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Curriculum Alignment

Critical Thinking Introduction

4
Curriculum Links
2
Learning Areas
Phases 3-4
Primary Coverage

"Mā te rongo ka mōhio, mā te mōhio ka mārama"

Through listening comes knowing, through knowing comes understanding

Core classroom match

ENGLISH-0afb53c907: Text complexity — include ideas that invite critical thinking and require inference or judgement. This lesson builds the habit of questioning claims, evidence, perspective, and missing information across any text.

How this lesson aligns

This lesson introduces critical thinking as a shared classroom routine. Students identify claims, question evidence, notice perspective, and produce a reasoned response using discussion and writing.

ENGLISH-0afb53c907 TM-SS-3-D1

Te Mātaiaho English Phase 3. Use as the primary planning anchor for the lesson’s reading, discussion, and short written response sequence.

Strong support

TM-SS-3-D1: Explore perspectives, use evidence to form conclusions, and share ideas — the lesson is built around claim, evidence, perspective, and missing-information questions as transferable inquiry skills.

How this lesson aligns

The entire lesson is built around claim, evidence, perspective, and missing-information questions. Students learn that stronger thinking depends on questioning the reliability and completeness of what they hear and read.

TM-SS-3-D1 ENGLISH-2b7fdf417b

Te Mātaiaho Social Sciences Phase 3. Strongest inquiry bridge when using the lesson before research, social inquiry, or issue analysis.

Supporting classroom practice

ENGLISH-43f06732f1: Text forms and range — students engage with texts from different cultures and contexts. This lesson asks whose knowledge is being centred and who is missing, giving critical thinking an Aotearoa context.

How this lesson aligns

Whole-class modelling, paired kōrero, and group comparison are built into the lesson before independent response. That structure supports confidence and gives kaiako visible checkpoints for who is ready for more complex critical work.

ENGLISH-43f06732f1 TM-SS-3-U1

Te Mātaiaho English Phase 3. Use to justify the lesson’s gradual release structure and to connect critical thinking to Aotearoa bicultural and multicultural text traditions.