Innovative Education

Research examining benefits of outdoor learning

A collaborative research project called ‘Learning in Nature’ has seen EIT and University of Waikato researchers, team up to actively explore education and nature connectivity.

The project, which also involves Predator Free Hawke’s Bay, focuses on how schools and the local community use the Ōtātara Outdoor Learning Centre, an active living outdoor laboratory on EIT’s Taradale campus below the Ōtatara Pā.

Rich body of research from Te Ūranga Waka and Te Whatukura

 

COVID-19 affected most people’s lives, but for the staff of EIT’s Te Ūranga Waka and Te Whatukura, it also gave them more time to immerse themselves their research.

Pareputiputi (Puti) Nuku, Pouarataki of Te Ūranga Waka and Te Whatukura says that despite 2020 being a disrupted year, some meaningful research was done by her staff.

“One of the most exciting initiatives our staff was involved in was a research project with Radio Kahungunu. This involved researching the type of language used by people who have long passed away, using their archival recordings.”

Puti says the focus of the research, which was funded by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence) and was a collaboration between EIT and Radio Kahungunu, studied archival voice recordings of Kahungunu elders.

Some primary maths teachers suffer from maths anxiety, research by EIT Te Pūkenga lecturer finds

Some primary maths teachers suffer from maths anxiety, which can have an effect on their ability to teach, an EIT | Te Pūkenga lecturer’s doctoral thesis has found.