title: Uia ngā pou o te whare ask the posts of the whare:  (Re)storying the whare in curriculum

authors: Heaton, Sharyn

subjects: Whare

abstract: This research investigated the construction of whare tapawhā discourses in national curricula since 1999 and (re)presents other Māori perspectives of how a whare (house, building, school of learning, curriculum) can be known. I explored the constitutions and subjectivities of a whare and its relationship to hauora, well-being and its dimensions. The central questions raised in this thesis are how has a whare model of hauora, well-being been signified within dominant education texts, and how could a Māori (re)envisioning of a whare assist future Māori-medium hauora learning area developments? Further elaborations on how a whare can be known and its potential contribution to future hauora learning area developments take priority as a focus within this thesis.
For this study, I developed ngā pou whakaaro, a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological framework characterised by unfolding layers of awareness (and reflection) that I applied when thinking and reading through texts. Texts included primary and secondary literature such as curricula policy, hauora redevelopment wānanga (meetings, discussions) notes, hauora redevelopment video, hauora Ministry of Education milestone reports and interview transcripts. Within these texts, I searched for significations and signifiers of how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being or a whare had been (re)presented. I searched for what was clearly evident and the assumptions made about a whare, and critiqued omissions of what had not yet been said. These gaps provided an opportunity to rewrite and reproduce other texts. 
I initially critiqued dominant representations of the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being, as evident in English-medium policy texts. I argue that the whare tapawhā model and its nuances in national curricula and compulsory schooling are not only driven by education imperatives, such as the valuing of the Māori language and knowledge in compulsory schooling, but are also assimilative in that the knowledge presented is simplistic and the understandings align more with Eurocentric ideals of well-being, albeit in the Māori language. I show that simplified significations of a whare in educational discourse shape the fictions that the texts seek to represent.
And then, in reading otherwise (Caputo, 1997, p. 62), I examined other texts about a whare and its nuances beyond what is currently known in curricula. I interviewed two Māori pouako (teachers), one Māori-medium curriculum developer, a health practitioner, a kairongoā (healer), and two tohunga whakairo (master carvers) to draw out the possibilities that exist for (re)presenting another Māori perspective of a whare. This space provided an opportunity to transgress from how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being has been represented in curricula in Aotearoa. 
The main ideas that emerged from the interviews and the process of reflecting on the responses of the poukōrero (interview participants) provoked thinking about the possibilities of how in-depth understandings of a whare could support a (re)envisioning of the potential of a whare in future hauora learning area developments. In order to (re)turn to thinking about the place of mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of knowing), and how a whare can be known and experienced by Māori beyond what is currently (re)presented in curricula, the whare of Mautini Aroaro was examined. 
Representations of a whare may be partial and fragmented, but such representations need to be (re)traced back to their parts and elaborated upon to deepen understandings of the possible contribution that a Māori perspective could offer future Māori-medium hauora learning area re-developments. There is no one way to know a whare, nor does it need to be restricted to pre-determined representations identified in curricula. Through a restoration process, I suggest we engage with people’s experiences of a whare on different terms and (re)claim understandings of a whare as a repository and library for future generations.

