Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students will become innovators. They will apply their understanding of kaitiakitanga, mātauranga Māori, and modern science to tackle a real-world environmental problem. This is a project-based lesson that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and practical problem-solving.
Enrichment Suggestion (LF_TheArts): Add a visual design rubric for assessing the student's tech designs. Criteria could include: Clarity of Communication, Visual Appeal, and Connection to Cultural Motifs.
Learning Activities
1. Do Now: What is Technology? (10 mins)
In pairs, students list as many different types of technology as they can think of. Encourage them to think beyond just digital technology (e.g., a spade is a form of technology).
2. The Design Challenge (35 mins)
Hand out the Sustainable Technology Design Challenge handout. Talk through the different challenge options and the design process. In groups, students choose a challenge and begin working through the design canvas.
3. Sharing Initial Ideas (10 mins)
Each group briefly shares the challenge they have chosen and some of their initial ideas. This is an opportunity for peer feedback and cross-pollination of ideas.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students examine economic systems through a justice lens — exploring how wealth, resources, and power are distributed, and how Māori economic frameworks (Ōhanga Māori, tino rangatiratanga) offer alternative models of collective wellbeing.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Can analyse an economic system to identify who benefits and who is disadvantaged
- ✅ Explains how Ōhanga Māori and tino rangatiratanga challenge mainstream economic assumptions
- ✅ Proposes justice-centred economic alternatives grounded in manaakitanga and whanaungatanga
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers as an entry point for comparing economic systems; use real local examples (Raglan, Waikato) to ground abstract concepts. Extension tasks include researching iwi economic models or analysing a current policy through a rangatiratanga lens.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach economic vocabulary alongside Māori equivalents (e.g. Ōhanga Māori/Māori economy, manaakitanga/hospitality-as-value); use visual case studies to reduce text load.
Inclusion: Offer discussion, written, and creative response options; neurodiverse learners benefit from structured debate formats and clear role assignments in group tasks.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Ōhanga Māori as a living economic system — not historical. Manaakitanga and whanaungatanga as economic principles. Tino rangatiratanga as the right of self-determination including economic sovereignty.
Prior knowledge: Basic understanding of supply/demand; awareness of historical land confiscations and Treaty settlements.