Kaitiaki Tikanga: Tēnā koutou. The whakataukī reminds us that our connections to each other are strong and sacred. This web of relationships is our whakapapa. It is who we are. In the digital world, this whakapapa is real and visible. Every friend request, every tag, every group chat weaves another thread in this web.
Kaitiaki Pūtaiao: Precisely. And every system, biological or digital, is a network of connections. A weakness in one node can compromise the entire network. Today, we will conduct an experiment to visualise this system and analyse how a single security failure can create a ripple effect that harms the collective.
Knowledge (Māramatanga)
- Understand 'whakapapa' as a metaphor for their interconnected digital lives.
- Explain how one person's security choices can impact the safety of others in their network.
- Identify that online actions have consequences that "ripple" outwards.
Skills (Pūkenga)
- Visually represent a network of connections.
- Analyse a system to identify points of failure and their consequences.
- Collaboratively design a proactive plan to strengthen community security.
Values (Wairuatanga)
- Develop a profound sense of collective responsibility (whanaungatanga) for online safety.
- Value trust as a vital component of a healthy online community.
- Feel empowered as a kaitiaki responsible for the health of their digital network.
Media Anchor | Watch & Discuss (10 minutes)
Video Anchor: But what is a neural network?
Use this source to understand network effects and how small interactions can cascade through systems.
- Which individual digital actions can create positive ripple effects at class or whānau level?
- Which ripple effects are hard to reverse once they spread?
Whakatūwhera | The Living Whakapapa Web (20 minutes)
Main Activity: Weaving the Web
- Setup (5 mins): Have students stand in a large circle.
- Activity (15 mins): The teacher takes a ball of yarn, holds the end, and gently passes or tosses the ball to a student they have a connection with (e.g., "I am connected to Sarah because we both love science"). That student holds their piece of the yarn, and passes the ball to someone they are connected to, stating the connection. This continues until a complex web has formed in the middle of the circle.
Main Learning | The Ripple Effect Simulation (30 minutes)
Main Activity: A Break in the Web
- The Scenario (5 mins): The teacher presents a scenario: "One person in our web has their social media account hacked because they used 'password123'. The hacker's goal is to spread a scam. What can the hacker now see?" (Answer: all of their direct connections).
- The Ripple (10 mins): The teacher takes a pair of scissors. "The hacker sends a scam link to everyone on that person's friends list. Let's say half of them click it." The teacher finds the hacked person's yarn strands and snips them. "Now those people are hacked. Their accounts send the link to their friends." The teacher finds the next set of strands and snips them. The web visibly weakens and sags.
- Group Analysis (15 mins): Students return to their seats. In groups, they complete the 'Ripple Effect Analysis' handout, mapping out the scenario they just witnessed and answering analysis questions about the consequences.
Consolidation | Weaving a Stronger Net (20 minutes)
Main Activity: Community Kaitiakitanga Plan
- The Challenge (15 mins): In their groups, students are tasked with creating a "Community Kaitiakitanga Plan." The goal is to design three proactive, practical actions their group could take to help their wider community (their class, their friends) build a stronger, safer web.
- Sharing the Plans (5 mins): Each group shares their #1 idea. The teacher records them to create a "Class Kaitiakitanga Charter."
- Support: Provide example ideas like: "We could run a lunchtime session for younger students on the 'Three Random Words' password technique," or "We could design a poster for the library about not clicking suspicious links."
- Extension: Challenge students to think about the council's role from Lesson 3.1. How could a local or school-wide system support their plan?
Whakakapi | He Waka Eke Noa (5 minutes)
Main Activity: Final Reflection
- Kaitiaki Tikanga concludes: "Look at our broken web. The whakataukī says our bonds cannot be broken, but a lack of care can weaken them. Security is not just about you. It is an act of whanaungatanga. We are all in this waka together. When you protect your own kete, you help paddle the waka for everyone."
Curriculum alignment
- Ecosystems — Knowledge: Human activity and technology impact the environment.
- Relationships — Knowledge: Healthy relationships are not perfect. People can still make mistakes or misunderstand each other, and what matters is how people repair trust and respond to each other’s need…
- Relationships — Practices: Practising strategies like clear communication, identifying pressure, and challenging disrespectful behaviour to protect relationships and emotional safety
- Body Systems — Knowledge: The human digestive system includes the mouth, teeth, tongue, salivary glands, oesophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus, which …
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to explore digital kaitiakitanga — applying tikanga Māori principles of guardianship, manaakitanga, and whanaungatanga to their digital lives, spaces, and technologies.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how kaitiakitanga applies to digital environments and online communities.
- ✅ Students can connect tikanga Māori values to ethical decision-making in digital contexts.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters and visual frameworks to scaffold access at the entry level. Offer extension tasks that deepen ethical analysis — for example, comparing digital tikanga principles to international AI ethics frameworks.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key kupu (kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, tikanga) with bilingual glossaries. Allow students to express ideas in their home language first before translating to English.
Inclusion: Chunk tasks and provide clear visual instructions. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured choice in how they demonstrate understanding (e.g., verbal, written, or visual). Affirm diverse digital experiences as valid starting points.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Digital kaitiakitanga frames technology through Te Ao Māori — our digital spaces are extensions of our marae, our data is part of our whakapapa, and our online behaviour reflects our mana. Tikanga Māori provides a powerful ethical compass for navigating the digital world.
Prior knowledge: No specialist digital technology knowledge required for entry-level engagement. Best used after introductory lessons on tikanga Māori or as part of a digital technologies unit.
Curriculum alignment
- Te Mātaiaho (2025) · Technology · Phase 4 (Years 9–10) · Design, Make, and Innovate (Knowledge): “Intelligent systems (e.g. AI) use data and algorithms to make predictions or decisions”
- NZC (2007) · Technology · Level 4: “Understand how technological development expands human possibilities and how technology draws on knowledge from a wide range of disciplines.”