text: Uia ngā pou o te whare ask the posts of the whare:  (Re)storying the whare in curriculum This research investigated the construction of whare tapawhā discourses in national curricula since 1999 and (re)presents other Māori perspectives of how a whare (house, building, school of learning, curriculum) can be known. I explored the constitutions and subjectivities of a whare and its relationship to hauora, well-being and its dimensions. The central questions raised in this thesis are how has a whare model of hauora, well-being been signified within dominant education texts, and how could a Māori (re)envisioning of a whare assist future Māori-medium hauora learning area developments? Further elaborations on how a whare can be known and its potential contribution to future hauora learning area developments take priority as a focus within this thesis.
For this study, I developed ngā pou whakaaro, a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological framework characterised by unfolding layers of awareness (and reflection) that I applied when thinking and reading through texts. Texts included primary and secondary literature such as curricula policy, hauora redevelopment wānanga (meetings, discussions) notes, hauora redevelopment video, hauora Ministry of Education milestone reports and interview transcripts. Within these texts, I searched for significations and signifiers of how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being or a whare had been (re)presented. I searched for what was clearly evident and the assumptions made about a whare, and critiqued omissions of what had not yet been said. These gaps provided an opportunity to rewrite and reproduce other texts. 
I initially critiqued dominant representations of the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being, as evident in English-medium policy texts. I argue that the whare tapawhā model and its nuances in national curricula and compulsory schooling are not only driven by education imperatives, such as the valuing of the Māori language and knowledge in compulsory schooling, but are also assimilative in that the knowledge presented is simplistic and the understandings align more with Eurocentric ideals of well-being, albeit in the Māori language. I show that simplified significations of a whare in educational discourse shape the fictions that the texts seek to represent.
And then, in reading otherwise (Caputo, 1997, p. 62), I examined other texts about a whare and its nuances beyond what is currently known in curricula. I interviewed two Māori pouako (teachers), one Māori-medium curriculum developer, a health practitioner, a kairongoā (healer), and two tohunga whakairo (master carvers) to draw out the possibilities that exist for (re)presenting another Māori perspective of a whare. This space provided an opportunity to transgress from how the whare tapawhā model of hauora, well-being has been represented in curricula in Aotearoa. 
The main ideas that emerged from the interviews and the process of reflecting on the responses of the poukōrero (interview participants) provoked thinking about the possibilities of how in-depth understandings of a whare could support a (re)envisioning of the potential of a whare in future hauora learning area developments. In order to (re)turn to thinking about the place of mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of knowing), and how a whare can be known and experienced by Māori beyond what is currently (re)presented in curricula, the whare of Mautini Aroaro was examined. 
Representations of a whare may be partial and fragmented, but such representations need to be (re)traced back to their parts and elaborated upon to deepen understandings of the possible contribution that a Māori perspective could offer future Māori-medium hauora learning area re-developments. There is no one way to know a whare, nor does it need to be restricted to pre-determined representations identified in curricula. Through a restoration process, I suggest we engage with people’s experiences of a whare on different terms and (re)claim understandings of a whare as a repository and library for future generations.

year: 2022

title: Te whakahuatanga i te reo Māori: Kua ahatia e tātou i roto i ngā tau 100 kua hipa nei? (The pronunciation of Māori: What have we done to it in the last 100 Years?)

authors: Harlow, Ray

subjects: Te reo Māori

abstract: In the words of the proverb: 'The land remains, but humankind vanishes.' One should perhaps extend this to read: 'The land remains, humankind vanishes, and language changes.' For languages are old, handed down from one generation to another, but no matter what, they change. Present-day English is not Shakespeare's or Chaucer's language. The pronunciation has changed, new words have entered the language, some words have been lost, the grammar is now different. Māori is like that as well. Over the last two centuries, many aspects of the language have become different. Many words have been borrowed from English, and become part of the language. Many new words have been created in recent years to accommodate the new topics now being spoken about in Māori. Many words have changed their meaning, e.g., 'pūtea' originally a type of basket, but now a 'fund', source of money. In the grammar, there are now constructions being used which were not correct in earlier centuries.So far as the pronunciation is concerned, how is one to observe its development? That is the substance of a research project which has only just now begun, and it is the purpose of this paper to explain the nature of that research and show some of the preliminary findings. Hence the title: The pronunciation of Māori: What have we done to it in the last 100 years? The project is supported by the Marsden Research Fund.

text: Te whakahuatanga i te reo Māori: Kua ahatia e tātou i roto i ngā tau 100 kua hipa nei? (The pronunciation of Māori: What have we done to it in the last 100 Years?) In the words of the proverb: 'The land remains, but humankind vanishes.' One should perhaps extend this to read: 'The land remains, humankind vanishes, and language changes.' For languages are old, handed down from one generation to another, but no matter what, they change. Present-day English is not Shakespeare's or Chaucer's language. The pronunciation has changed, new words have entered the language, some words have been lost, the grammar is now different. Māori is like that as well. Over the last two centuries, many aspects of the language have become different. Many words have been borrowed from English, and become part of the language. Many new words have been created in recent years to accommodate the new topics now being spoken about in Māori. Many words have changed their meaning, e.g., 'pūtea' originally a type of basket, but now a 'fund', source of money. In the grammar, there are now constructions being used which were not correct in earlier centuries.So far as the pronunciation is concerned, how is one to observe its development? That is the substance of a research project which has only just now begun, and it is the purpose of this paper to explain the nature of that research and show some of the preliminary findings. Hence the title: The pronunciation of Māori: What have we done to it in the last 100 years? The project is supported by the Marsden Research Fund.

