Year 5 Boys Explore Museum

The Year 5 classes have been learning about the discovery and settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand by studying the various explorers and adventurers to first visit our remote shores. To support the work they have been undertaking in the classroom, the students embarked on a field trip to the Maritime Museum on the waterfront for a morning of exploring and discovery of their own. The boys were greeted by museum educator Emma, who asked them what they already knew about New Zealand’s early history. Emma was impressed with their answers that included the routes taken by Polynesian and European seafarers and the motivations for leaving their homelands.

The museum tour featured a screening of the animated documentary ‘Te Waka’ which imagined the voyages by the early Polynesians. This encouraged the boys to think about the how the sailors navigated the great distances they covered, what provisions they needed to have on board, and what they did on arrival at their destination. Emma led them on a guided tour of the highlights of the museum, prompting the students with questions on the dangers and difficulties the initial explorers faced and the subsequent groups to call New Zealand home, such as whalers, sealers and gold miners.

The boys also roamed the museum in small groups to revisit items and exhibitions of particular interest. High on the list of top attractions was the history of New Zealand’s high-profile modern day mariners: the sailors from our America’s Cup campaigns. The students disembarked from the museum experience with an improved understanding of New Zealand’s past, the courageous actions of our forbearers and how these have shaped the society we live in.