Inspiring Curiosity
The world our tamariki will inherit is rapidly transforming. From artificial intelligence to climate resilience, from global collaboration to cultural revitalisation, the future demands new skills, new ways of thinking, and deep roots in identity. The Navigator's Toolkit is our answer: a free, open-access educational platform built to empower every child in Aotearoa.
The Toolkit was created with three clear objectives. To value teacher’s time, to inspire curiosity in students and to be delivered at no cost to schools or parents. In classrooms across Aotearoa, teachers are doing extraordinary work under extraordinary pressure. They are navigating curriculum change, integrating new technologies, responding to diverse learning needs, all while balancing time, energy, and resourcing. Planning is complex. Workloads are high. And time for creativity, inspiration, and connection is often the first to go. That’s where the Toolkit comes in.
In 2019, during the Tuia 250 Commemoration, we took the opportunity to create digital content that included voyaging from Tahiti to Aotearoa onboard a waka hourua, guided only by the stars, sun and ocean currents. From Sydney we travelled onboard the Endeavour replica to Gisborne where we joined the Tuia 250 flotilla as it travelled around Aotearoa as part of the commemoration of Captain Cook's arrival in New Zealand.
This led us to phase three. He Waka - The Navigator's Toolkit builds on everything we’ve learned so far. It offers fully developed teaching modules, cross-curricular, hands-on, pedagogically grounded, and ready for immediate classroom use. It’s enhanced by AI but never driven by it. Every module is crafted through a blend of digital innovation and deep local storytelling, anchored in curriculum and designed to spark wonder. It is the next step in our mission to spark curiosity, in both teachers and students alike.
Each Module in the Toolkit is designed to bring the curriculum to life through stories, activities, and inquiry. These Modules are crafted for specific year levels and aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum.
They include:
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all model. Each Module is tailored to fit the age and context of the learner, from new entrants in Year 1 through to Year 10 students.
Dive deeper into the rich content and engaging activities that form the heart of the toolkit. These cross-curricular modules demonstrate our blend of ancient wisdom, modern science, and digital innovation, bringing learning to life through compelling stories and hands-on challenges.
Theme: Teaching buoyancy and design through three of Aotearoa's most iconic boats, and the stories that belong to us.
This module takes a global science concept, Archimedes’ Principle, famously difficult to teach, and grounds it in three vessels that define Aotearoa:
Students build, test, and redesign their own vessels, learning physics through hands-on challenges and cultural comparison. And it’s not just about boats, it’s about people:
Science and history come alive through characters, choices, and consequences. This is how we say: Innovation is in our DNA.
View "Eureka the Great Boat Build" ModuleTheme: Two journeys that shaped Aotearoa – waka and rocket – and the learning that connects them.
We explore big ideas — space, survival, discovery — through the lens of two of Aotearoa’s most remarkable voyagers:
Students design AI bird trackers, imagine kete for survival, write astronaut diaries, and invent buddies to help them cross the stars — all while building emotional insight, creative confidence, and scientific understanding.
And it’s not just about spacecraft, it’s about people: Kupe, Tupaia, and Peter Beck, a boy from Invercargill who turned backyard inventions into space launches. Science and history come alive through challenge, humour, and character. This is how we say: Our journeys have always reached for the stars.
View "From the Sea to the Stars" ModuleTheme: Teaching the water cycle through survival, storytelling, and science — on two very different planets.
We take a global science concept, the water cycle, and flip it. Instead of starting with rain, we begin where it stopped: Mars, a world without rivers, clouds, or precipitation.
Students compare water in their part of Aotearoa and Mars, tracking real weather in Gale Crater and at their school, to discover how rare and precious Aotearoa’s cycle really is.
Students build fog traps, simulate evaporation, create survival filters, and invent speculative Martian water systems, learning each cycle stage through inquiry, comparison, and invention.
And it’s not just about water, it’s about people: John Dalton, Percival Lowell, NASA scientists, and atua Māori. Science becomes real when students realise what life looks like without it. This is how we say: Ko te wai he taonga, water is a treasure.
View "Operation Spacewater" ModuleTheme: Bringing the Bard to life by connecting 1590s London with the oral traditions and storytelling of Aotearoa.
Designed for Year 9-11, this module challenges the idea that Shakespeare is "too old" or "too posh." Through five short films and activities, students discover the noise, energy, and insults of the Globe Theatre and connect them to their own world.
It’s about realizing that stories of love, revenge, and courage don't age. This is how we say: The stage is set. The story is yours.
View "Plot Twist" ModuleTheme: A time-travel adventure into the heart of financial capability, showing that what we value changes as much as the world around us.
Developed in response to the announcement that financial capability will be a core part of the New Zealand curriculum, available for schools from 2026 and required from 2027, this unit flips the script on the topic. Students discover a time machine and take 200-year leaps through Aotearoa's history, from 1630 to a speculative 2030. They learn that a briefcase of cash is useless in an economy built on pounamu and relationships, and that pigs and potatoes become high-stakes currency during the musket trade.
This isn't just a teaching unit; it's a full mini-website experience exploring value through hākari feast towers, digital dilemmas, and rich storytelling. This is how we say: The future is coming. Let's teach our tamariki how to value it.
He Waka - The Navigator's Toolkit is built on the principle that modern science and indigenous knowledge can not only coexist but enrich one another. The groundbreaking work of Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith provides powerful scientific corroboration for the epic narratives of Polynesian voyaging embedded in Mātauranga Māori.
