Tirohanga Whānui | Overview
Lesson 8 is structured research time. Students bring their Lesson 7 inquiry questions and work through a disciplined research process: finding evidence from real sources, evaluating the quality of that evidence, and drafting the four elements of their poster before the production session. The kaiako role shifts to facilitator — circulating to unblock individual research challenges rather than directing whole-class activity. By the end of this lesson, every student should have enough evidence to produce their poster in Lesson 9.
Ngā Whāinga Ako | Learning Intentions
- Find and evaluate at least two real sources that address their research questions.
- Draft all four poster elements using evidence from their sources.
- Check that their draft uses at least one unit concept word (scarcity, trade-off, structural cause, collective action, interdependence).
Ngā Paearu Angitū | Success Criteria
- Students have identified at least two sources (with author/organisation and date noted).
- Students have drafted responses to all four poster questions (problem, cause, response, evaluation).
- At least one draft element includes a specific fact or statistic from a real source — not a general statement.
Orient: Review Research Questions
5 minsWhat it is: A brief whole-class check before students move to independent research. Return the Lesson 7 Inquiry Planning Frames with any kaiako feedback.
Run it
Hand back the planning frames. Students read the kaiako feedback (annotated on their frame). Whole-class prompt: "By the end of this lesson, you need a draft answer to all four poster questions. That means you have 30 minutes of research time and 20 minutes of drafting. If you haven't found a key source by the halfway mark, ask for help — don't wait." Set a visible timer.
Research: Structured Source Gathering
30 minsWhat it is: Independent research time with a structured source record. Students find at least two sources, note the key information each provides, and assess whether the source is credible.
Source types to encourage (in order of reliability)
- Organisation websites: KiwiHarvest, Mana Kai, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Environment Canterbury, Tairāwhiti Emergency Management, Stats NZ, NIWA, Ministry for Primary Industries.
- News articles: RNZ, Stuff, NZ Herald — check the date (within 3 years is ideal for this topic). Search: "[community name] food security" or "[organisation name] Aotearoa".
- Government and NGO reports: Child Poverty Action Group, Food Secure Communities, MPI food security reports.
Source record (using the Source Evaluation Guide)
For each source, students record: (1) Who wrote it and when? (2) What is the main claim about the food-security challenge? (3) What evidence does it give? (4) Is it credible? (organisation website or news outlet with named journalist — yes; anonymous blog or Wikipedia — no, use it to find better sources).
Kaiako circulation priorities
- Check that students are finding specific information — numbers, named organisations, named events — not general descriptions.
- Redirect students who are reading long articles without taking notes. Remind them: "Find the key fact for each poster element, then move on."
- For students who can't find good sources: offer the suggested source list above as a starting point.
- Call time at 25 minutes and give a 5-minute warning before the drafting phase.
Draft: Four-Element Poster Draft
20 minsWhat it is: Students write a first draft of all four poster elements. The draft doesn't need to be perfect — it needs to be complete enough to refine into a poster in Lesson 9.
Run it
- Display the four questions (2 min): write on the board — (1) What is the problem? (2) What causes it? (3) What is the response? (4) What does the response achieve, and what can't it solve?
- Individual drafting (15 min): students write 2–4 sentences for each element, using evidence from their sources. Remind them: each element should include at least one specific fact from a source, and at least one draft element should use a unit vocabulary word (scarcity, trade-off, structural cause, interdependence, collective action, opportunity cost).
- Pair read-aloud (3 min): pairs read their draft for the "cause" element to each other. Feedback question: "Does this explanation say why the problem happens, or just that it happens?" The "why" is the structural cause — the most important analytical element.
Self-Audit: Completeness Check
10 minsWhat it is: Students complete a quick self-audit of their draft before the production lesson.
Run it
Students tick each box on their Poster Layout Template:
- ☐ I have described the food-security problem with at least one specific fact from a source.
- ☐ I have explained a structural cause — not just "bad things happened" but why the system made this problem possible.
- ☐ I have named a real community or organisation that is responding, and described what they actually do.
- ☐ I have evaluated the response — what it achieves AND what it can't solve.
- ☐ I have used at least one unit vocabulary word in my draft.
- ☐ I have noted at least two sources (who wrote them, when).
Students who tick all six boxes are ready for production in Lesson 9. Students who are missing boxes know exactly what to complete first in Lesson 9 before beginning production.
🎯 Curriculum Alignment
Focus for this lesson: People and groups make decisions to meet their needs and wants.
This is Te Kete Ako's own framing of the lesson's focus, not a quotation from Te Mātaiaho. The unit's verified curriculum statements are on the curriculum alignment page.
This lesson develops the inquiry skills central to Phase 3 Social Sciences: finding credible evidence, evaluating sources, and using evidence to support analytical claims. The four-element poster structure (problem → cause → response → evaluation) mirrors the analytical reasoning chain students have used in every content lesson of this unit.
📦 Materials & Resources
- Poster Layout Template — one per student.
- Source Evaluation Guide — one per student.
- Devices with internet access (one per student or one per pair).
- Returned Lesson 7 Inquiry Planning Frames (with kaiako feedback).
📊 Assessment Framework
Formative check: the self-audit at the end of the lesson gives you a real-time picture of where each student is. Students who tick all six boxes are well-placed for Lesson 9. Students missing the cause or evaluation boxes may need a focused support conversation at the start of Lesson 9 before they begin production.
- At support level: students complete three of the four elements with factual evidence, with kaiako support for the structural cause element.
- At expected level: students draft all four elements independently and use unit vocabulary to explain the cause.
- At extension level: students compare their community's response to a similar response from elsewhere in the unit (e.g., comparing a NZ māra kai to the rua kūmara as storage-system responses to food scarcity).
🚀 Extension Activities
Students who finish their draft early can: (a) find a third source and assess whether it changes or confirms their account; (b) sketch the poster layout, allocating space for each element; or (c) write a headline for their poster — 10 words or fewer — that captures the key insight from their evaluation element.
🔗 Unit Progression
Lesson 8 is the bridge between conceptual learning (Lessons 1–6) and communicating that learning (Lesson 9 poster production). The structured research process models the kind of evidence-gathering that students will use throughout senior school Social Sciences inquiry. Lesson 9 transitions to production and reflection — the unit ends with students sharing their posters and synthesising what the class has collectively investigated.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Prep: annotate and return Lesson 7 planning frames before the lesson starts; prepare the suggested source list on a visible display or printed sheet; check device availability and internet access.
Time discipline: the biggest risk in this lesson is students spending all 30 minutes on research and not drafting. Call the transition firmly at the 30-minute mark — a rough draft is more valuable than slightly more research.
Scaffold support: for students who struggle with finding sources, provide a curated list of 3–5 pre-approved websites for their specific topic. For the structural cause element, offer the prompt: "The reason this problem keeps happening is not just that [bad thing] occurred, but that the system was set up so that [structural explanation]."
ESOL / ELL: allow students to research in their first language and take notes in their first language, then translate into English for the draft. The conceptual work (identifying structural cause, evaluating a response) doesn't require English — the communication of that work does.