular learning activities
• local curriculum.

Te Kāhui o Matariki and the domains they represent in Environment Aotearoa 2022.

​

Matariki – The stars of the year (Ngā whetū o te tau)

Pōhutukawa – Loss, extinction, gratefulness to the environment (te taiao)

Tupuānuku – Our soils and food grown in the earth

Tupuārangi – Everything that grows above the earth

Waitī – Freshwater

Waitā – Ocean and marine conditions

Waipunarangi – Rain and frosts

Ururangi – Atmospheric conditions, winds, and the sky

Hiwa-i-te-rangi – Future aspirations and actions to sustain the environment (te taiao)

Each of the whetū have a bespoke image with a whakataukī.

​

Explore the artwork and the whakataukī for cross curricular learning. Encourage students to consider how they might illustrate the whetū and/or create whakataukī or poetry for an environmental domain of local interest.

​

The activity Exploring the images and whakataukī connecting to Te Kāhui o Matariki has suggestions and probing questions to make the most of these amazing images.

Each whetū also has an infographic.

​

The articles also contain infographics – visual representations of information using graphic images and text.

The article Understanding infographics explains their purpose and how they are constructed.

The activity Te Kāhui o Matariki – interpreting infographics has probing questions to help students understand the ways in which these infographics present information.

The activity Using infographics has instructions on how to create a simple infographic.

Matariki – the domain of people and wellbeing.

Pōhutukawa – reflecting on the pressures we’ve put on te taiao and how this information can guide us to take action.

Tupuānuku – soil quality and soil losses, and why healthy soils are important.

Tupuārangi – land-based ecosystems, in particular the ngahere (forests).

Waitī – freshwater environments

​

Waitī represents our essential connection to freshwater and how we are impacted by the degraded state of many of our freshwater environments. The mauri concept for Waitī links the health of freshwater to everything that is connected to it.

​

We can enhance our wellbeing by restoring threatened freshwater ecosystems. These resources provide help with the restoration process:

• Monitoring stream health
• Wetland restoration
• Te whakamahi i ngā rauemi o Tuihonoa Te Reo o Te Repo hei whakarite ara whakaako
• New Zealand’s freshwater fish – action conservation (resources in te reo Māori and English)

Taking action enables us to feel empowered and that we can make a positive difference to restoring and connecting to freshwater waterways and ecosystems.

Waitā – ocean and marine conditions

​

Waitā represents our dependence on the ocean for our livelihoods and wellbeing and how these are being affected by pollution, climate change and resource depletion.

Activities

​

These activities explore stresses that we put on the marine environment:

• Identifying marine stressors – interactive and activity
• Hubbub Estuary – activity
• Modelling marine stressors and tipping points – activity

​

Additional resources

​

We’ve curated marine resources (articles, activities and media) under the following topics:

• Estuaries – a context for learning – PLD article
• Biodiversity – estuaries and marine ecosystems – collection
• Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge – collection
• Mātauranga Māori and the moana – collection within our Seaweek resources curation

Waipunarangi – rains, frosts and climate

​

Waipuarangi represents what science tells us about the water cycle and climate.

​

The mauri of Waipuarangi - the balance of water falling as rain - affects the mauri of the land, the waterways and the sea. If there is too much or too little rain, the effect of this imbalance is felt across te taiao.

​

This article explores climate and its effects on many aspects of Aotearoa human and natural environments.

​

Additional resources

​

Climate change is a large and complex issue.

This article addresses climate change as a wicked problem and is a helpful place to begin when planning to teach about climate change.

Climate change resources – planning pathways provides pedagogical hints and includes an interactive planner that groups Hub resources into key science and teaching concepts.

Our atmosphere and climate – introduction curates climate change resources the Hub created to support Our atmosphere and climate 2020.

​

​

Ururangi – air, winds and the sky

​

Ururangi is associated with winds and weather patterns.

​

Our interactions with Ururangi can be seen in the quality of the air we breathe, the visibility of the night sky and the winds.

​

Observations of the sky inform specific tikanga Māori and are essential for readings of Matariki, which provides predictions for the year ahead.

Additional resources

The wind is integral to sailing. We use it for personal recreation, to win Olympic medals and the America's Cup. It plays a key role in traditional navigation using waka hourua and wayfinding.

​

We've curated our night sky resources in this article.

​

Information about air pollution in Aotearoa is curated here.

​

​

Hiwa-i-te-rangi

​

Hiwa-i-te-rangi challenges us to look ahead at the complex and interconnected challenges facing us and future generations as well as our ability to adapt to and mitigate future risk.

Additional resources

​

Hiwa-i-te-rangi invites us to engage in conversations about our aspirations for the future.

Concept cartoons are ideal for starting conversations and engaging students in meaningful discussions.

• The article Using concept cartoons provides background information and a variety of pedagogical methodologies and approaches.
• The activity Climate change – challenging conversations uses concept cartoons to explore climate change-related issues.
• The activity Using concept cartoons to explore students’ scientific thinking has blank templates for students and teachers to create their own concept cartoons.

Activities to support Te Kāhui o Matariki

​

The science capability ‘Interpret representations’ encourages students to think about how data is presented, what the representation tells us and how it gets the message across.

​

The following activities build on students' written and visual literacies as they explore the images and infographics from Environment Aotearoa 2022.

​