While science and Mātauranga arise from different worldviews, they converge on key points. Genetic research aligns with oral traditions about migration paths from Central East Polynesia to Aotearoa. The widely accepted theory of planned, multi-canoe voyages carrying people, plants, and culture resonates deeply with oral histories. Professor Matisoo-Smith's innovative "commensal model"—tracing human movement by studying the DNA of animals like the kiore (Pacific rat) that travelled on waka—indirectly validates these accounts.
This scientific reinforcement of historical accuracy and ingenuity is a cornerstone of the Toolkit. By weaving together genetics, archaeology, and oral traditions, we don't just teach history—we show that our ancestors were world-class scientists and innovators. As we state in the Toolkit, "Our ancestors didn’t follow maps, they made them," using waka hourua and star navigation in an act of "Polynesian innovation and observational science." This interdisciplinary approach provides a richer, more holistic understanding of the incredible story of human settlement in the Pacific.
He Waka - The Navigator's Toolkit is guided by a kaupapa of openness, equity, and trust. At its heart it is a commitment to ensuring that schools and communities can access resources without barriers or conditions.
The Toolkit requires no log-in and does not collect or share any data from students or schools. Teachers and learners can use it directly and confidently, knowing their privacy is protected and the focus remains on learning.
By removing these barriers, the Toolkit shows how technology can serve education with integrity, keeping it open, safe, and equitable for everyone.
Manaiakalani is a cluster of schools committed to lifting student achievement through innovative digital learning.
"Accessing quality, multi-modal, New Zealand contextualised and culturally responsive resources to inspire learning for our young people is a real game changer for both teachers and learners. We have appreciated both the quality of the content made available to us as well as the freedom to use and remix content to design lessons, with no copyright restrictions."
— Fiona Grant, Manaiakalani Facilitator
Impact: Our resources are validated as high-quality, adaptable, and culturally responsive, empowering teachers with the freedom to design engaging, relevant lessons without intellectual property restrictions.
Ōpoho School is a primary school in Dunedin focused on fostering a strong sense of community and a lifelong love of learning.
"I can see just how valuable these lesson plans would be for someone starting out. You could dive straight in, go step by step, and feel totally confident that you’re giving your students rich, in-depth, reliable learning. And for those with more experience, they’d be such a strong springboard, you could build on them, adapt them, and really make them your own."
— Lucy Marr, Deputy Principal, Ōpoho School
Impact: The Toolkit is designed to be a robust, flexible resource that builds teacher confidence. It provides a reliable, comprehensive foundation for early-career educators while offering a rich, adaptable framework for experienced teachers to innovate upon, ultimately saving valuable planning time for all.
St Stephens School is renowned for its commitment to developing future leaders with strong cultural foundations.
"I have looked through the resource you have sent through and can see already the enormous potential that this could have for teachers and students to engage and enthuse learning. The medium is contemporary and the extension exercises will be an immediate go-to for some students."
— Nathan Durie, Principal, Tipene, St Stephens School
Impact: The Toolkit offers "enormous potential" for engagement, leveraging contemporary mediums and providing immediate, practical extension exercises for varied student needs.
A primary school committed to fostering initiative and critical thinking in its students.
"This is an absolutely amazing resource... very clear... comprehensive... and easy for teachers to follow. I think it’s unique because it introduces the Māori and Pacific culture into education, and it brings in initiatives and critical thinking. Even when I taught in the UK, I never saw anything as detailed and interesting as this. This is an amazing resource."
— Sarah Cutler, Primary Teacher, Mornington School
Impact: Recognized as unique and comprehensive, the Toolkit effectively integrates Māori/Pacific culture, fostering student initiative and critical thinking in a way that stands out globally.
A high school focused on relevant and engaging learning, particularly in social sciences and technology.
"The resource is so relevant, so engaging for the students, so authentic... the adaptability of the resource is fantastic... The resource addresses literacy and digital technology skills, and for me, that's just a win-win."
— Paul Enright, HOD Social Science, Logan Park High School
Impact: The Toolkit provides highly relevant, authentic, and adaptable content that directly enhances literacy and digital technology skills, creating a "win-win" for both students and curriculum goals.
A primary school committed to fostering a deeper understanding of Aotearoa's history and culture.
"I think for myself and the whole teaching staff, we have definitely learned a lot about our own Aotearoa, New Zealand history."
— Ewan Todd, Deputy Principal, Māori Hill School
Impact: The Toolkit actively deepens cultural understanding and knowledge of New Zealand history not just for students, but for educators themselves, enriching the entire learning environment.
ViewThe rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence is reshaping industries and everyday life. At The Navigator's Toolkit, we believe it's crucial for our tamariki to not just understand AI, but to confidently and ethically interact with it. Our own journey in developing this presentation exemplifies this very principle.
When we prepared this presentation and the accompanying website, we actively leveraged AI tools, specifically Google's Gemini. Think of Gemini as a brilliant co-pilot in our creative process.
This was a truly collaborative effort. Our team provided the vision, the uniquely New Zealand context, and the foundational educational knowledge, while Gemini helped us accelerate the creation of compelling and visually engaging materials.
This hands-on approach with AI is precisely what we aim to foster in every child through The Navigator's Toolkit. We're teaching them how to harness these powerful tools responsibly, to augment their own creativity, to navigate vast information landscapes, and ultimately, to confidently shape what comes next in an ever-changing world. It’s about ensuring they have the skills to make their own maps, just as our ancestors did.
Ko ngā tahū a ō tapuwae inānahi, hei tauira ora mō āpōpō
The footsteps laid down in the past create the paving stones upon which we stand today
View: Are We Ready?