In New Zealand, citizens over 18 vote every three years to elect members to Parliament. The political party with the most members, or a coalition of parties, forms the government and chooses the Prime Minister. There are many different political parties, and people are free to criticise the government and protest peacefully. The laws, created by Parliament, apply to everyone, including the Prime Minister. News media is independent and can report on anything it chooses.
Analysis Questions:
Emperor Nero ruled the Roman Empire with absolute authority. He was not elected and his power was for life. He could create laws, declare war, and order executions without trial. Senators and officials served at his pleasure and could be removed or killed if they displeased him. There was no freedom of speech; criticising the Emperor was considered treason and was punishable by death. The Emperor controlled the military and used it to enforce his rule and crush any opposition.
Analysis Questions:
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.
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.