“If we can’t take every child to the ocean, let’s bring the ocean to every child. ”

In this programme students use high quality virtual reality headsets to explore marine sites in Auckland and Northland, with trained environmental educators explaining what they are seeing and providing additional context https://www.blakenz.org/programmes/blake-nz-vr/.

The NZ-VR outreach programme enables thousands of school students to experience the rich biodiversity that exists below the surface of the ocean, as well as the damage that has been done to these ecosystems.

The NZ-VR project is supported by teaching and learning resources which enable ākonga (students) to inquire deeply into the scientific and social issues facing the current state of New Zealand’s marine environment and empower them to find creative solutions to take action within their communities.

The outreach programme builds on an initial grant from G.I.F.T that enabled the production of the 360˚ videos that the students view through the VR headsets.

“The initial investment by GIFT in the production was critical, as once we had the content we were able to create a school programme that others saw as investment worthy. Nobody else would have invested at the stage that GIFT did, so GIFT has had a huge part to play in realising the benefits of NZ-VR.”

— James Gibson, BLAKE, 2022

From 2019-2021, the project reached over 34,000 students and 39,000 people overall across Tāmaki Makaurau (by mid-2022 the programme will be reaching 40,000 students annually, including expansion into Otautahi). The response was extremely positive, as indicated by feedback from teachers whose classes participated in the programme:

95% strong agreed they would recommend NZ-VR to a friend or colleague
87% strong agreed they were satisfied with the experience
94% strongly agreed they would want NZ-VR to return to their school
87% agreed NZ-VR inspired their students to care for the environment

“Students were able to see with their own eyes, the toll that pollution and overfishing are having on our marine environment. They explored the concept of Kaitiakitanga; the guardianship of our environment. Our ocean is our future and so they discussed all the things that we could do to protect our oceans so that we can all enjoy them now and in the future”

— Onehunga High School, 2020

The delivery of the school programme confirmed the evaluation findings from the pilot; that impact was greatest for the Year 7-8 (Intermediate) age group, and that Māori and Pasifika students gain much from the lessons. Therefore, BLAKE has focused delivery on Intermediate schools with high Māori and/or Pasifika populations.

An initial aim of the programme was to develop resources in te reo Māori and with a Māori worldview, that kaiako could use in Kura Kaupapa settings. BLAKE recruited their own own Kaihautu Māori Manager, Leigh Takirau. With Leigh’s arrival and following delivery of the NZ-VR schools programme into Māori immersion settings (Kura Kaupapa and mainstream), as well as interaction with community activities such as iwi-led wānanga, BLAKE changed their thinking to ensure the NZ-VR resource (videos, headsets, lesson structure) was well suited for Māori audiences in a range of settings. BLAKE is also mindful that most Māori students are in English medium schools, and that those schools with high levels of Māori students should be an area of focus for BLAKE (as well as Kura Kaupapa or Kaupapa Māori schools).

Within the schools programme they have adapted delivery to ensure stronger use of te reo Māori, incorporated concepts such as kaitiakitanga and rāhui, referenced atua and used whakatauaki. They have recruited Māori staff to strengthen delivery to students.

The NZ-VR resources are also being used beyond the school setting. For example, Leigh Takirau has built a strong relationship with Ngati Paoa who are focused on restoring the mauri of Tikapa Moana. The NZ-VR resources are used as communication and education tools within wānanga, to help build a common understanding of the state of the marine environment, and current challenges. This has been particularly useful with tamariki and kaumatua.

Another impact has been strenthening BLAKE’s integration of tikanga and mātauranga into their other programmes. They have embedded Te Tiriti commitments into their new strategic plan and continue to work hard to make progress on them.

Project success has enabled BLAKE to expand its capacity to deliver and to generate funding from multiple sources. Ongoing funding relationships have been developed with the Grassroots Trust, Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust and Lotteries, plus four vehicles were provided by the Giltrap Trust for the educators to use. More recently support from Westpac has helped enable the programme to expand, including the ability to now offer the NZ-VR schools programme in Christchurch (in partnership with Christchurch City Council). The success of the schools programme has been critical in the applications NZ Geographic has made to NZ on Air, for funding to continue to expand the NZ-VR video library. In March 2022, G.I.F.T. granted BLAKE $60k so that the Kaihautu role could continue for another 12 months after funding from the Ministry of Education finished.

NZ-VR School Outreach Programme

Who

Awarded