"Me mahi tahi tātou mō te oranga o te katoa"
Let us work together for the wellbeing of all
Students design digital outcomes with clear audience, purpose, mechanics, and user experience decisions.
How this lesson aligns
The lesson focuses on game concepts as designed digital outcomes, asking students to justify audience, mechanics, and design choices rather than jumping straight into coding or decoration.
Primary planning anchor for game-concept and digital outcome design thinking.
Students use the arts and design process to shape experiences, symbolism, and meaning for audiences.
How this lesson aligns
Students consider symbolism, narrative framing, mechanics, and player experience. That places the lesson in a strong arts / design space as well as a technical one.
Useful when game design is integrated with visual communication, storytelling, or media arts.
Students consider ethics, representation, and cultural context when developing ideas for public audiences.
How this lesson aligns
This lesson explicitly asks whether a game concept respects the stories, values, and people it draws from. That makes it a strong fit for local curriculum commitments and culturally responsive design practice in Aotearoa.
Strong fit for schools wanting digital creation to include ethical and cultural critique, not just technical skill.
Students strengthen concepts through critique, peer feedback, and iterative refinement before development begins.
How this lesson aligns
The sequence builds in concept review, peer feedback, and ethics checking before the class moves into deeper development. That gives kaiako a strong moderation and quality-control point early in the workflow.
Use this to justify the lesson as a concept-validation step rather than a lightweight “engagement” activity.
Mātauranga Māori Lens
This curriculum companion is informed by mātauranga Māori — the holistic body of Māori knowledge, values, and practices. Kaiako are encouraged to draw connections between the content and tikanga, whanaungatanga, and students's turangawaewae (place and belonging). Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles of partnership, participation, and protection should shape how this material is introduced and discussed in the classroom.
Puna Kōrero — Sources
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2021). Te Mātaiaho: The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. Ministry of Education.
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2021). Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. Teaching Council.