Journal article

Harko Brown is an expert on traditional Māori games and play. He has written several books including Ngā Taonga Tākaro II: The Matrix (2016), and Te Mara Hupara (2017), co-authored by his teenage daughter Yves Tennessee Brown. In 2015 Harko was co-opted by the New Zealand Government to organise and lead the first Aotearoa New Zealand Māori delegation to the World Indigenous Games in Palmas, Brazil. Harko believes that if the educational and environmental propositions of ancestrally derived games were embraced by educators, social institutes and even incorporated into town planning, we would have a much more peaceful, loving and harmonious society. Harko responded to Set’s questions about his research and why he is so committed to the revitalisation and continuity of aro-tākaro.

We are co-teachers at Rototuna Junior High School with expertise in music and digital technologies respectively. We share our experiences of using digital-game development as the context for our integrated learning module called Sound Bytes. We hope to inspire other teachers to develop their own innovative and integrated curriculum design and teaching approaches.

Digital games are responsible for turning my pedagogical practice on its head and landing me in New Zealand. My journey down the digital games “rabbit hole” started in 2007. Not having a map to follow ended up being revolutionary as I learnt to follow the learning. I describe four important lessons I have learnt through working with students in digital games and virtual worlds.