title: Winds of change: Charting a pathway to ecosystem monitoring using airborne environmental DNA

authors: Tulloch, Rachel L.

subjects: aerobiology

abstract: Airborne environmental DNA (airborne eDNA) analysis leverages the globally ubiquitous medium of air to deliver broad species distribution data and support ecosystem monitoring across diverse environments. As this emerging technology matures, addressing critical challenges and seizing key opportunities will be essential to fully realize its potentially transformative impact. In June 2024, the Southern eDNA Society convened over 100 researchers, industry leaders, and biodiversity management stakeholders in a landmark workshop to evaluate the current state of airborne eDNA research and chart a course for future development. Participants explored opportunities for integrating airborne eDNA into existing monitoring systems, but they unanimously agreed that research must first be applied to improving understanding of airborne eDNA ecology. The workshop emphasized the importance of collaborative engagement with stakeholders—including government agencies, Indigenous communities, and citizen scientists—to ensure practical and ethical implementation. This summary highlights current challenges and actionable recommendations, including improving our understanding of airborne eDNA ecology, harmonizing sampling methodology (e.g., devices, materials, sampling density, duration), identifying and mitigating sources of error, and fostering early, sustained stakeholder collaboration. By addressing these challenges, airborne eDNA analysis can become a transformative tool for biodiversity, biosecurity, and conservation monitoring on a global scale. Its ability to detect diverse taxonomic groups—including fungi, plants, arthropods, microbes, and vertebrates—positions airborne eDNA as a pivotal technology for holistic terrestrial biodiversity assessments that transcend traditional, species-focused monitoring approaches.

text: Winds of change: Charting a pathway to ecosystem monitoring using airborne environmental DNA Airborne environmental DNA (airborne eDNA) analysis leverages the globally ubiquitous medium of air to deliver broad species distribution data and support ecosystem monitoring across diverse environments. As this emerging technology matures, addressing critical challenges and seizing key opportunities will be essential to fully realize its potentially transformative impact. In June 2024, the Southern eDNA Society convened over 100 researchers, industry leaders, and biodiversity management stakeholders in a landmark workshop to evaluate the current state of airborne eDNA research and chart a course for future development. Participants explored opportunities for integrating airborne eDNA into existing monitoring systems, but they unanimously agreed that research must first be applied to improving understanding of airborne eDNA ecology. The workshop emphasized the importance of collaborative engagement with stakeholders—including government agencies, Indigenous communities, and citizen scientists—to ensure practical and ethical implementation. This summary highlights current challenges and actionable recommendations, including improving our understanding of airborne eDNA ecology, harmonizing sampling methodology (e.g., devices, materials, sampling density, duration), identifying and mitigating sources of error, and fostering early, sustained stakeholder collaboration. By addressing these challenges, airborne eDNA analysis can become a transformative tool for biodiversity, biosecurity, and conservation monitoring on a global scale. Its ability to detect diverse taxonomic groups—including fungi, plants, arthropods, microbes, and vertebrates—positions airborne eDNA as a pivotal technology for holistic terrestrial biodiversity assessments that transcend traditional, species-focused monitoring approaches.

year: 2025

title: The provision of European languages in Anglophone contexts: Aotearoa/New Zealand in focus

authors: Johnson, Diane

subjects: European languages

abstract: The provision of European languages within the New Zealand education system is discussed here in the context of the origins and evolution of language education in the country and the various problems that have been associated with it. These problems include the fact that any discussion of languages inevitably raises issues concerning the endangered status of Māori, the indigenous language of the country, issues which have the potential to highlight deep divisions within society. Hence, there is an unwillingness on the part of successive governments to engage seriously in debate about language needs and aspirations. Only a very small percentage of students at any level of the education system study languages other than English and Māori. Although European languages are studied by over half of those who do study languages, there is very little choice in terms of the European languages on offer. Furthermore, public opinion favours the teaching and learning of Asian and Pacific languages. In fact, two of the languages on offer that originated in Europe, French and Spanish, may have retained their position, in part, because they are, for many New Zealanders, at least as strongly associated with the Pacific and Pacific Rim countries where they are spoken as they are with their countries of origin.

