Social Studies

: Charting the Journey

Approach: Station

1Mb

Resources: Instruction sheet; red and blue pens.

Questions / instructions:
Over 1000 years ago there were probably no people living in New Zealand. Perhaps 1000 years ago the first Mäori people came to New Zealand. Over 150 years ago the first white people came to live in New Zealand.

% responses

1. USE THE BLUE PEN to mark a cross (X) or crosses ( X X X ) on the map to show where the first Ma-ori boats would have come from — then draw a line to show the direction of their sea voyage to New Zealand. USE THE BLUE PEN.

Where Mäori came from:
Pacific Ocean, north and east of NZ (to Hawaii)
anywhere else in Pacific Ocean north of Australia and NZ
other/no response

17
14
69

35
24
41

2. USE THE RED PEN to mark a triangle () or triangles () on the map to show where the very first white settlers' ships would have started their journey — then draw a line to show the direction of the sea voyage to New Zealand. USE THE RED PEN.

Where white people came from:
Britain or immediate surroundings
other parts of Western Europe and Northern Africa
Australia
other/no response

8
3
19
70

42
6
16
36

Route from Europe:
round South Africa
round Cape Horn
through later canals
through Arctic Ocean
across land
Europe not marked

8
1
0
2
5
84

35
5
2
2
4
52

Commentary:
This task reveals that large numbers of students at both year 4 and year 8 have vague ideas or generally inaccurate knowledge of the places where the very first Mäori and White settlers came from, and the likely path of their respective journeys to New Zealand. Overall, however, there is considerable improvement in knowledge from year 4 to year 8.

Examples of student charts

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