Before ascending, stand back and sketch the overall form of Mauao from Marine Parade or the car park. Note which face appears steeper. Note the relationship between the maunga and the harbour on one side and the open ocean on the other. This is the landform in its geographic context.
Submit iNaturalist observations of coastal flora as you move around the base. Note the pohutukawa on the seaward slopes. Examine volcanic rock exposed in track cuttings and cliff faces. Note texture, colour, and weight. On the seaward side, look for evidence of wave action at the base of the rock face.
Note the change in effort as the track steepens. Record heart rate at intervals during the ascent. Identify the point at which exertion becomes a genuine physical challenge and note what that feels like. The summit is a physical achievement, not only a geographic one.
Conduct a viewshed survey: what can you see, in which direction, and how far? Name what is visible: Tauranga Harbour to the west, the open Pacific to the east, Matakana Island to the north. On clear days, Whakaari / White Island is visible on the horizon. Record heart rate and time the recovery back toward resting.
The terraced slopes and summit area contain evidence of ancient settlement: terracing, earthwork platforms, and the outline of defensive structures. These are wāhi tapu. Walk quietly. Do not sit on earthworks, remove stones, or disturb any surface. Observe and sketch from a respectful distance.
Before leaving the site, consolidate field notes and sketches. Review any iNaturalist observations submitted. Each student notes one question the visit has opened, one thing that surprised them, and one thing that cannot be learned from a photograph. These become the starting points for classroom work.
These prompts are anchored in what students observed, sketched, measured, and experienced at Mauao. The starting point for every prompt is something real: a heart rate number, a field sketch of the viewshed, a rock texture described in field notes, or a question opened by the legend told in the place where it happened.
Tell a gen AI chatbot the name Mauao and ask what it means. Compare the answer with what you heard at the site or learned in class before the visit. Ask the AI to retell the legend of Mauao in simple words. Did it get the story right? What did it miss or change?
Describe a piece of volcanic rock from your field sketch or iNaturalist observation to a gen AI chatbot: dark, dense, rough surface. Ask what kind of rock it might be and how volcanic rock forms. Compare the AI answer with what you saw and felt on the track. Which answer feels more real?
You measured your heart rate at school (resting) and at or near the summit (during effort). Tell a gen AI chatbot both numbers and ask why they were different. What was your body doing to keep you moving uphill? Ask it to explain in simple words what your heart and lungs were working on.
Describe your viewshed sketch to a gen AI chatbot: what you could see and in which direction. Ask it to explain why standing high up allows you to see further than standing at sea level. Ask what the word "viewshed" means and where geographers use it.
Using your field sketch of the landform and your notes on the rock, ask a gen AI chatbot to explain the geological history of Mauao: how a volcanic mound forms, what processes have shaped it since, and why the seaward face is more eroded than the harbour face. Verify key claims against a GNS Science or NIWA source and note any discrepancies.
The legend of Mauao encodes information about geography, coastal navigation, and the relationship between people and place. Ask a gen AI chatbot: "What geographic and ecological knowledge is embedded in the legend of Mauao?" Compare its response with an iwi endorsed account. Where does the AI understand the story? Where does it miss something that matters?
You recorded heart rate at rest, during ascent, and during recovery at the summit. Ask a gen AI chatbot to explain what each number tells you about cardiovascular response to sustained effort. Ask what recovery time would look like for a trained athlete compared to someone who rarely exercises. Where does your data sit in that range?
Mauao is managed by a trust representing three iwi and Tauranga City Council. Ask a gen AI chatbot to explain what shared governance of a reserve involves and what tensions can arise between tourism access and cultural protection. Compare the general answer with the specific situation at Mauao as you observed it during the visit.
The legend of Mauao encodes geomorphic observation, navigational knowledge, and a relationship between people and volcanic landscape. Ask a gen AI chatbot to explain how Indigenous knowledge systems encode geographic information. Critically evaluate whether the AI understands the difference between legend as geographic record and legend as metaphor, and whether that distinction is itself culturally loaded.