text: The provision of European languages in Anglophone contexts: Aotearoa/New Zealand in focus The provision of European languages within the New Zealand education system is discussed here in the context of the origins and evolution of language education in the country and the various problems that have been associated with it. These problems include the fact that any discussion of languages inevitably raises issues concerning the endangered status of Māori, the indigenous language of the country, issues which have the potential to highlight deep divisions within society. Hence, there is an unwillingness on the part of successive governments to engage seriously in debate about language needs and aspirations. Only a very small percentage of students at any level of the education system study languages other than English and Māori. Although European languages are studied by over half of those who do study languages, there is very little choice in terms of the European languages on offer. Furthermore, public opinion favours the teaching and learning of Asian and Pacific languages. In fact, two of the languages on offer that originated in Europe, French and Spanish, may have retained their position, in part, because they are, for many New Zealanders, at least as strongly associated with the Pacific and Pacific Rim countries where they are spoken as they are with their countries of origin.

year: 2015

title: Looking for the Tikanga in technology education

authors: Knoef, Bernard John

subjects: Maori

abstract: This dissertation is dedicated to understanding how it would feel to be disconnected from their own past and devalued as a race by colonialism; that is, how would it feel to be Māori in my class?
This dissertation aims to support New Zealand teachers of Technology to better understand how they can create a curriculum for Technology that is more connected to aspects of Māori culture and in doing so improve learning outcomes for Māori. At the same time it explores how Pākehā students could gain a better understanding of the tikanga that guides the essence of what it means to be Māori and what it means to be an honourable Treaty partner with Māori. The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi laid the foundation for a formal respectful relationship between Māori and the British and for the introduction of British rule of law. Despite the intentions of the Treaty being one of equal partnerships between the British and Māori, the Treaty did not eventuate to be the equal nor mutually beneficial agreement that was anticipated by Māori.
Today visible disparities, that exist for Māori across society, are evident in Māori learning outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand secondary schools. This research explores my own praxis in secondary technology education in collaborating with Māori to incorporate tikanga Māori (Māori customary values and practices) into the classroom. A focus on tikanga and Technology provides opportunities to develop improved understandings of more inclusive learning contexts. This dissertation histories the identity evolution of me, the researcher. The process I utilised is a method of self-examination and identity construction for other technology teachers who want to improve their practices in teaching students who are Māori. This study describes a repositioning process of how I took ownership for self-improvement. To enable an emphasis for this, there is a particular focus on the Nature of Technology strand of the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007, 2017). Pacey (2001) discusses the possibilities of a more people-centred technology with a participatory, ethical experience of technology that values people as well as their environment. In Aotearoa New Zealand, a teacher is encouraged to take personal responsibility for their engagement with an official curriculum (MOE, 2007).
My students and I have embarked on a number of projects that are localised both within our community and in wider society. These projects required us to have an understanding of tikanga. Mead (2016) requires that for educators and leaders to be more effective in what they do, they need to know the protocols that are drawn from the basket of knowledge called tikanga. My research explores ways to aid teachers develop understandings of Te Ao Māori (The Māori world) and the cultural world of Māori learners, with a view to promoting teaching that engages respectfully with, the knowledge of tikanga Māori in New Zealand Technology classrooms.
I have completed many years of teaching, much of which has been in the curriculum area of Technology. I have managed this with only a limited amount of supporting knowledge and understanding of how tikanga Māori could be appropriately and meaningfully, woven into my practice and the practice of my fellow Technology teachers as a result of my leadership. I am non-Māori and have practised as a teacher in New Zealand secondary schools for 29 years. Together with my students, we recently completed a number of Technology projects that involved learning about significant aspects of Māori culture including tikanga Māori. One whole school technology project was to build Te Whare Iti o Te Ako (The Small House of Learning) for our local early childhood centre. Because of this project and other related experiences, I have had the chance to reflect at a very personal level. I have had the opportunity to identify the gaps in my understanding of indigenous knowledge, but also through students participating in these projects, I have witnessed a tremendous engagement of curiosity for learning from both Māori and non- Māori about tikanga Māori. Accordingly, this research study seeks to answer the following questions and supports my intention to become more effective in what I do and how I practise as a non-Māori teacher with both Māori and non-Māori learners.
● As a non-Māori teacher, what did I learn about and from, including tikanga Māori into my pedagogical praxis as a teacher of technology?
o Who did I learn this from and how did I learn this?
o In what ways did these experiences contribute to my understandings of Te Ao Māori?
o How might my experiences support other teachers of technology?
I use Autoethnography to undertake this research which allows me to produce meaningful, accessible and evocative research that is grounded in personal experience (Ellis, Adams & Bochner 2011).

