📖 Unit Overview: "What Will We Eat Tomorrow?"
How have people in different places and times responded to scarcity of food, and what can those responses teach us as we face climate change?
This 9-week unit explores how scarcity forces trade-offs and decision-making (Ngā mahinga ohaoha), how environment and climate influence food availability (Te tūrangawaewae me tō taiao), and how culture, identity, and innovation interact in how people produce, store, and share food (Ngā ahurea me te tuakiri).
📋 Curriculum Alignment
This unit addresses achievement objectives across multiple learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum, focusing on Phase 3 (Years 7-8).
Social Sciences (Tikanga-ā-Iwi)
- Understand: People hold different perspectives about the world based on values and traditions.
- Know: Societies manage scarcity in different ways. Managing scarcity involves trade-offs.
- Do: Make connections between values and scarcity. Explore causes and effects of food systems.
Economics (Ngā Mahinga Ohaoha)
- Concepts: Scarcity, Trade-offs, Opportunity Cost, Resource Allocation.
- Application: Analyzing global supply chains and local food sovereignty.
English (Reo Pākehā)
- Critical Literacy: Analysis of primary sources, export data, and historical narratives.
- Communication: Developing persuasive visual presentations (Assessment Poster).
Week 1: Introduction — Scarcity & Kai
Focus Question: What is scarcity, and how does it affect food and survival?
- Hook: Photos of empty supermarket shelves / droughts → discuss what scarcity feels like.
- Vocabulary: Sort cards for: scarcity, abundance, trade-off, staple, innovation.
- Literacy: Personal reflection on a choice made due to limited resources.
- Numeracy: Pie chart analysis of household food budgets.
🎥 Scarcity | Basic Economics Concepts
Use featured video above: Scarcity Concepts (Khan Academy).
Use the featured scarcity explainer from the hero section to launch week 1 vocabulary and trade-off discussion.
🎥 Food Security Explained
Search YouTube: "Food Security Explained" (FAO or World Food Programme)
Understanding the pillars of global food security and seasonal availability.
Week 2: Kūmara — Māori Innovation
Focus Question: How did Māori adapt to grow and store kūmara in Aotearoa?
- Source Analysis: Examining Rua Kūmara (storage pits) diagrams.
- Numeracy: Calculating volume of pits and storage capacity.
- Literacy: Perspective writing: "A day in the life of a kūmara grower."
- Cultural: Exploring the role of Maramataka in seasonal food security.
🎥 Kūmara Cultivation in Aotearoa
Search YouTube: "Māori kūmara history" or "Traditional Kūmara Growing"
Exploring the history and techniques of this vital staple crop.
Week 3: Rice — Global Staple & Trade
Focus Question: Why is rice important, and what happens when it is scarce?
- Geography: Mapping global rice production hubs.
- Maths: Comparing consumption data between Aotearoa and Asia.
- Simulation: Rice trading game (groups manage supply and demand).
- Economics: Defining "staple crop" and its impact on price stability.
🎥 The World's Most Important Crop
Search YouTube: "Rice: The World's Most Important Food"
Why billions of people rely on rice and the complexity of its supply chain.
Week 4: The Irish Potato Famine & Colonisation
Focus Question: How does colonisation use food as a tool of control?
- Case Study: The Irish Potato Famine - how land use choice created crisis.
- Aotearoa Link: Comparing Irish and Māori experiences of dispossession.
- Critical Thinking: Analyzing the "Great Hunger" as a political rather than natural failure.
🎥 The Irish Famine Explained
Search YouTube: "Irish Potato Famine and Colonisation"
Understanding the political and economic causes of the 1845 famine.
Week 5: Trade-offs & Choices (Economic Thinking)
Focus Question: How do scarcity and trade-offs shape decisions?
- Simulation: Surviving a disaster - allocating limited food, water, and tools.
- Concepts: Opportunity Cost - what do you give up when you choose?
- Literacy: Argument writing: Justifying difficult resource allocation decisions.
🎥 What is Opportunity Cost?
Search YouTube: "Opportunity Cost explained for kids"
Understanding that every choice has a cost.
Week 6: Climate Change & Aotearoa
Focus Question: How will climate change affect food in Aotearoa?
- Case Study: Impact of extreme weather (floods/droughts) on local Waikato crops.
- Kaitiakitanga: How Māori frameworks guide environmental adaptation.
- Journalism: Writing a news feature on localized food security challenges.
🎥 Climate Change & NZ Farming
Search YouTube: "Climate change impact on New Zealand agriculture"
Real-world examples of how changing weather patterns affect our food supply.
Week 7: Assessment Launch — Cash Crop Inquiry
Focus Question: What is a cash crop, and how does it connect to global trade?
