Best for
Lesson 4 in Unit 7, group design projects, social-innovation challenges, and assessment tasks that ask students to create rather than just critique.
Unit 7 Innovation • Years 7-10 • Project design • Print-ready
Tech for Good Project Planner
Use this planner when ākonga move from critique into creation. It helps them design a technology idea that responds to a real need, checks cultural and ethical implications, and keeps the community at the centre rather than treating “innovation” as a race to build the fastest app.
Free planner, premium build-out path
Keep the paper planner for class design time, then use Te Wānanga or Creation Studio to turn the strongest idea into a pitch deck, prototype brief, or assessment-ready submission.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 45-75 minutes for first planning, then revisit across a longer inquiry or prototype cycle.
- Grouping: Individuals or groups of 2-4. Keep roles clear if working in teams.
- Prep: Decide whether students will solve school, whānau, hapori, or wider social problems.
- Differentiation: Support learners can use one problem and one core user; extension learners can plan a fuller prototype and stakeholder map.
- Teaching move: Push students to prove the need and test ethics before they get attached to flashy features.
Resources already provided
- Problem-definition and user-needs sections
- Feature planning and ethical checks
- Writable space for impact and next-step planning
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
What to print: one copy per student or group, plus scrap paper for rough concept sketches if needed.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how to design technology in response to real community needs.
- We are learning how to evaluate whether a tech idea is ethical, useful, and culturally safe.
- We are learning how to communicate a project plan clearly.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can define a real problem and identify who is affected.
- I can describe a solution and explain why it is better than current options.
- I can identify ethical or cultural risks and plan safeguards.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This planner bridges digital-design learning with social responsibility. It works best where kaiako want students to design, justify, and evaluate digital systems for authentic purposes.
Start with the problem, not the app
Strong technology projects solve real problems for real people. In Aotearoa, that also means asking whether the solution honours community voice, protects data, and strengthens rather than weakens local relationships.
1. Define the problem
What problem needs attention?
Who is affected and how?
2. Understand the people and place
Primary users
People to consult
What local knowledge matters?
3. Your solution idea
Describe the tool, system, or service
What are the three most important features?
Sketch the interface or user journey
4. Ethical and cultural safeguards
- How will you protect user privacy and data?
- Could the tool reinforce bias or exclusion?
- Who should hold authority over decisions the system makes?
- How will you keep tikanga, consent, and cultural knowledge safe?
- What happens if the tool causes harm or fails?
Main risk and safeguard
5. Impact and next steps
How will you know it works?
What support or tools are needed?
What is the first realistic next step?
Teach this tomorrow
Print / share
- This planner
- A short local or school-based issue prompt if students need a starting point
Decide before class
- Whether the project is individual or team-based
- What counts as an acceptable “authentic purpose” for your context
Look for by the end
- Students are designing for real people, not fantasy users
- Ethical and cultural safeguards appear early, not as an afterthought
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students understand how digital systems store, represent, and transmit data and consider the ethical implications of digital technologies on society.
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students can identify and describe the key components of digital systems and how they interact.