Assessment Launch
Global Cash Crop Inquiry: Poster Project
📚 Learning Intentions
- Deconstruct the assessment brief and marking rubric to understand success criteria.
- Select a global cash crop (e.g., Coffee, Cocoa, Palm Oil) for focused study.
- Gather foundational data on crop origin and production processes.
✅ Success Criteria
- I have selected my crop and had it approved by the Kaiako.
- I can find and record at least three different reliable sources for my inquiry.
- I have completed the "Section A" research notes in my guide.
👩🏫 Teaching Instructions
The "Launch" phase is about enthusiasm and clarity. Use the Gallery Walk to show previous examples of high-quality posters to set the bar high.
Project images of several global commodities. Ask: "Which of these is grown for money, and which for survival?" (Cash vs Staple).
Crop Selection: Use a shared spreadsheet or physical wall to track selections to ensure a diverse range across the class.
Source Check: Circulate and check the quality of websites students are using. Redirect them away from Wikipedia towards NGO/Industry reports.
🚀 Haerenga Ako (Lesson Flow)
1. The Briefing
Review the Assessment Section. Highlighting the 4 Marking Criteria. Students use highlighters to mark key performance indicators in the rubric.
2. Commodity Selection
Brief pitch: Students explore a range of commodities. They select one and state 'Why' it interests them (Economy, Environment, or Human Rights focus).
3. Inquiry Phase 1: Foundation
Using the Research Guide, students begin Section A: Production and Section B: Economic Value. They must use the Bibliography Template from the start.
Kaiako Moves
- Ask: How do you know that specific number is accurate? What year was it published?
🎯 Tahua Aromatawai (Assessment)
Mātainuku Evidence
- Completion of the "Assessment Selection Form".
- Preliminary bibliography with at least two academic/NGO sources.
Mātairea Support
- One-on-one conference to confirm the feasibility of the chosen crop's research.
📚 Ngā Rauemi (Resources)
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to investigate the intersection of kai (food), culture, and climate — exploring how mātauranga Māori approaches to food production, preservation, and distribution offer powerful responses to contemporary food security and climate challenges in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how traditional Māori kai practices (maramataka, kūmara cultivation, rāhui) embody ecological knowledge and food security principles.
- ✅ Students can connect kai culture and climate scarcity to contemporary community action and food sovereignty movements.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers that map traditional kai practices to modern food security concepts at the entry level. Offer extension tasks asking students to research a specific iwi's traditional food system and evaluate its contemporary relevance, or to investigate a local food sovereignty initiative.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach domain vocabulary (food sovereignty, food security, kaitiakitanga, rāhui, maramataka) using visual diagrams and real-world examples. Draw connections to students' own cultural food traditions — these are valid entry points into the unit's themes. Allow oral or visual presentation of learning as alternatives to written tasks.
Inclusion: Kai is a universal human experience — all students have a relationship with food, seasonality, and sharing. Neurodiverse learners benefit from concrete, hands-on engagement with these concepts (e.g., examining a kūmara, mapping seasonal foods). Acknowledge diverse economic circumstances sensitively when discussing food security. Choice in how students demonstrate understanding (written, visual, oral) supports inclusive assessment.
Mātauranga Māori lens: The maramataka — the Māori lunar calendar — is one of Aotearoa's most sophisticated environmental data systems, encoding centuries of ecological observation about planting, harvesting, fishing, and weather patterns. Kūmara cultivation in pre-colonial Aotearoa was a feat of agricultural knowledge adapted to a new climate. Rāhui (temporary resource restrictions) is indigenous resource management — conservation before conservation. Kaitiakitanga frames the relationship between people and kai not as extraction but as reciprocal guardianship. These are not historical curiosities — they are living solutions to contemporary problems.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from foundational understanding of climate change and food systems. No specialist mātauranga Māori knowledge required for entry-level engagement — the unit builds this knowledge progressively.
Curriculum alignment
- Place and Environment — Social Studies: Understand how people's management of resources reflects their values and their view of sustainability — and how mātauranga Māori frameworks provide models for sustainable resource management.
- Ecology — Living World: Understand how human activities and natural factors affect the distribution and abundance of organisms; evaluate the impact of changes on ecosystem health and food systems.