astronomy

Te Ao Mārama

Te Ao Mārama is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Te Ao Mārama rather than just read about it. In short: Te Ao Mārama is a concept of the world in Māori culture. Te Ao Mārama, also known as Te Ao Tūroa ("The Long-Standing World"), refers to the physical plane of existence that is inhabited by people, and is associated with knowledge and understanding.

Key takeaways

Te Ao Mārama belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Te Ao Mārama to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Te Ao Mārama from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Te Ao Mārama is a concept of the world in Māori culture. Te Ao Mārama, also known as Te Ao Tūroa ("The Long-Standing World"), refers to the physical plane of existence that is inhabited by people, and is associated with knowledge and understanding. The phrase is variously translated as "The World of Light", "the World of Understanding" and "the Natural World".

Concept Te Ao Mārama is a part of the cosmological whakapapa that features in the creation story of Rangi and Papa in Maori mythology. It is the third and current phase of the creation of the world, after Te Kore and Te Pō. Te Kore was the primordial era at the beginning of time (variously a void or a world of chaos depending on tradition and interpretation), while Te Pō, the world of darkness and potential, was the world in which atua (gods and spirits) were born into. Te Ao Mārama is said to have been created when the Gods separated Ranginui (the God of the Sky) and Papatūānuku (the Goddess of the Earth). Traditionally in Māori worldviews, most ordinary matter in life was seen as originating from Te Ao Mārama, while metaphysical concepts such as mana and tapu were seen as originating from Te Pō. Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal developed Te Ao Mārama paradigm of Māori epistemology in 1998. Royal used the term Te Ao Mārama to describe the worldview and cultural context from which all Mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) was able to develop from.

Te Ao Mārama in the District Court In November, 2020, the chief district court judge, Heemi Taumaunu, announced that Te Ao Mārama would be applied to every district court in New Zealand, with the goal of bringing about transformative justice. He said:

"Te Ao Mārama will incorporate best practices developed in the District Court’s solution-focused specialist courts into its mainstream criminal jurisdiction. This is to realise the shared vision for the court by improving access to justice as well as enhancing procedural and substantive fairness, for all people who are affected by the business of the court, including defendants, victims, witnesses, whānau and parties to proceedings." In 2022, William Sio the Minister for Courts, arranged for $47.5 million to be allocated over four years to support the establishment of Te Ao Mārama in the District Courts.

Guidelines for Te Ao Mārama The District Court has published a Best Practice Framework for Te Ao Mārama. It includes eight strategies. These are:

Enhanced connections with local communities Improving the quality of information judicial officers receive to inform their decisions Improved processes for victims and complainants Encouraging people to feel heard in the courtroom Establishing alternative courtroom layouts Using plain language Toning down formalities Adopting solution-focused judging approaches

Implementation As at March 2024, Te Ao Mārama is in the process of being incorporated in the District Courts in Hamilton, Gisborne and Kaitaia.

Shortage of support services Chief judge, Heemi Taumaunu notes that there is a lack of supportive services in many communities such that currently they "have no presence in the courtroom". The Best Practice Framework makes particular reference to making alcohol and other drug counselling and treatment, non-violence and safety programmes, and comprehensive wrap-around therapeutic support services available to the courts. This will be difficult to achieve as currently, only about 5% of the 60,000 people appearing in court each year have an alcohol and drug assessment - even though more than half of all crime in New Zealand is committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and 91% of prison inmates have been diagnosed with a substance abuse or mental health disorder at some point in their lifetime.

Removal of cultural reports The coalition government's decision in March 2024 to remove legal aid funding for cultural reports will also make it difficult for judges to be well informed about the defendants appearing before them.

Removal of further funding In 2025, the coalition government paused the rollout of funding to other courts claiming the need for an evaluation of the programme's effectiveness.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Te Ao Mārama

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Te Ao Mārama claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Te Ao Mārama before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Te Ao Mārama ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Te Ao Mārama

In research: Te Ao Mārama appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Te Ao Mārama in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Te Ao Mārama is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Māori culture, Māori mythology, Māori society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Te Ao Mārama outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Te Ao Mārama in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Te Ao Mārama means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Te Ao Mārama out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Te Ao Mārama in simple terms?

Why does Te Ao Mārama matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Te Ao Mārama?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Te Ao Mārama.