Recent Ministry of Education publications bring mātauranga Māori concepts into the school curriculum. While concepts like mauri, a Māori term meaning “vital essence” or “life force”, may have something to offer science as a reflection of ecosystem health or the “life-supporting capacity” of rivers, any interpretation that equated mauri with chemical properties, or as “the binding force between the physical and the spiritual”, had no place in the chemistry curriculum and proposals to incorporate traditional knowledge in science curricula need a lot more reflection, with nobody excluded from the conversation.

In this week’s podcast James Kierstead talks with Paul Kilmartin (Ngāi Tahu), Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland, about mātauranga Māori, science and the school curriculum.

To read the article referred to in the podcast click here: https://nzic.org.nz/unsecure_files/cinz/2022-86-4.pdf

Podcast: Mātauranga Māori & Science

The New Zealand Initiative