Whio Forever education resource
Introduction
Take your students on an amazing learning journey, discovering why the whio/blue duck is so important to New Zealand.Published: 2016
Whio Forever is an integrated curriculum teaching and learning resource with the whio/blue duck as the real life context for learning. The resource covers multiple learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum.
It has been developed for primary school teachers, with two versions available - one for junior primary (years 1-4) and one for senior primary (years 5-8).
The resource comes classroom ready, including step by step teaching notes and a term plan. There are also a range of powerpoint presentations and posters available to support the resource.
Grounded in Environmental Education for Sustainability themes, the Whio Forever resource incorporates aspects of Te Ao Māori (a Māori worldview).
Download the resource
- Junior primary resource (Years 1-4) (PDF, 3,864K)
- Senior primary resource (Years 5-8) (PDF, 5,858K)
- Drawing and coding with whio (PDF, 1,816K)
- Create a whio algorithm (PDF, 2,365K)
- Animation and stop motion with whio (PDF, 2,078K)
Supporting material
Powerpoint presentations:
- Whio/blue duck (PPTX, 4,816K)
- Whio and people (PPTX, 9,272K)
- Whio habitats (PPTX, 4,195K)
- Whio special features (PPTX, 4,457K)
- Whio Mountain book by Mike Tapp (Ranger Mike) (PDF, 4,296K)
Posters:
- Whio inquiry cycle A3 poster (PDF, 808K)
- Whio Forever – fun facts posters (English and Te Reo Māori versions)
Fun activities
- Whio mask (PDF, 4,927K)
- Whio colouring in sheet (PDF, 654K)
- Whio stoats and rivers board game (PDF, 5,104K)
- Whio boot camp online game
Free teacher PD webinars
Recorded webinars are available to view for free and at any time on the Science Learning Hub website. These four webinars use the Whio Forever resource to model a process of student inquiry into conservation:
- Diving into inquiry with Whio
- Why learn about whio?
- Inquiry outside the classroom
- Taking action for conservation
Special thanks to the Science Learning Hub for partnering with us to deliver these fantastic webinars!
Learning objectives of this resource
By the end of their learning inquiry, students will have a multi-faceted, deep understanding of whio, beyond just facts. They will learn about:
- whio ecology – where they live, what they eat, their adaptations, and how they stay alive
- how people are involved with whio
- whio challenges – whio threats and how people contribute to these
- visiting whio – where to see whio and what we can learn by observing them
- how they can act to solve an issue for whio in their community
- other information depending on where their inquiry leads.
Feedback
Teachers can share their ideas, experiences and resources about whio with this discussion group on The Pond.
Learning levels
- Primary
- Secondary
Topics
- Native animals
- Freshwater
Curriculum learning areas
- Science
- Social science
- Education for sustainability
- English
- Maths and statistics
- The Arts
- Geography
- Health and PE
- Technology
