Kia ora, welcome to our collection on te pūngao puia, geothermal energy.

This collection is drawn from and supports the student activity Develop a science-informed response to a local socio-scientific issue where students explore the issue of using a specific pūngao puia resource while considering varying perspectives and developing a response.

More information on the assessment of this activity can be found here.

Pūngao puia, geothermal energy is a great topic to explore - it's such as important part of the history and future of Aotearoa.

Note: Articles on the Science Learning Hub all have a glossary page. Here you will find key words and what they mean.

For example, go to the article Geothermal power and click on the glossary tab to the right of the resource tab.

Here you can select and download terms that are helpful.

You will need to know words like: energy, renewable, nonrenewable, heat transfer, geology... and others.

Socio-scientific issues - overview

For this activity, a local socio-scientific issue is an issue about which people hold varying opinions and perspectives: 'local' refers to the issue being of interest or importance to the student.

You may want to give examples of other socio-scientific issues such as:

Background

Te pūngao puia is geothermal energy that is generated within the Earth and used by people for a variety of purposes.

Explore pūrakau:

Research local narratives about pūngao puia.

A well known narrative is of Ngātoroirangi.

Identify the issue: what is an aspect of te pūngao puia that people hold varying opinions and perspectives on?

Spend time investigating the different perspectives that groups and individuals hold on te pūngao puia

Think about kaitiakitanga in the context of te pūngao puia

Prompts:

  • will this resource continue to provide for all those who use it?
  • how can we protect this resource?
  • how can we better respond to different perspectives / stakeholders?

You may want to use this resource to support the process of identifying various perspectives on an issue. Page 7 of the toolkit helps to unpack Pluralism - an ethical approach that recognises that ethical decisions are viewed differently by different people.

Kaitiakitanga

Kaitiakitanga is the concept of guardianship, stewardship for living things and resources. In this Standard, a kaitiakitanga approach is one that demonstrates guardianship or stewardship for self, others, whānau, and the environment.

Kaitiakitanga is part of a science-informed response and could include:

  • taking a position on an issue
  • devising an action to address an issue
  • taking action to address an issue.

The following resources give examples of some geothermal uses and issues from Aoteatoa.

Learn about geothermal activity and use in the Rotorua area.

Geothermal activity can create beautiful landscape features but also can deposit heavy metals into the surrounding environment.

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1539-soil-quality

Geothermal power stations create waste water.

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