- Investigation: Defining "cash crops" (Coffee, Cocoa, Palm Oil).
- Selection: Students select their Inquiry crop and map its global production hotspots.
- Research: Identifying credible sources for trade data and statistics.
Week 8: Poster Planning & Visual Communication
Focus Question: How do I turn complex data into a clear visual message?
- Design Principles: Analyzing effective poster layouts and hierarchy.
- Data Viz: Turning trade stats into charts, maps, and infographics.
- Peer Review: Group feedback on draft layouts using the rubric.
Week 9: Production & Final Reflection
Focus Question: What have we learned about global trade and survival?
- Submission: Final polish and submission of posters.
- Presentation: Walk-and-talk sharing of key findings and ethical insights.
- Synthesis: Final reflection on the unit inquiry: "What will we eat tomorrow?"
🎯 Summative Assessment: Cash Crop Investigation
Research a significant global cash crop and produce an informative poster analyzing its impact on scarcity and trade-offs.
📋 Task Brief
- Choice: Support students to select crop: Coffee, Cocoa, Palm Oil, Cotton, etc.
- Format: A3 physical poster or dynamic digital presentation (Canva/Slides).
- Goal: Highly visual, data-informed analysis of global vs local food security.
🔍 Required Content
- Geography: Origins, current production hotspots, climate requirements.
- Economics: Supply chain mapping (Farmer → Consumer) and global market value.
- Scarcity: How the crop creates or manages scarcity (Food vs. Cash land use).
- Aotearoa: Specific link to NZ (e.g., importers like Whittaker's).
📊 Marking Schedule & Rubric
| Criteria | Working Towards | Meeting Expectations | Exceeding Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research & Data 30% Weight |
Basic info from 1-2 sources. Descriptive only. | Accurate data used. Specific stats and company names included. | Thorough synthesis. Links climate to price and corporate power. |
| Ethical Analysis 25% Weight |
Identifies general issues and basic NZ link. | Clearly explains social/environmental trade-offs. Relevant NZ link. | Insightful critique. Nuanced understanding of global power dynamics. |
| Visual Design 25% Weight |
Readable with relevant images. | Effective use of charts/maps. Well-organized layout. | Professional quality.Masterful use of visual elements to convey meaning. |
| Concept Integration 20% Weight |
Basic understanding of scarcity. | Explains crop vs land-use trade-offs clearly. | Sophisticated evaluation of ethical trade-offs and food sovereignty. |
📈 Level Mapping (Phase 3)
Kaiako Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga — Learning Intentions
- Explain how climate, colonisation, trade, and corporate power shape kai scarcity in different places and time periods.
- Compare how communities respond to scarcity through innovation, adaptation, food sovereignty, and difficult trade-offs.
- Use evidence from case studies, graphs, and global crop research to evaluate how food systems affect people, land, and future choices.
- Connect Aotearoa examples to global cash-crop systems so students can judge which responses protect kai, whenua, and long-term wellbeing.
Teacher Planning Snapshot
- Year level: Years 7-8 | Duration: 9 weeks | Social Studies Phase 3 with Mathematics, English, and The Arts integration.
- Entry support: Start with a concrete kai basket or supermarket comparison so students can sort needs, wants, staples, and luxury crops before meeting abstract scarcity language. Pre-teach key terms like trade-off, staple, famine, cash crop, and food sovereignty using visuals, maps, and short shared reading.
- On-level: Most learners should move from early kai-and-scarcity concepts into historical and contemporary case studies, then apply that understanding to the final cash-crop poster. Keep source analysis, graph reading, and ethical discussion tightly connected so the poster task feels like a synthesis rather than a new jump.
- Extension: Ask confident students to compare a global cash crop with a local Aotearoa food-system issue, then propose a food-sovereignty response such as a maramataka-informed school garden, a waste-reduction plan, or a supply-chain redesign for fairer kai access.
Inclusion and Accessibility
- ESOL / ELL: Provide a visual glossary for crop names, climate vocabulary, and trade terms, and use sentence frames for explaining cause/effect and ethical trade-offs. Let students rehearse poster ideas orally before writing captions or analysis paragraphs.
- Accessibility: Offer enlarged graphs, readable table versions of data, and options to present the final poster digitally, orally, or as a structured slide deck. Keep maps, timelines, and source packs available in print and screen-reader-friendly formats.
- Neurodiverse learners: Break the poster inquiry into short checkpoints for crop choice, evidence gathering, Aotearoa link, and design. Use predictable lesson routines and provide checklists so students can see what must be finished before moving to the next stage.
📎 Unit Resources
Downloadable handouts, worksheets, and materials for this unit.