📚 Unit Plans → 🌍 Guided Inquiry Unit → 📄 Cultural Lens Analysis Template
Years 7–10 Cross-curricular

📋 Instructions

Culture influences how societies organise themselves and make decisions. Use this template to explore how different cultural values lead to different approaches to governance and community organisation.

Working in pairs: Choose two different cultural perspectives and analyse how they might approach society design.

Cultural Perspective 1
Which cultural perspective are you exploring?
What are 2-3 core values of this culture?
How might these values influence how they organise their government?
What would decision-making look like in their society?
How would they handle conflict or disagreement?
Cultural Perspective 2
Which cultural perspective are you exploring?
What are 2-3 core values of this culture?
How might these values influence how they organise their government?
What would decision-making look like in their society?
How would they handle conflict or disagreement?

🔗 Synthesis & Connections

What similarities do you notice between these two cultural approaches?
What key differences stand out to you?
What strengths do you see in each approach?
How might your group's society design benefit from incorporating ideas from both perspectives?

💭 Personal Reflection

Which cultural approach resonates most with your own values? Why?
What new perspective did you gain from this analysis?

🌿 Cultural Safety Reminder

Important: We are learning about different cultural approaches with respect and curiosity. We are not claiming to represent or practice these cultures ourselves. All cultural perspectives are valuable and contribute important wisdom to how humans organise communities.

🌿 Mātauranga Māori Lens

Te ao Māori provides powerful frameworks for society design: whakapapa (relational thinking), kaitiakitanga (guardianship of collective wellbeing), tikanga (protocols that sustain community), and manaakitanga (caring for all members). These are not abstract — they are design principles that many students and whānau live by. Centre them as equally valid alongside Western governance models.

Curriculum alignment