Lesson at a Glance | He Tirohanga Whakamua
Ngā Whāinga Ako | Learning Intentions
Students will know
- Tracing raw material origin, manufacturing energy, usage lifespan, and end-of-life disposal.
- Applying kaitiakitanga as an active design constraint rather than a surface aesthetic.
- Selecting sustainable materials justified by lifecycle energy and recyclability data.
Students will demonstrate
- Conduct a cradle-to-grave audit of candidate outcome materials.
- Compare environmental footprint of renewable vs non-renewable components.
- Document material selection rationale in Year 11 Technology Design Log.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Context & Issue Audit (10 mins)
Evaluating raw material extraction (embodied energy, toxicity, transport miles) vs circular economy principles in Aotearoa.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Kaitiakitanga in Action: Otaraua’s Environmental Legacy
Video Source: Wild For Taranaki — Kaitiakitanga in Action: Otaraua (Runtime: 2m 59s)
Watch the full clip — 2 min 59 s. Source: Wild For Taranaki. Otaraua hapū exercising kaitiakitanga over their own rohe — the half of this lesson that a product-lifecycle diagram cannot teach. For the taiao half, pair it with 1News on Aotearoa's unregulated e-waste (1 min 53 s): together they give ākonga a duty and a problem to apply it to.
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
What does kaitiakitanga look like when a hapū exercises it over their own rohe — and what could that duty mean for how we design and dispose of technology?
👁️ 2. After the Clip (Work With a Job)
- Kōrero: Identify one concrete action Otaraua take as kaitiaki, and who benefits from it.
- Kōrero: Note the relationship between the hapū and the whenua the film shows — duty, not ownership.
- Kōrero: Then watch the paired 1News e-waste clip (1:53) and record ONE way discarded technology breaks that duty.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: After both clips, draw the line on the board: kaitiakitanga (the duty) → e-waste (the breach) → your design (the response).
Immediate Task: In your Design Log, note the material choices in your concept that a kaitiaki would question — and one change that answers them.
📖 Activity 1: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) & Material Selection Matrix (15 mins)
Take one material you intend to use and trace it end to end: where it is extracted, the energy to process it, how long it lasts in use, and where it goes afterwards. Give every stage a source or write UNKNOWN. Then find one material that beats it on lifecycle and say what switching would cost you in performance or price. A sustainable choice that costs nothing was never a trade-off.
✏️ Activity 2: Design Log Workshop (25 mins)
Complete a simplified LCA audit for candidate materials (PLA vs timber vs recycled metals) and document kaitiakitanga trade-offs.
- Complete the simplified LCA table for your three candidate materials: raw-material source, manufacturing energy, transport, end-of-life.
- Mark the worst lifecycle stage of each material and write one sentence on whether design choices could soften it.
- Record a kaitiakitanga trade-off in your log: which material best protects te taiao, and what you give up by choosing it.
🎯 Poroporoaki | Exit Ticket & Portfolio Check (10 mins)
Write two sentences naming the lifecycle stage where your material does the most harm, and the one question a kaitiaki would put to you about it.
📂 design portfolio Milestone: Lesson 3
Ensure your design log entries for Lesson 3 (Material Lifecycle & Kaitiakitanga) are saved and updated with annotated sketches, stakeholder notes, and sustainability justifications.
🧭 Kaiako Planning Notes & Assessment Guidance
Assessment note: this unit is not tied to a live NCEA standard — check current NZQA Technology standards before promising credits. Teach it as Year 11 technology design thinking.
- Technological Practice: Ākonga develop a conceptual design for a sustainable-technology outcome.
- Differentiation & Scaffolding: Provide physical component samples and sentence frames for stakeholder interviews and justification writing.
- Extension (outstanding work): Challenge students to conduct a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tracing raw material extraction through to end-of-life e-waste processing.
- Te Ao Māori Integration: Ground material choice in traditional ecological knowledge (mātauranga taiao) regarding resource extraction and seasonal renewal.