year: 2005-05

title: A contrast-sensitive, redundancy reduction mechanism acting on MT neurons can explain global motion direction biases without the need for Bayesian priors

authors: Perrone, John A.

subjects: Bayesian observer model

abstract: Introduction: The perceived global direction of moving objects can be influenced by the contrast of the object (Weiss, Simoncelli & Adelson, Nature Neuroscience, 2002). There is currently no detailed, neural-based explanation for how this could occur. Weiss et al., proposed an ideal Bayesian observer model that included a physiologically unspecified ‘low speed’ prior. We have recently developed a new velocity code for extracting image velocity from small groups of MT neurons (Perrone & Krauzlis, VSS 2011). The code includes a stage of local spatial inhibition between MT neurons designed to reduce the amount of redundant signals passed onto the global motion integration stage (MST). The inhibition is made dependent upon the contrast of the stimulus by exploiting the fact that some MT neurons change their speed tuning (V shifts to ∼ .5V) at low contrast (Krekelberg et al., J. Neurosci., 2006). An inhibitory signal based on the difference in output from two such MT units tuned to V and 2V will be high at high contrast, but will switch off at low contrast when the input speed is V.
Methods: We tested our velocity code using high- and low-contrast rhombus stimuli that have been shown to produce contrast dependent biases in global motion estimates (Weiss, et al., 2002).
Results: The model produced contrast dependent estimates of global motion direction that match the perceptual results. Low contrast rhomboids tended to produce estimates orthogonal to the major axis of the rhombus whereas high contrast rhomboids produced estimates closer to the veridical direction. Our simulations indicate that at low contrast the spatial inhibitory mechanisms between MT neurons may be switching off causing an increase in the density of responses signalling motion orthogonal to the edges.
Conclusion: Our model provides a biologically plausible mechanism by which the Weiss et al., Bayesian prior could be implemented.

text: A contrast-sensitive, redundancy reduction mechanism acting on MT neurons can explain global motion direction biases without the need for Bayesian priors Introduction: The perceived global direction of moving objects can be influenced by the contrast of the object (Weiss, Simoncelli & Adelson, Nature Neuroscience, 2002). There is currently no detailed, neural-based explanation for how this could occur. Weiss et al., proposed an ideal Bayesian observer model that included a physiologically unspecified ‘low speed’ prior. We have recently developed a new velocity code for extracting image velocity from small groups of MT neurons (Perrone & Krauzlis, VSS 2011). The code includes a stage of local spatial inhibition between MT neurons designed to reduce the amount of redundant signals passed onto the global motion integration stage (MST). The inhibition is made dependent upon the contrast of the stimulus by exploiting the fact that some MT neurons change their speed tuning (V shifts to ∼ .5V) at low contrast (Krekelberg et al., J. Neurosci., 2006). An inhibitory signal based on the difference in output from two such MT units tuned to V and 2V will be high at high contrast, but will switch off at low contrast when the input speed is V.
Methods: We tested our velocity code using high- and low-contrast rhombus stimuli that have been shown to produce contrast dependent biases in global motion estimates (Weiss, et al., 2002).
Results: The model produced contrast dependent estimates of global motion direction that match the perceptual results. Low contrast rhomboids tended to produce estimates orthogonal to the major axis of the rhombus whereas high contrast rhomboids produced estimates closer to the veridical direction. Our simulations indicate that at low contrast the spatial inhibitory mechanisms between MT neurons may be switching off causing an increase in the density of responses signalling motion orthogonal to the edges.
Conclusion: Our model provides a biologically plausible mechanism by which the Weiss et al., Bayesian prior could be implemented.

year: 2012