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LEARNZ Navigators come to Taranaki

LEARNZ Navigators is a series of free online virtual field trips for teachers and their class. The Taranaki regional field trip programme was located on Taranaki Maunga, including North Egmont.  This outdoor Digital Story Mapping education programme is for primary school students and young people aged 11-13 years.

This was a three day field trip.  Each morning for thirty minutes there were over one hundred schools from around Aotearoa engaged via web conference interacting live with the LEARNZ Team, a digital tech specialist, Department of Conservation rangers and our very own members of the Iwi. More than 2500 students were participating in the comfort of their classrooms while we were out in the field capturing digital data.

Taipuni (Jason) Ruakere is the LEARNZ Navigators co-ordinator for the Taranaki Region.  The Digital Story Mapping programme captured data and video footage of:

  1. Tikanga Taranaki protocols and practices
  2. Taranaki Maunga stories
  3. Restoration activities and protection models on the maunga
  4. Rotokare Scenic Reserve.

Prior to the field trip, Taipuni Ruakere had been collaborating with the LEARNZ Field Trip Team,  local Department of Conservation rangers, local primary and intermediate schools, Charles Walters from Tui Ora, Taranaki Iwi, Sean Zieltjes from the Taranaki Mounga Project and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) the digital mapping organisation from Wellington.

Sera Gibson assisted with digital mapping and water monitoring activities and Te Poihi Campbell with cultural support.

Students from Coastal Taranaki School and Devon Intermediate were invited to participate in the field and learned about the process about how to create a digital story map. Interviews captured on film with those who took part on the Taranaki Maunga Field Trip sharing their cultural and bio-diversity knowledge, flora and fauna protection programmes, restoration models and also their personal relationships that they have with our beloved west coast landscape.

Digital Story Mapping is a way to collect location data and associated historical narratives, present cultural perspectives and a way to showcase the special restoration work being done on the maunga.  This unique field trip included a visit to Rotokare Scenic Reserve, a nationally acclaimed native fauna and flora sanctuary in the heart of Taranaki illustrating that with community collaboration and contribution a thriving and flourishing nature reserve is achievable.

To view the field trip go to LEARNZ website / Map my Waahi 2018. Enjoy!