Pilot qualitative study reveals enhanced trust and reciprocal storytelling in tauira Māori science students, indicating the promise of visual narrative methods for marginalized groups.
There is an urgent need to improve support and teaching initiatives for tauira Māori studying sciences at university, and it is valuable to learn from the success stories of tauira who are persevering despite adversity. Underpinned by kaupapa Māori principles, we developed a culturally rich storytelling approach incorporating the Life Story Board (a visual qualitative research tool) led to explore the experiences of tauira Māori studying sciences, This approach was piloted by two Māori student researchers in peer-led storyboarding sessions. We conducted follow-up interviews ( n = 4) with participants to explore the impacts of the LSB method. We found that the storyboarding approach fostered trust between peer-interviewers and participants, and enabled mutual sharing of lived experiences from a strengths-based standpoint that uplifted the mana of all parties. This novel, culturally-immersive storyboarding approach shows exciting promise for future studies aimed at understanding experiences of tauira Māori and other historically marginalised groups.
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Thompson et al. (2026) studied this question.
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