Harakeke Ora- Living with Flax
Year 4 Contextual Inquiry Learning- Term 1, 2013.
The focus for the Year 4 Inquiry learning in Term 1 has been
Harakeke Ora - Living with Flax. We began this Inquiry unit with
investigating the importance culturally, and the historical uses of
harakeke from a Māori perspective.
Students identified the significance of harakeke being representative of whanau and identified from the uses of
harakeke, the concept of harakeke as a fibre. We began teaching this unit with a science focus- Interacting
Systems, which enabled us to easily move the students learning to Technology – Design brief and Development.
The learning for this unit was able to be taught through integration across many areas of the curriculum.
The concept of Harakeke as whanau helped us to align with Term 1’s value of Respect,
influencing how we went about gathering our harakeke, and the need to respect this native
plant for sustainability of this resource.
We encouraged the students to investigate, list and classify what survives
in the harakeke, which lead us into identifying the basic needs of survival for humans.
The scenario was set for the students through the concept of being selected to audition for a
reality television programme called ‘Harakeke Ora!’. With the help of Bear Grills as a role model, the students
were asked to imagine they had been stranded in the bush at Perugia and
they had to use harakeke to create an effective item for survival. Students
were then asked to plan for construction using a design brief.
We invited friends and family of the students to come in and help teach the
students some basic skills in weaving, before the students attempted to create
their item.
We gave the students opportunities to create their survival items individually or collaboratively, as we knew there
were a great variety in abilities of thinking, weaving, and designing within our classrooms. Through allowing
students to work collaboratively, we developed our belief in it is a positive, ethical approach to their learning.
When we are able to share our strengths, everyone experiences success!
Once the students survival items were made, we videoed them talking about their survival item explaining what
their item was used for, how they created it and how it related to the main basic aspects, (food, water, shelter), of
human survival.
It was evident the students concepts for their designs were based on knowledge and skills acquired over the unit.
For example…
Food basket/ Fish net- from guided reading
stories and weaving skills.
Trap for catching food - the blue box
underneath represents a hole in the ground
and how the trap is placed over it for the
animals to fall into.
Pillow / tool carrier- This pillow was
design to keep the head off the damp
ground when sleeping. It also has a
pocket where a sharp stick etc can be
carried.
We had an incredible variety of survival items made. Fishing lines, (Bear Grylls - You Tube clips of survival), plaited ropes,
( How Maui Tamed the Sun), fish spears etc.
To celebrate our learning the Year 4 team gathered and displayed our essential survival items. Students then got an
opportunity to share their own item and learn about others items with students from other classes.
Room 3 Spectacular...
Melissa Fife and the students from Room 3 have also been working alongside Dr Judy Moreland from the University of
Waikato as part of a Science in classrooms research initiative.
The students were learning about Solar Energy. Here are some photos…
From the words of the people who this was all about…
“We investigated how the sun gives us light and heat.”
“We learned how to do a scientific investigation.”
“We learned about Solar energy.”
“We melted chocolate and marshmallow using the sun’s energy.”
“We learned about solar panels/photovoltaic cells.”
“We made a solar cooker.”
“We learned that dark colours absorb heat.”
“and that newspaper can be an insulator, and keep things warmer.”
The Year 4 teaching team, Cindy Radich, Suzanne Welch, Melissa Fife and Lilah Flemming