AraQuest

Can we build a world that behaves like a real system?

The platform for Worldbuilding & Navigation, where students build a playable model of a real system.

In development: This section introduces the platform. Its tools are still being built.

A map scroll with a question mark beside a forest path

Not working yet

There is no AraQuest software yet. This page describes what the platform will do and its role in Worldbuilding & Navigation. Nothing here can be used, saved or submitted. Until it is built, the Worldbuilding & Navigation unit runs with classroom equipment and paper records.

What AraQuest will support

The platform is being built around what students actually do in Worldbuilding & Navigation, across all four areas of the learning pathway.

01
STEM Investigate
What evidence can we gather?
- Research the real system the model will represent, drawing on knowledge and evidence from an earlier term.
02
Think & Create
What explanations, models or designs can we construct?
- Design the rules, components and feedback loops the model will use to represent that system.
03
Make & Test
How can we test or improve them?
- Build the playable model, test whether it behaves as intended, and debug or revise where it does not.
04
Share & Impact
What can we communicate, decide or contribute?
- Explain what the model represents and why, what evidence supported each design decision, and where and why the model failed to behave as expected.

The big ideas behind it

A model is a representation of a system, tested against how the real system actually behaves.
Rules, feedback and constraints can be used to represent real relationships.
A model that fails to behave as expected is still a valuable source of evidence.

Grounded in: Māori navigation, mapping and settlement, and national historical infrastructure; a playable model of Whanganui itself, if the class chooses this as its subject.

Explore Worldbuilding & Navigation

Platforms are developed in response to curriculum and inquiry requirements, not the reverse.