Lakes380 – Our lakes’ health: past, present, future is the largest scientific study ever undertaken on lakes in Aotearoa1 New Zealand. The programme, jointly led by GNS Science and Cawthron Institute, draws upon both scientific and mātauranga Māori2 knowledge systems to determine the current and historical health of hundreds of lakes across the country. An understanding of how and why lakes have changed over the past 1,000 years will help ecologists understand future changes and inform protection and restoration efforts.
The Hub’s Lakes380 resources provide rich, real-life contexts for developing students’ thinking, visioning and problem-solving skills and an array of science capabilities and competencies. The combination of environmental monitoring with social and cultural components adds a depth of interest and value for educators and ākonga3 to pursue local and personal cross-curricular learning.
Key concepts and curriculum links
The breadth of the Lakes380 research enables ākonga to explore key concepts in science, mātauranga Māori and social sciences.
Science concepts could include:
- understanding how lake origins have created the incredible diversity of lakes in Aotearoa
- understanding ecosystem4 connections and impacts caused by land-use change
- exploring how environmental monitoring techniques are used to gather and interpret data5 and how the data is used to inform action.
Mātauranga Māori concepts could include:
- exploring relationships and connections between tangata whenua6, their roto7 and whenua8 and the value of whakawhanaungatanga9 between iwi10 and research teams
- understanding how extensive, long-held and ongoing mātauranga11 is able to inform and guide current and future activities.
Social science concepts could include:
- understanding how people make decisions about access to and use of resources
- exploring how we view and use places differently
- exploring changes to societal thinking about these resources and places.
The resources support science learning in the Nature of Science12, Planet Earth and Beyond and Living World strands and social science learning in the Place and Environment and Continuity and Change strands. The activities provide authentic experience with the science capabilities – especially interpreting data and representations. (Lakes380 – writers’ insight explores the changing nature of science and delves more deeply into the collaboration13 and shared philosophies that underpin the Lakes380 resource suite.)
Lake Moawhitu – data from the sediment core
Data from the sediment core provides evidence of how human settlement has impacted the mauri of Lake Moawhitu.
Image courtesy of Lakes380 – Our lakes’ health: past, present, future.
Opportunities for local curriculum
Local curriculum encourages educators to be responsive to local interests, issues, identity and culture. For Māori, tribal identity is linked to freshwater – each water body has its own mauri14. Freshwater systems are also highly valued for recreational, environmental and economic reasons. Although lakes are abundant in Aotearoa, many are in remote locations or out of sight on private land.
Learning about a local lake provides opportunities to build knowledge of:
- local mātauranga and concepts including mauri, wairua15, wai ora, ki uta ki tai, whakapapa16 and mahinga kai
- science concepts such as lake origins, catchment17 areas and water quality
- social science concepts such as relevant issues, values and the influences of people and place.
Resources to support learning
Following is a list of Lakes380 resources. They are grouped by themes – however, the principles/concepts mentioned above are interwoven among each of the resources.
- Lakes380 – Our lakes’ health: past, present, future – article
- Environmental DNA – article
- Finding out what’s in our lake using eDNA – activity
- Lake sediment cores – exploring the past – article
- Interpreting lake sediment data – activity
- Lakes380 – what does the data tell us? – article
- Finding the clues – inputs and lake sediments – interactive
Mātauranga Māori
- He reo nō te puehu – A voice from the dust – article
- Using He reo nō te puehu – activity
Science, social sciences and local curriculum
- The lakes of Aotearoa New Zealand – article
- Exploring my local lake – activity
Related content
Ever wondered how we create content for the Hub? This news article provides insights into the creative ways the Lakes380 team approached science communication and outreach. And this writers’ insight explores how Lakes380 reflects the ever-changing nature of science.
The Hub's eDNA collection has background information and activities to help students learn more about DNA18 collection and processing, and how eDNA helps scientists build a better picture of the biodiversity19 and resilience of an ecosystem.
Tōku awa koiora – introduction curates resources about the Waikato River ecosystems20 and the iwi, researchers and scientists who are working to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River.
Smart Water – a context for learning curates resources that foster a greater understanding and appreciation of water from source to tap. Smart Water is a partnership between Hamilton City Council, Waipā District Council and Waitomo District Council.
Repo (wetlands) – a context for learning explores wetland21 connections and wetland restoration using te ao Māori22 approaches.
Rivers and Us – a context for learning curates numerous resources regarding freshwater ecosystems as well as the key aspects of environmental education that underpin local stream monitoring and subsequent action.
Explore the range of resources in our Freshwater – lakes and rivers Pinterest Board.
Useful links
Visit the Lakes380 website to find information about:
Visit Our Lakes, Our Future – Lake stories for videos and audio recordings that share cultural knowledge and ecological research about our lakes.
Visit He reo nō te puehu – A voice from the dust to experience Lake Moawhitu as it once was, as it is now and what it has the potential to become.
Acknowledgement
This resource has been developed in collaboration with Lakes380 – Our lakes’ health: past, present, future (C05X1707), Cawthron Institute and GNS Science.
Lakes380 – Our lakes’ health: past, present, future
Lakes380 is a national project to gain in-depth understanding of the current and historical health of lakes in Aotearoa New Zealand. The project was co-led by GNS Science and Cawthron Institute and funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (C05X1707; Lakes380.com).
- Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
- mātauranga Māori: A contemporary term referring to Māori knowledge, Māori ways of knowing and associated practice.
- ākonga: Student, pupil, learner or protégé.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- data: The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.
- tangata whenua: A Māori term that literally means ‘people of the land’, used to refer to Māori as the indigenous people of New Zealand.
- roto: Lake, wetlands or swamp (repo).
- whenua: Land.
- whakawhanaungatanga: The process of establishing and maintaining relationships, and strengthening ties between people and communities.
- iwi: Māori tribe or large community, often consisting of several hapū (clans) bound together by common ancestors.
- mātauranga: Māori cultural knowledge and understanding of the world; Māori wisdom.
- nature of science: The Nature of Science (NoS), is an overarching and unifying strand of the New Zealand science curriculum. Through it, students develop the skills, attitudes and values to build a foundation for understanding the world around them – understanding how science works in order to make links between scientific knowledge and everyday decisions and actions.
- collaboration: Working together with a common purpose.
- mauri: Life force or spiritual essence of a person, place or thing.
- wairua: Spirit.
- whakapapa: The familial connection, genealogy, ancestry and lineage of living things and non-living things.
- catchment: An area that collects all the water that drains to a particular lake, river or reservoir. Also known as a watershed or a drainage basin.
- DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that contains the instructions needed for an organism to develop and function. These instructions are stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T).
- biodiversity: The range of species found in a particular region. The more species that exist (the higher the biodiversity), the more likely it is that an ecosystem will survive episodes of change.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- wetland: An area of land that is saturated with water, often referred to as a swamp or bog. Wetlands may be seasonally or permanently water-logged with vegetation adapted for life under those soil conditions. Wetlands are known as repo in te reo Māori.
- te ao Māori: Māori world view (belief system), which provides a Māori epistemology (study of knowledge) of source, origin, knowledge, and application.
