There are many ways teachers across New Zealand can build the 36th America’s Cup into their school curriculum during term 1, 2021.
In anticipation of the America’s Cup events taking place in New Zealand this summer, a range of educational material and activities has been created to give students the opportunity to use the America’s Cup as the real-life context for building STEAM capabilities, understanding our shared voyaging history and gaining important water skills for life and safer boating skills.
The America’s Cup World Series Auckland will take place 17–20 December 2020, followed by the PRADA Cup from 15 January to 22 February 2021 and the 36th America’s Cup Match from 6–21 March.
Genesis is working with Emirates Team New Zealand, to inspire
New Zealand’s next generation of Kiwi innovators through the Genesis School-gen programme. Together with the Team, School-gen has developed a range of activities and teacher resources that use sailing and the America’s Cup as the real-life context for learning.
The aim is to help young New Zealanders understand how science, technology, engineering and maths are used in the race for the America’s Cup and to inspire them to develop the skills they will need for the future of work, in the many forms that takes.
To find out more, visit schoolgen.co.nz(external link).
Kōkōkaha is an integrated unit of work provided by Yachting New Zealand that focuses on the science, technology, engineering and maths associated with harnessing the power of the wind. Kōkōkaha includes classroom and sailing experiences.
Classroom experiences include hands-on activities to help students learn about the power of the wind. Sailing experiences include going sailing to feel the power of the wind and interacting with a set of resources to understand how sailing technologies work.
Learners use the skills and knowledge they acquire to design and share a technology to harness the power of the wind.
To find out more, and to register for Kōkōkaha sailing experiences, visit kokokaha-yachting.nz(external link).
The New Zealand Maritime Museum has an educational online learning resource called ‘America’s Cup – From a Nation Born of Sailors’. These high-definition digital packages take learners from the early voyagers to Aotearoa, to the history of the Cup, through to realising how New Zealand became a nation of expert sailors and innovators.
To view the digital packages, visit maritimemuseum.co.nz(external link).
The 21 Day Challenge is a pre-planned 21-day guided inquiry in the lead-up to the America’s Cup finals. It includes 21 days of learning, thinking, creating and action to engage and empower students to care for the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Ko te Pātaka kai o Tīkapa Moana Te Moananui-ā-Toi, or their local moana.
The 21 Day Challenge encourages an increased knowledge of the ocean, particularly the Hauraki Gulf; builds an understanding of the importance of the ocean to many people in various ways, and supports children to think about kaitiakitanga and care for our ocean.
By the end of the 21 days, students will have developed a way of sharing their learning to encourage others to understand and care for our ocean.
To find out more, and to register for the programme, visit youngoceanexplorers.com(external link).
Yachting New Zealand and the Department of Conservation (DoC) present Manaaki Moana, which focuses on the science involved in restoring marine ecosystems. During the 2021 school year a small number of sailing clubs around the country will begin to be established as Education Outside the Classroom centres as a legacy of Aotearoa New Zealand hosting the America’s Cup.
Each club will work with a cluster of schools or Kāhui Ako to start building New Zealand’s Blue Belt as a means of restoring degraded habitats and marine ecosystems around our coastline. Students will work on ideas and plans to restore and monitor habitats for specific species in their rohe.
To find out more, email info@kokokaha-yachting.nz.
One of the programmes available to schools during the 36th America’s Cup is called Kōkōkaha. This programme focuses on learning about the power of the wind, so it seems only appropriate that schools in Wellington have been helping to develop and test the Kōkōkaha resources and activities.
“A group of teachers from across our Kāhui Ako have been working with the Worser Bay Boating Club to design the curriculum for Kōkōkaha,” explains Motu Kairangi Kāhui Ako lead principal John Western. “During term three we have been testing with students a range of learning activities to help get them ready for schools throughout the country next year.”
The curriculum has three sets of school-based learning experiences.
When the wind blows: which looks at where the wind comes from, how you measure it and its impact on the ocean
A force to be reckoned with: which looks at wind turbines, ocean navigation and how sail boats use the energy in wind
How sail boats work: which looks at buoyancy, sail design, boat design and foils.
The classroom experiences are backed up with a sailing experience at a local sailing club where tamariki get to feel the force of the wind. They then use the knowledge and skills they have acquired to design a technology to harness the power of the wind.
The ultimate goal is that tamariki are active participants in their local community by helping society increase the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources.
“Our students have really enjoyed the hands-on activities which see them designing, building, testing and refining things like anemometers, wind vanes, sail cars and model boats,” says John Western.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the ideas for harnessing the power of the wind that students across the country develop next year as a result of participating in Kōkōkaha.”
For schools that are able to visit the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland during the America’s Cup, there are some additional learning opportunities on offer.
The New Zealand Maritime Museum is situated between the challenger of record and defender bases at the Viaduct. It has a self-guided trail that takes students through the refreshed Blue Water, Black Magic exhibit, which includes interactives and displays showcasing New Zealand’s involvement in the America’s Cup over the years.
To find out more and to book a visit, go to maritimemuseum.co.nz.(external link)
In the heart of the Viaduct Harbour, students can visit this zone to explore the ultimate high-tech world of innovation and see how Emirates Team New Zealand pushes the limits of design as they prepare for the 36th America’s Cup.
There are seven immersive zones where students can design and test their own AC75, see NIWA wind data like never before, race along with Emirates Team New Zealand or take an augmented reality (AR) selfie with the team.
To find out more and to book a visit, go to spark.co.nz/racezone.(external link)
When Emirates Team New Zealand first won the America’s Cup, one of the things it initiated was a schools’ programme. For the past 15 years the ‘Have A Go’ schools’ programme has delivered well on Sir Peter Blake’s vision of every child in Aotearoa New Zealand having the opportunity to have a go at sailing.
The team is now supporting Yachting New Zealand to build on this strong base to encourage an even broader and more diverse cross-section of children to become involved with sailing.
Yachting New Zealand is working with the Ministry of Education, MBIE, DoC and Sport NZ to reinvent how it engages with schools as part of the official legacy programme arising from New Zealand hosting the America’s Cup.
“We are developing a schools’ programme that includes a curriculum focusing on exploration, innovation and environmentalism to engage Kiwi kids in solving real-life problems in their local community,” explains Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie.
The programme is designed to help tamariki develop water skills for life and safer boating skills while researching local history, harnessing the power of the wind and restoring marine ecosystems.
The first module of the schools’ programme is called ‘Kōkōkaha – Powered by Wind’ and will be available to schools and kura throughout New Zealand from term one 2021 as the 36th edition of the America’s Cup unfolds.
“We are also beginning exploratory work on two further modules with a small number of clubs and schools” explains Abercrombie.
The first of these additional modules is called ‘Manaaki Moana – Building NZ’s Blue Belt’ and involves sailing clubs working with their local communities, Iwi and clusters of schools to establish marine ecosystem restoration projects.
The second module is called ‘Kōrinorino o Ngā Tupuna – Following in the wake of our ancestors’ which focuses on our voyaging history and supports Kiwi kids to research and record their local settlement histories.
“The vision is that one day there will be a network of clubs throughout Aotearoa New Zealand that can deliver all three modules in partnership with a cluster of their local schools,” explains David.
“In the meantime, we look forward to working on Kōkōkaha with schools and kura across the country as Emirates Team New Zealand takes on the challenger in the 36th edition of the America’s Cup.”
Let’s go, Emirates Team New Zealand!
BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz
Posted: 10:50 am, 5 November 2020
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