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Lesson 5.2: Guided Inquiry Project - Week 1 Research Framework

Research and vision design for a culturally grounded future society

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Learning Intentions

  • Identify key governance features of at least two real-world societies.
  • Apply tikanga-informed principles to design a society vision.
  • Use evidence to justify early design decisions.

Success Criteria

  • Group agreements are explicit and linked to collective responsibility.
  • Research notes include credible evidence and source references.
  • Vision draft names governance, wellbeing, and environmental priorities.

75 Minute Lesson Flow

1. Group formation and protocols (15 mins)

Co-create roles, responsibilities, and collaboration norms based on manaakitanga, kotahitanga, and shared accountability.

2. Society research sprint (25 mins)

Compare 2-3 societies, tracking decision-making structures, resource distribution, and wellbeing outcomes.

3. Vision framing workshop (25 mins)

Draft a founding statement and design principles anchored in whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, and justice.

4. Week 2 planning checkpoint (10 mins)

Set evidence gaps, assign next research actions, and log design questions for system prototyping.

Continue project work in the interactive design tool to capture and refine team decisions.

🎥 Media Anchor (5 mins)

Kaiako note: This slot previously linked a video ("Inquiry Based Learning - Concept and Examples", unrelated to Māori systems or kaitiakitanga) under a false "Māori systems and kaitiakitanga" title. Source a real video on Māori governance or kaitiakitanga systems before teaching this section, then use the discussion prompts below.

  • What governance decision from the video could strengthen your own society design?
  • What evidence would prove your model is fair and sustainable over time?

Assessment and Evidence Collection

  • Collect group protocol sheet and annotated research notes.
  • Check each group has at least one evidence-backed design claim.
  • Use a quick conference rubric: clarity of vision, evidence quality, cultural grounding.

📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot

Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions

Students will engage with this resource to apply systems thinking to real-world civic and community challenges — analysing feedback loops, leverage points, and emergent properties within social, environmental, and governance systems in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria

  • ✅ Students can identify system components and their interactions within a real-world context.
  • ✅ Students can apply indigenous systems thinking principles to analyse and propose community action.

Differentiation & Inclusion

Scaffold support: Provide systems mapping templates and sentence starters for entry-level access. Offer extension tasks asking students to identify a second-order effect or design an intervention at a leverage point within their chosen system.

ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach systems thinking vocabulary (feedback loop, leverage point, emergence, interdependence) using visual diagrams. Allow students to annotate systems maps in their home language first.

Inclusion: Use visual, spatial, and collaborative formats wherever possible — systems maps are inherently accessible for diverse learners. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured inquiry steps and chunked analysis tasks. Ensure group roles are clearly defined.

Mātauranga Māori lens: Systems thinking has deep resonance with Te Ao Māori. Whakapapa is a relational map of systems — tracing connections between people, place, and time. Kaitiakitanga frames our responsibility within systems. Mauri provides a measure of system health. These indigenous concepts enrich Western systems thinking frameworks.

Prior knowledge: Students should have completed foundational systems thinking lessons (phases 1–2) before engaging with phase 3 inquiry tasks. No specialist prior knowledge required for standalone resources.

Curriculum alignment