Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum has launched Collections to Classrooms, a new education resource for teachers and students, available now at learn.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-to-classrooms.
Drawing on items from the Museum’s collection, this digital resource explores the layered histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Available online in both English and te reo Māori, Collections to Classrooms is tailored to support ākonga in Years 7–13, aligning with the big ideas, contexts, and practices of the Aotearoa New Zealand histories and social sciences curriculum.
The initiative highlights the power of Museum collections to uncover and illuminate stories from the past. Created in collaboration with history kaiako, historians, curators, iwi and hapū representatives, and community members, the resources offer multiple perspectives and deep explorations of Auckland’s complex and diverse histories.
With the introduction of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum educators have expressed the need for high-quality resources that reflect local significance. Auckland Museum’s project directly responds to that call, drawing on its curatorial expertise, research capability, and collections to provide accessible, curriculum-aligned learning materials that demonstrate how to use tangible objects as historical sources.
These resources explore the four big ideas of the curriculum: Māori history, colonisation and settlement, the use of power, and connections between people. They also engage with key themes such as culture and identity, place and environment, governance and organisation, and economic activity.
Tangimai Fitzgerald, Auckland Museum’s Learning Manager, says “The curriculum is about taking the mātauranga / knowledge, the history, and the stories, back to the people. It references diversity and whakapapa that connects to the ideas and beliefs of different bodies of knowledge – and how each body of knowledge is equally important.”
Fitzgerald adds that the Museum will also be offering professional development opportunities to help teachers integrate these resources into their lesson plans.
“Teachers will learn the history of each taonga and its significance to the historical landscape of Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa, and how to use the taonga to plan a unit of work they can implement in the classroom,” says Fitzgerald.
Museum taonga featured in the resource include a Surveyor’s Chain, which provides an insight to early land surveying in colonial Tāmaki Makaurau; the Jane Holloway King Sampler, a 19th-century embroidery that offers a window into colonial domestic life and women’s education; and artefacts from the banks of Te Wai Horotiu, the stream that once flowed through the Queen Street valley, which reveal pre-colonial histories dating back almost 800 years.
The Ah Chee Collection offers perspectives on some of the first Chinese immigrants to Auckland, while the Kronfeld ‘Ie Tōga, a Samoan fine mat, explores early Pacific communities in the city. A commemorative box celebrating the opening of the Ōrākei Sewerage scheme also tells the story of its impact on the Ngāti Whātua papakāinga at Ōkahu Bay, and the New Zealand Wars Petition Box reflects a remarkable moment of collective action led by school students, which resulted in the introduction of an annual day of commemoration for the New Zealand Wars and the launch of the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum.
Each object resource includes a written introduction that summarises the histories associated with the object and links them with the curriculum, high-resolution images and interactive 3D scans, as well as interviews with knowledge-holders discussing the objects and links to further related resources. Together, these tools enrich classroom learning by providing diverse perspectives and connections to the past.
Historian Dr Lucy Mackintosh, a Senior Research Fellow at Auckland Museum and lead curator for this project, says, “We wanted to mobilise Auckland Museum’s collections to demonstrate how material things can be valuable sources for exploring history. How something looks, feels and smells, why it was made, how it was made, who owned it, how it was used before and after it entered the Museum – each of these lines of enquiry leads to new information and different perspectives about the past.
“The objects in this resource all provide insights into various time periods, perspectives, contexts, and ideas in the history of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In the process, they show us how material things can help shed light on little known local histories, as well as the wider national and international stories that relate to them,” says Mackintosh.
By making these resources widely available, Auckland Museum aims to support schools in delivering engaging and meaningful history lessons that reflect the unique character of Aotearoa and its past.
To find out more about AM Learn, Auckland Museum’s education team, and the Museum’s education offerings, resources, and professional development opportunities for teachers visit learn.aucklandmuseum.com or sign up for the AM Learn email newsletter.