Example Projects

Taonga - Whole School - Maori Hill School


Whole School Driving Question:  How can we as kaitiaki ensure Aotearoa continues to protect our natural taonga?


Project Summary from one class:  In this project children work together to investigate an endangered species/habitat/ecosystem needs, structures, and functions, food chains, food webs, life cycles, text features, that are considered a taonga in Aotearoa. Using the scientific processes of investigating, understanding and explaining, children examine the living world around them to determine why a species is no longer thriving or surviving. Armed with the scientific skills of making observations, carrying out investigations, communicating and debating with others, children develop knowledge, understanding, and explanations about the unique biological species (including fauna and flora) that live within Aotearoa. Working to a client brief, children create a product that shares their scientific findings into how we can act as kaitiaki and ensure Aotearoa continues to protect our natural taonga. 


Whole school Embarking Activity:  Classroom visits to Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

Project Outcome/Product:

An exhibition of the project's process and products were held in the library for families to visit during Learning Conference evenings. Products included Pop up educational books, Information Reports, Dioramas, Interactive displays with Makey Makey and a whole school Yellow Dress Up day to support the Yellowed Eyed Penguin.

Let’s Do Business! - Whole School - Maori Hill School

Driving Question: How can we as community members raise funds to give back to our school community?


Project Summary: In this enterprise project children are challenged to design and create products to sell at the school fair. Financial literacy will be developed as children will need to look at costs of materials and pricing to ensure a profit can be made. Packaging and advertising to promote the product will also be essential elements of this project.


Embarking Activity:Varied across the school


Project Outcome/Product:

Funds raised at the school fair. Children show an understanding of financial literacy.

Classroom Products:

Room 1 - Plants

Room 1A - Mindfulness jars

Room 2 - Bookmarks

Room 3 - Stress balls and hacky sacks

Room 4 - Hama bead keyrings

Room 5 - Painted rocks

Room 6 - Playdoh

Room 7 - Varied (e.g. hair scrunchies, worm wee, pinecone animals)

Room 8 - Poi

Room 9 - Bath bombs

How can we celebrate who we are and where we come from? - Whole School - Kaikorai School

How can we, as innovators, explore space? - Whole School - Kaikorai School

How can we encourage healthy living for ourselves and others? - Whole School - Kaikorai School

How can we, as retailers, design, create, and market a product to sell to our community? - Whole School - Kaikorai School

Discovery - Planet X - Year 7 - Balmacewen Intermediate

Our PBL unit Discovery - Planet X tied in with our Science theme of the Living World.  After spending the first few weeks learning about animals, classification, adaptations, food webs and a visit to animal attic, we moved onto the creative PBL project. Weta workshop zoomed into our classes with inspiration and ideas for the development of our animal characters that could live on our invented Planet X. Students researched ideas for their habitat of their choice and what animals already exist there to get ideas for adaptations for their animals. They then individually designed some ideas for their animals before seeking feedback, sharing with their groups and moving on collaboratively to complete the final designs. 

Some students made models of their creatures. We integrated digital ideas such as using AI to generate images, created interactive links using thinglink, learnt how to use google sites and during our literacy times learnt how to write animal reports - when you read them they make their invented animals seem so real! Some of our work is not being shared back to Weta for their feedback on our design ideas.

Project Websites:

Turangawaewae - Year 7 - Balmacewen Intermediate

How Maui found his Mother.mp4
How Maui Made Fire.mp4

Kaitiaki of the Stream- Year 0-2 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can we as the kaitiakitanga of our community protect and preserve the eco-system of our stream for the future?

Project: A tracking station

Spark it! : Short film/clip/trailer of footage from Wakari Stream presented to the tamariki. Mystery creature footprints around the room.

Question it: Questions-recap. Create what I know, what I need to know and next step questions. Display on PBL wall. 

Passion and Imagine it: Videos,  guest speakers, predator work

Make it!: Made and then used their predator tracks, these were put out at school and at the creek
Share It!: Syndicate walkaround classes-looking at all the project mahi covered (writing, art, video, books, drama)

Kaitiaki of the Stream - Year 3-4 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can we, as kaitiaki of the stream, protect our local school creek?

Our learning journey:

Kaitiaki of the Stream - Year 5/6 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can I as a Kaitiaki of School Creek teach my community how to care and protect it?


For this project the Senior Syndiacte began by taking part in an entry event with Tahu from Orokonui. She showed the syndicate an enviroscape and taught them about how different features affect the quality of our water ways.Next the children took part in a Stream Health assessment of School Creek by the Flagstaff community church. The children measured and tested a range of stream attributes such as water calrity, turbidity, water temperature, invertebrates and the stream habitat. We were lucky to have experts from Kaikorai Valley College, Otago Regional Council and the Dunedin City Council help us with this assessment. 

The children then used this data to collectively make a decision on the health of the stream. Our assessment was that the stream’s health was good but could be improved. To further our understanding the children research more aspects of what makes a stream healthy or unhealthy.  The syndicate then planned, designed and created their own dioramas showing either what a healthy stream or unhealthy stream looks like, or a combination of the both. We held an expo at school to celebrate all of the learning.

History Project - Years 0-2 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can we, as historians, share stories about Wakari School?

Project: A now and then photo book

Spark it!  “Olden day” games morning

Question it: Learning about questions, Smyth approach using photos with questions, question rubric

Passion and Imagine it: Toitu visit, History of Wakari School book

Make it!: Now and then book about Wakari School. Children took pictures of now and used Canva and an app to make a picture of  them dressed in olden clothes. Children wrote facts for their books

Share It!: Books shared with their buddy reader

History Project - Years 3/4 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can we as Historians teach others about Wakari School in the past?

Spark it!: My community - create a definition

Question it: Photos - Generate Questions from these images. Venn Diagram - now and then, what do we notice?

Passion and Imagine it: As a hub we revisited our crazy 8’s and what we would find in our community and how we could incorporate this on a possible learning street

Make it!: Workshops - Slit and slot refer to the cardboard construction poster. Circuits - for stop/go signs.

Video of the “Make It” stage in action!

Share It!: Celebration of our completed mat with the Junior Syndicate.

Road Safety - Year 5/6 - Wakari School

Driving Question: How can I as a responsible citizen share a road safety resource with the school community?


For this project the Wakari Senior Syndicate children were tasked with identifying the road safety needs within our community as well as educating their families with their own range of road safety themed products. 

The project began with an entry event sparked by our local constable, Ross Greer and a design brief pitched by our principal, Stacey Gribben. 

The children then took part in a range of activities to upskill their knowledge on our local road safety needs. These included hazard identification walks, traffic surveys and class research on safe practices around our roads. 

The children worked in groups to create their products. The products included positive and negative tickets, brochures, videos, posters, improved signage, newspaper articles and websites. Many of the products also incorporated QR codes which linked to further information.

To complete the project, children shared their products with family members and also took part in a walk to school mapping activity run by the DCC. This mapping activity will see a 5, 10, and 15 minute walk-to-school zone marked out within our community. 

Mātauranga - Maori Hill School