text: Looking for the Tikanga in technology education This dissertation is dedicated to understanding how it would feel to be disconnected from their own past and devalued as a race by colonialism; that is, how would it feel to be Māori in my class?
This dissertation aims to support New Zealand teachers of Technology to better understand how they can create a curriculum for Technology that is more connected to aspects of Māori culture and in doing so improve learning outcomes for Māori. At the same time it explores how Pākehā students could gain a better understanding of the tikanga that guides the essence of what it means to be Māori and what it means to be an honourable Treaty partner with Māori. The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi laid the foundation for a formal respectful relationship between Māori and the British and for the introduction of British rule of law. Despite the intentions of the Treaty being one of equal partnerships between the British and Māori, the Treaty did not eventuate to be the equal nor mutually beneficial agreement that was anticipated by Māori.
Today visible disparities, that exist for Māori across society, are evident in Māori learning outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand secondary schools. This research explores my own praxis in secondary technology education in collaborating with Māori to incorporate tikanga Māori (Māori customary values and practices) into the classroom. A focus on tikanga and Technology provides opportunities to develop improved understandings of more inclusive learning contexts. This dissertation histories the identity evolution of me, the researcher. The process I utilised is a method of self-examination and identity construction for other technology teachers who want to improve their practices in teaching students who are Māori. This study describes a repositioning process of how I took ownership for self-improvement. To enable an emphasis for this, there is a particular focus on the Nature of Technology strand of the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007, 2017). Pacey (2001) discusses the possibilities of a more people-centred technology with a participatory, ethical experience of technology that values people as well as their environment. In Aotearoa New Zealand, a teacher is encouraged to take personal responsibility for their engagement with an official curriculum (MOE, 2007).
My students and I have embarked on a number of projects that are localised both within our community and in wider society. These projects required us to have an understanding of tikanga. Mead (2016) requires that for educators and leaders to be more effective in what they do, they need to know the protocols that are drawn from the basket of knowledge called tikanga. My research explores ways to aid teachers develop understandings of Te Ao Māori (The Māori world) and the cultural world of Māori learners, with a view to promoting teaching that engages respectfully with, the knowledge of tikanga Māori in New Zealand Technology classrooms.
I have completed many years of teaching, much of which has been in the curriculum area of Technology. I have managed this with only a limited amount of supporting knowledge and understanding of how tikanga Māori could be appropriately and meaningfully, woven into my practice and the practice of my fellow Technology teachers as a result of my leadership. I am non-Māori and have practised as a teacher in New Zealand secondary schools for 29 years. Together with my students, we recently completed a number of Technology projects that involved learning about significant aspects of Māori culture including tikanga Māori. One whole school technology project was to build Te Whare Iti o Te Ako (The Small House of Learning) for our local early childhood centre. Because of this project and other related experiences, I have had the chance to reflect at a very personal level. I have had the opportunity to identify the gaps in my understanding of indigenous knowledge, but also through students participating in these projects, I have witnessed a tremendous engagement of curiosity for learning from both Māori and non- Māori about tikanga Māori. Accordingly, this research study seeks to answer the following questions and supports my intention to become more effective in what I do and how I practise as a non-Māori teacher with both Māori and non-Māori learners.
● As a non-Māori teacher, what did I learn about and from, including tikanga Māori into my pedagogical praxis as a teacher of technology?
o Who did I learn this from and how did I learn this?
o In what ways did these experiences contribute to my understandings of Te Ao Māori?
o How might my experiences support other teachers of technology?
I use Autoethnography to undertake this research which allows me to produce meaningful, accessible and evocative research that is grounded in personal experience (Ellis, Adams & Bochner 2011).

year: 2019