T.Ching and Learning Blog

Tuesday, 4 August 2026

Post Grad Pt2: W2 - Kaupapa Maori in Design Thinking

Kaupapa Māori and Applying Te Pō to Design Thinking

Whakatauki

Toitū te kupu, toitū te mana, toitū te whenua

Without language, without mana, without land, the essence of being Māori would be lost.

Insights

Quantitative vs Qualitative

Quantitative: surveys, numerical E.g.

Qualitative: diaries, descriptive

Positionality - Acknowledge your position; be aware of it, and you can share it. (More in Qualitative than Quantitative, but always good to be informed and inform others)

Empathise

Empathy is crucial to all human-centred design processes, since it helps design thinkers rid themselves of their personal biases and assumptions about the world in order to gain insight into their users and their real needs. We want to be able to jump into our customer’s shoes and understand how they feel.

Encourage customer to tell stories to help understand the problem = them digging deeper
Ask Why? - explain their thinking/thoughts
Non Verbal Cues - Face/body
Look for inconsistencies
Embrace Silence - (provides opportunities to process thoughts)
Open-ended Questions + Unbiased

Kaupapa Maori

Tino Rangatiratanga - The Principle of Self-determination
Taonga Tuku Iho - The Principle of Cultural Aspiration
Ako Māori - The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy
Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kainga - The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation
Whānau - The Principle of Extended Family Structure
Kaupapa - The Principle of Collective Philosophy
Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Principle of the Treaty of Waitangi
Ata - The Principle of Growing Respectful Relationships

Granted the Validity and Legitimacy of Māori - no need to justify or explain who they are or what they think or where their ideas come from. (This was stated only 26 years ago).

Flipped Task

If you are in a group being researched by someone who is not Māori, Kaupapa Māori should be at the back of their minds.

The back of a panel is not as beautiful as the front, but still very important for supporting the front and keeping it all together.

Design Thinking from a Te Reo Māori Perspective

Important to understand the kaupapa underpinning this Design Thinking Process.

Te Po - Empathise and Define Problem: observe, ask, listen, research, define, focus. This can be underdeveloped - often given the first thought. E.g Kids don't like maths. We need to go deeper - Not taking the problem on at face value

So not just let's get them to average, let's use blue sky thinking. Aim High!

Takeaways

This is how people should be treated.
And remember to be patient; give longer wait times.

Click on image to see link.

Attitude of Gratitude! (Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 2020)
Reflection

Do I use these 7 Principles in my Teaching? Which ones can I make sure I am doing better!

Saturday, 1 August 2026

Post Grad Pt2: W1 - Innovative Block - Innovation and Design

LEADING RESEARCH-INFORMED INNOVATION IN PRACTICE

Opportunities for Innovation and Design Thinking

Whakatauki

Ko ia kāhore nei i rapu, tē kitea

Who does not seek will not find

Design thinking is all about Problem-Solving.

When designing solutions, check our bias: Are we focused on what the customer wants?

Sayings don't always have the right person (especially on the internet), but the quote is useful.

Test your Problem-Solving Skills

I thought this would be an easy task as I love numbers; however, I overthought it. I thought the rule was nx2 or 2n. But as you can see on a second attempt, I put in other number sequences

Wicked Problems - difficult in many ways, can't solve them; only hope to do the best we can. Best results are to be making progress in the right direction. Often the same problems come up because they are so difficult

Brainwriting not Brainstorming -

Games and Gamification

Whakatauki 2

Kia kawea tātau e te rēhia

Let us be taken by fun and entertainment

How can we keep students in the Optimal Experience for Learning or Gaming

Using Base44 to build learning games for students. Or for students to build their own learning games, as these can not be transferred to another platform when using the free version. Here is an example of what I came up with.

Player Types - it is important to consider different player types as students have different requirements for games than adults/teachers might.

My Player Type

Gamification Mechanics and Elements

This reminded me of the periodic table, and game elements are displayed in user types.

How can we gamify parts of learning?

Digital Skills in Electronics

Whakatauki

Hāpaitia te ara tika, pūmau ai te rangatiratanga mō ngā uri whakatipu

Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence and growth for future generations

Microbit Programmes

Version 2, we are using Version 1

Input and Output

Input is handware that sends information to a computer.

Output devices include printers, headphones, speakers, and screens.

Which is an example of an output from a computer system?

A friend's post on a social media site. This is already done, and you are looking at the output
Taking a photo on your smartphone's camera - needs simultaneous input and output
Text message being typed into a messaging system is the same as above

Make Code using Microbit Programme

Our first task was to create a pattern that changes when you push A or B buttons on the microbit once loaded. A's code, I made an ascending square shape. B's was the descending, large square to small. Then I added A+B's I made a clock like line mover around the 5² board.

I found this very similar to using Scratch, which had me intrigued and wanting to try more than required. Hence, I added a sound bar too, not that our microbit had the capacity to perform that.

Then we tried to create a light sensor.

In pairs we had to chose a task - Love and I picked to do the shake like a dice. The part that was tricky was making sure we had the variable in the loop that had numerical variables rather than commands. this way we could put in the variable number =.