Whāinga Ako | Learning Objectives
"E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea"
I will never be lost, for I am a seed sown from Rangiātea
Students will understand:
- Common themes in Indigenous worldviews globally
- How Indigenous knowledge systems offer alternative ways of understanding relationships
- The diversity of Indigenous cultures while respecting shared values
- The importance of relationality, reciprocity, and holistic thinking
Students will be able to:
- Compare Indigenous worldviews across different cultures respectfully
- Identify shared values while honouring cultural diversity
- Contrast Indigenous and Western ways of knowing
- Apply Indigenous principles to contemporary global challenges
🎥 Media Anchor (8 mins)
Video: The Indigenous world view vs. Western world view (wc nativenews, ⏱ 5m 26s)
Before viewing: One-line prediction — "Name one assumption about people or nature you think Western economics treats as obvious." Ākonga will test their prediction against the clip.
Watch with a job (three pauses; ākonga fill a two-column Indigenous / Western contrast table):
- Pause 1 — 1:54: Record the core contrast — competition between individuals over scarce resources (the "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish" tradition) versus all beings related, in balance with nature; hierarchy with humans on top versus an interconnected whole.
- Pause 2 — 3:24: Record one piece of evidence for each economic logic — centralised accumulation (the market stats the clip cites) versus decentralised sharing and cooperation (the Arctic harvest example).
- Pause 3 — end: Record the clip's challenge to GDP (warfare and pollution count as production; care and education count as costs) and the closing fact — Indigenous territories span 24% of the world's land and hold most of its remaining biodiversity, "no coincidence".
Kaiako note: Protect the framing that relational balance is a functioning economic system, not a romantic ideal — the clip makes this argument explicitly. These contrast tables feed directly into Activity 3 (Worldview Comparison Chart); the exit-ticket question "How can relational thinking reshape decision-making in modern institutions?" should draw on evidence recorded at the pauses.
Do Now Activity (10 minutes)
🔍 Cultural Values Reflection
Students individually reflect on their own cultural values and worldview:
- What values were you taught growing up about how people should treat each other?
- What values were you taught about humanity's relationship with nature?
- How does your culture view individual success vs. community wellbeing?
- What stories or teachings shaped your understanding of the world?
Purpose: Activate students' understanding of their own cultural lens before exploring others.
Activity 1: Indigenous Values Jigsaw (20 minutes)
Group A: Te Ao Māori
Māori worldview - relationships, kaitiakitanga, whakapapa
Group B: First Nations
North American perspectives - medicine wheel, seven generations
Group C: Aboriginal Australian
Dreamtime, Country, connection to ancestors
Group D: Sámi
Seasonal knowledge, land relationships, reindeer herding wisdom
📚 Research Focus
- Core values and principles
- Relationship with land/nature
- Community and family structures
- Knowledge transmission methods
- Spiritual/sacred dimensions
Activity 2: Shared Values Web (15 minutes)
🕸️ Creating Connections
Students form new mixed groups (one from each jigsaw group) to create a visual web showing shared Indigenous values.
Activity 3: Worldview Comparison Chart (10 minutes)
Indigenous Worldviews
- Interconnected relationships
- Circular time and cycles
- Land as ancestor/relative
- Community-centred decisions
- Holistic knowledge systems
- Oral tradition and storytelling
Western Worldviews
- Individual autonomy
- Linear time and progress
- Land as resource/property
- Individual/market decisions
- Compartmentalized knowledge
- Written records and data
Note: These are generalisations for comparison - both worldviews have diversity and nuance.
Wrap-up & Reflection (5 minutes)
Exit Ticket Questions
- Name one shared value across Indigenous cultures that resonated with you
- How might Indigenous worldviews help address a global challenge today?
- What's one way your own worldview has been shaped by your culture?
- What questions do you have about Indigenous knowledge systems?
Next Lesson Preview
We'll examine how colonialism operated as a global system with similar patterns of oppression across different Indigenous territories.
Resources & Cultural Protocols
Required Resources
- Cultural research materials (books, videos, websites)
- Chart paper and markers for values web
- Comparison chart templates
- Exit ticket slips
Cultural Protocols
- Approach all cultures with respect and humility
- Avoid stereotyping or oversimplification
- Acknowledge limitations of outside perspectives
- Centre Indigenous voices and sources when possible
Important Note: This lesson aims to build understanding and respect for Indigenous worldviews while avoiding cultural appropriation. Students should understand they are learning about these cultures, not attempting to adopt or practice them.
Curriculum alignment
- NZC (2007) · Social Studies · Level 6: "Understand how individuals, groups, and institutions work to promote social justice and human rights."
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.