Case Study 1: Ihumātao (2019-2020) (15 min)
Protect Ihumātao
When a proposed housing development threatened whenua at Ihumātao, the SOUL group (Save Our Unique Landscape) didn't just protest on the land—they occupied the internet.
The Strategy: They used Instagram and Facebook to invite thousands of people to come "stand on the land". It turned a local issue into a national event.
🪶 Cultural integrity: Ihumātao is whenua with living whakapapa and ongoing authority. Use accounts from SOUL and mana whenua alongside government or media reporting; do not treat the campaign as a generic branding case or ask ākonga to speak for the people involved.
Case Study 2: School Strike 4 Climate (2019) (10 min)
A Nationwide Student Network
In September 2019, large school strikes across Aotearoa brought students and supporters into streets nationwide to demand climate action.
The Strategy: This was organised almost entirely by high school students using group chats, social media, and Google Docs.
Analysis: Digital + Physical (10 min)
Both movements combined digital tools with physical presence — and the outcomes they claimed came after that combination. Whether the tactics caused the wins is exactly what your Movement Map will test.
| Digital Step | Physical Outcome |
|---|---|
| Sharing photos of the land | People fell in love with a place they'd never visited |
| Creating a social-media event page | Government couldn't ignore the numbers in the street |
📋 Formative task: the Movement Map
Choose one NZ activist movement — Ihumātao, School Strike 4 Climate, nuclear-free NZ, marriage equality, or another cause you research. Build a one-page map with three rows:
| Stage (timeline) | Platform or tactic used | Claimed outcome — and your evidence for it |
|---|---|---|
| e.g. 2019 occupation begins | e.g. livestreams + event page | e.g. "construction paused" — supported by news reports of the halt |
The hard part is the third column: for each claimed win, say whether your evidence shows the tactic caused the outcome, or only came before it. One sentence each. That distinction — correlation vs causation — is what this map is marked on.
It's Your Turn
You have a cause. You have the tools. How will you create change?
Use the Digital Campaign Planner to map out your own movement for a cause you care about (e.g., Better school lunches, Local playgrounds, Mental health awareness).
Open Campaign Planner →📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Pacing (55 min): Ihumātao 15 · School Strike 10 · Analysis 10 · It’s Your Turn + Movement Map 20.
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will compare digital and physical tactics in two Aotearoa movements, distinguish claimed outcomes from documented evidence, and transfer one justified strategy into the campaign assessment.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can map how one digital tactic connected to a physical or institutional action.
- ✅ I can separate a movement's claimed success from evidence that supports it.
- ✅ I can choose one strategy for my campaign and justify why it fits the audience and decision-maker.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Supply a movement map with columns for goal, audience, digital tactic, physical action, evidence, and limitation. Extension learners verify one contested outcome across two sources.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach occupation, mobilisation, decentralised, tactic, outcome, and evidence. Accept a labelled timeline or oral comparison before extended writing.
Inclusion: Offer a teacher-curated movement choice and content notes. Students may analyse public evidence without disclosing their own political position.
Mātauranga Māori and tikanga boundary: Mana whenua and movement participants retain authority over the meaning of Ihumātao. Their accounts take precedence over a generic campaign summary; no ākonga is asked to represent them.
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational social studies and civics concepts. Benefits from prior exposure to media literacy.
Curriculum alignment
This lesson directly enacts audited Social Sciences Phase 4 statement 52648 through source-based study of land-rights activism and protest movements. See the curriculum companion for the exact statement and lesson map.