WeSTEM 2025 - PROJECT #4

Wayfinders of the Pacific

Craffft + Waitākere College

How can we follow in the footsteps of Pacific navigators and apply their knowledge to our own learning journeys? 

That is the aspirational purpose of an innovative project collaboration between Waitākere College, Craffft, Little Engineers NZ and Tapasā.

Using traditional Polynesian building techniques, navigation techniques, LED Star STEM Kits and Minecraft Education Edition, students will embark on a hands-on digital journey mirroring their ancestors’ voyages.

Players will start their voyage from Hawaiki. Using Matariki and other constellations as a guide, they will navigate to Aotearoa, encountering challenges and learning Polynesian and Māori wayfinding traditions along the way. In class, they will build LED Matariki constellation models, reinforcing decision-making skills and cultural knowledge.

Students will also research, design and build their own “home islands” in Minecraft and create new interactive storytelling elements that will gamify Polynesian navigation and cultural learning for future students.

This unique collaboration will be facilitated by experts in Polynesian navigation, with cultural knowledge, storytelling and reflection guided by the facilitators from Tapasā. 

Electrical engineers from Little Engineers NZ and game designers from Craffft will support with hands-on and digital tech activities that reinforce students’ learning and show them diverse STEM pathways in engineering and technology. 

This project merges Polynesian knowledge and traditions, interactive digital learning and STEAM education to empower students to see themselves as modern explorers, linking past navigation skills to future opportunities.