Using your field observations of wave cut platforms, exposed volcanic rock, and the asymmetry of the cone, ask a gen AI chatbot to construct a geomorphic process account of how Mauao reached its current form. Identify which claims are geologically defensible, which are imprecise, and which require verification against a GNS Science source or peer reviewed geology literature.
Mauao receives very high annual visitor numbers, with documented pressure on track surfaces, vegetation, and wāhi tapu areas. Ask a gen AI chatbot to outline management approaches used globally to balance conservation with public access at culturally and geologically significant sites. Evaluate whether the approaches it identifies are applicable in a context with living iwi custodianship.
Choose one observable change at Mauao: track surface degradation, coastal erosion at the seaward base, or the health of pohutukawa on the slopes. Ask a gen AI chatbot to help you design a monitoring protocol. Specify what you would measure, how often, and what threshold would trigger a management response. Evaluate the protocol for scientific rigour and for its fit with the cultural management context of the site.
| Level | Years 0–6 | Years 7–10 | Years 11–13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Student names at least one thing experienced at Mauao that could not come from a photograph or video: the steepness underfoot, the wind at the summit, the texture of the volcanic rock in their hand, or the feeling of the climb. Understands that the name Mauao comes from a specific story connected to this place. | Student names observations from all three curriculum lenses at the site: one geographic feature identified and described, one HPE measurement recorded, and one element of the mātauranga that connects to the physical place they stood in. | Student produces a field record including at least one sketch, one set of heart rate measurements, and at least one iNaturalist observation. This record constitutes original data collected at the site, not a description assembled from secondary sources after the fact. |
| 2 | Student links what they saw and felt to an explanation: the steeper face is more eroded because it faces the waves; their heart beat faster because the climb demanded more energy from their body; the name Mauao comes from a legend that explains why the hill stands at the edge of the sea. | Student explains the connections between the volcanic origin of Mauao, subsequent geomorphic processes, and the current form of the landform, and can explain how the legend of Mauao connects to the specific geography of where the maunga stands. | Student constructs a connected account linking the volcanic origin of Mauao, subsequent coastal geomorphic processes, the settlement and defence history of the pa, and current management tensions between public access and cultural protection, using field observations as the primary evidence base. |
| 3 | Student compares what a gen AI chatbot said about the legend of Mauao or about the volcanic rock with what they observed or heard at the site, and explains in simple terms where the two accounts agreed and where they did not. | Student documents a systematic comparison between a gen AI chatbot response and an authoritative source (GNS Science, an iwi endorsed account, or a NIWA resource) on at least one specific claim arising from the visit, and identifies the nature of any discrepancy. | Student evaluates a gen AI response across at least two of the three curriculum areas against field collected evidence and authoritative sources, drawing conclusions about what the AI is reliable for, where it is imprecise, and where it cannot be used without independent verification. |
| 4 | Student explains in their own words what being at Mauao provided that a classroom lesson, photograph, or video could not: the physical challenge, the real rock in their hand, the wind, the story heard in the place where it happened. | Student articulates the epistemological value of field observation: their heart rate data, their field sketch, and their iNaturalist observations are independently collected, location specific, and time stamped in a way that no classroom resource is. They explain why that matters when making a claim about this specific place. | Student reflects on what it means to study a place that is simultaneously a volcanic landform, a living wāhi tapu, and a heavily visited public reserve, and articulates what this layered status requires of a researcher or learner who engages with it in good faith. |
| 5 | Student generates one question they would like to investigate on a return visit, and can say what they would look for that would help answer it. At least one iNaturalist observation submitted from the visit, with location enabled. | Student formulates a testable monitoring question arising from their field visit: what they would measure, how often, and what change in the data would lead them to conclude that something had shifted at the site. | Student designs a field based inquiry that could be conducted on a return visit, specifying the research question, data collection method, analysis approach, and intended audience. The design reflects the three way intersection of geography, HPE, and mātauranga Māori that Mauao makes possible as a learning site. |