Famous New Zealanders

… an Internet Research Project for levels 2-5

Curriculum Areas

Social Studies Time, Continuity and Change
English Reading, Writing, Speaking, Presenting, Listening
Links to: Art & Craft, Science, Technology
Levels 2-5  

All answers to the questions and activities can be found at…http://www.biography.com

Students Section

How many times have you been given a homework question to find out about the lives of some famous person?

How many times have you thought "I just don't know where to look - the library is closed, I cant find my encyclopedias …"?


But Wait - there's always one place on the Web that you can use!

Biography.com is one of the Web's famous databases with over listing for 200,000 famous people. It gives a brief ( called thumbnail ) sketch of that person, where they were born and what they were famous for.


This project will get you familiar with the site and how to use its database to search for the answers you want. It will also let you know some things about some famous New Zealanders that you may not have heard of and even if you have, you probably won't know what they are famous for … so here goes - your challenge starts here.

Divide a piece of paper into two columns. Down the left hand column, write the names of the following famous New Zealanders. Allow about five or six lines between each name.

  1. Sir Edmund Hillary
  2. Ernest Rutherford
  3. Peter Snell
  4. Kiri Te Kanawa
  5. Katherine Mansfield
  6. Sir Walter Nash
  7. Bert Sutcliff
  8. Sir Apirana Ngata
  9. Sir Peter Buck
  10. Charles Upham

In the right hand column, jot down anything that you know about any of these people. What were they famous for? Where were they born? Are they still living etc.

Now print out this page before you visit Biography.com.

Now click on this icon and go there now to complete the following questions. When you get to the site you will find a 'Search' box. See what happens when you type in the surname of the person only. Is this enough to find the person? What else would be helpful if this is not enough. Experiment with the Search Box until you are confident you will be able to find the answer you want. (Hint … it's really a very easy to use database).

Each question must be completed for each famous person.

  1. What was the date of birth of that person?

  2. Are they still alive? How can you tell?

  3. What part of New Zealand or the world were they born in.?

  4. Name at least two things that this person was famous for.

  5. What do you consider was the most famous thing about this person?

  6. What occupation or occupations did this person have?

  7. How have they contributed to life in New Zealand?

Some other Challenges to Complete

Which of these famous New Zealanders do you most admire? Why? Write a short statement.

  1. Begin a search of your school and local library to try and find out more information about your most admired New Zealander from the list. Make your own timeline of that person and put on it the most important milestones of that persons life.
  2. Using your timeline to help you, prepare and give a brief talk about that person to your group or to the class.
  3. Go back to Biography.com and browse through the alphabetical section. Find out about 10 other famous people from other countries and then make your own 'Famous People' Quiz for other people to complete by going to the Web site.



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