title: Talanoa, vā and picturebook pedagogy to support Pacific identities in a kindergarten setting

authors: Fuimaono, A

abstract: It is important that children see themselves in the picturebooks that are available to them in their early childhood education [ECE] settings (Adam & Barratt-Pugh, 2021). Pacific picturebooks create spaces for meaningful conversations and emergent curriculum related to the identities, cultures and languages of Pacific families and whānau in the ECE setting. Using a Talanoa-vā approach, the researchers worked alongside teachers in a Pacific kindergarten to observe how they and the children interacted with picturebooks featuring Pacific communities and languages. Three vignettes were created typifying the variety of ways in which teachers and children connected with the picturebooks and each other to make links to the ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘cultural capital’ of Pacific learners and their families. Many of our findings about the affordances of Pacific picturebooks connect with Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017) and Tapasā (MoE, 2018) which together provide the framework for culturally responsive pedagogy for Pacific learners in ECE settings.

text: Talanoa, vā and picturebook pedagogy to support Pacific identities in a kindergarten setting It is important that children see themselves in the picturebooks that are available to them in their early childhood education [ECE] settings (Adam & Barratt-Pugh, 2021). Pacific picturebooks create spaces for meaningful conversations and emergent curriculum related to the identities, cultures and languages of Pacific families and whānau in the ECE setting. Using a Talanoa-vā approach, the researchers worked alongside teachers in a Pacific kindergarten to observe how they and the children interacted with picturebooks featuring Pacific communities and languages. Three vignettes were created typifying the variety of ways in which teachers and children connected with the picturebooks and each other to make links to the ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘cultural capital’ of Pacific learners and their families. Many of our findings about the affordances of Pacific picturebooks connect with Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017) and Tapasā (MoE, 2018) which together provide the framework for culturally responsive pedagogy for Pacific learners in ECE settings.

year: 2023

title: Integrating technology in STEM with integrity: Avoiding the mucky brown paint

authors: Fox-Turnbull, Wendy

subjects: curriculum integrity

abstract: This chapter explores and discusses a range of issues associated with the integration of science, technology, engineering and maths in the classroom. It will argue for an approach that enables authentic and appropriate representation of each discipline and the ways in which approaches can be students centred. The main implication of this approach for technology is that it puts it centre stage as student work towards the development of a technological artefact to meet an identified need or opportunity. Disciplines must be considered and specifically taught to develop skills and knowledge required by the students to reach their intended goal- a successful outcome to their technological practice. However, if purposeful teaching fails to occur students find themselves busy but not necessarily learning to their potential in the STEM disciplines.

text: Integrating technology in STEM with integrity: Avoiding the mucky brown paint This chapter explores and discusses a range of issues associated with the integration of science, technology, engineering and maths in the classroom. It will argue for an approach that enables authentic and appropriate representation of each discipline and the ways in which approaches can be students centred. The main implication of this approach for technology is that it puts it centre stage as student work towards the development of a technological artefact to meet an identified need or opportunity. Disciplines must be considered and specifically taught to develop skills and knowledge required by the students to reach their intended goal- a successful outcome to their technological practice. However, if purposeful teaching fails to occur students find themselves busy but not necessarily learning to their potential in the STEM disciplines.

year: 2024

title: Honouring our ancestors: Reclaiming the power of Māori maternities

authors: Simmonds, Naomi Beth

abstract: Māori¹ maternal knowledges are intimately tied to ancestors, to ancestral knowledges, and to whenua (land).² Iwi (tribes), hapū (smaller tribal groupings), and whānau (families)³ have their own maternal knowledges, which are woven into their cosmologies, histories, songs, carvings, place names, chants, and incantations. These knowledges, though spatially and temporally specific, speak to the sanctity of the maternal body, the power and prestige of women’s reproductive capabilities, and the empowering collective approach to raising children. Māori knowledges pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting were imparted generation to generation as they were lived, embodied and emplaced by our ancestors, sustaining the sacred and empowering approach to maternities within our communities.
This chapter considers the challenges and possibilities of reclaiming Māori maternal knowledges and their associated practices and ceremonies for Māori women and whānau in contemporary Aotearoa-New Zealand. Three key themes frame this chapter. First, I consider the ways in which colonialism has served to silence Māori maternal knowledges to such an extent that whānau are left trying to find meaning in the voices, knowledges, and advices of others. Indigenous women are largely birthing within Western ideologies and institutions that do not adequately provide for Indigenous ways of being and birthing. The chapter then considers the ways in which women and whānau are reclaiming ancient knowledges and practices in new and contemporary ways. I seek to illustrate the ways in which traditional practices and ritual customs have the potential to transform and empower individual and collective experiences of birth and afterbirth. The chapter ends with arguing that Indigenous maternities, Māori maternities, are an important site of decolonization. Reclaiming the messages and embodied practices left to us by our ancestors can provide an empowering collective approach to pregnancy, birth, and afterbirth, and can facilitate a “decolonized pathway” (Simpson 28) into and through the world for our children and for generations to come.

text: Honouring our ancestors: Reclaiming the power of Māori maternities Māori¹ maternal knowledges are intimately tied to ancestors, to ancestral knowledges, and to whenua (land).² Iwi (tribes), hapū (smaller tribal groupings), and whānau (families)³ have their own maternal knowledges, which are woven into their cosmologies, histories, songs, carvings, place names, chants, and incantations. These knowledges, though spatially and temporally specific, speak to the sanctity of the maternal body, the power and prestige of women’s reproductive capabilities, and the empowering collective approach to raising children. Māori knowledges pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting were imparted generation to generation as they were lived, embodied and emplaced by our ancestors, sustaining the sacred and empowering approach to maternities within our communities.
This chapter considers the challenges and possibilities of reclaiming Māori maternal knowledges and their associated practices and ceremonies for Māori women and whānau in contemporary Aotearoa-New Zealand. Three key themes frame this chapter. First, I consider the ways in which colonialism has served to silence Māori maternal knowledges to such an extent that whānau are left trying to find meaning in the voices, knowledges, and advices of others. Indigenous women are largely birthing within Western ideologies and institutions that do not adequately provide for Indigenous ways of being and birthing. The chapter then considers the ways in which women and whānau are reclaiming ancient knowledges and practices in new and contemporary ways. I seek to illustrate the ways in which traditional practices and ritual customs have the potential to transform and empower individual and collective experiences of birth and afterbirth. The chapter ends with arguing that Indigenous maternities, Māori maternities, are an important site of decolonization. Reclaiming the messages and embodied practices left to us by our ancestors can provide an empowering collective approach to pregnancy, birth, and afterbirth, and can facilitate a “decolonized pathway” (Simpson 28) into and through the world for our children and for generations to come.

year: 2017