Years 9–10 Critical Thinking Unit | 45 minutes
Students explore critical thinking through Māori and Pākehā perspectives
Key Concept: Critical thinking involves analysing arguments, questioning assumptions, and making reasoned judgments.
Cultural Connection: Traditional Māori decision-making used careful consideration of multiple perspectives (gathering to discuss).
Vocabulary:
Question: "When did you last change your mind about something important? What made you change it?"
Teacher Script:
"Today we're going to explore how we think about thinking itself. In te ao Māori, our ancestors spent hours in hui (gatherings) carefully considering all sides of important decisions. Let's see what critical thinking means to you."
Instructions:
Focus Proverb: "He kōrero, he kōrero; he kai, he kai"
Translation: "Words are words; food is food" (Words have consequences - choose them carefully)
Student Task (Groups of 3-4):
Extension Proverbs:
Instructions:
Prompting Questions:
Class Discussion:
"Based on our activities today, how would you define critical thinking? Use both English and te reo Māori if you can."
Expected Student Responses:
Teacher Summary:
"Critical thinking is the skill of analysing arguments, questioning assumptions, and making reasoned judgments. In te ao Māori, this connects to carefully gathering different perspectives before making important decisions."
Students complete before leaving:
Assessment Rubric:
Proverb: "He kōrero, he kōrero; he kai, he kai"
Translation: "Words are words; food is food"
1. What do you think this proverb means?
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2. How does this connect to thinking carefully?
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3. Give a modern example where words had consequences:
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4. In your own words, what is critical thinking?
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5. Te Reo Māori terms I learned today:
6. One example of good critical thinking from today:
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7. One situation where I could use better critical thinking:
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8. One question I still have about critical thinking:
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Students will engage with this resource to develop te whakaaro māramatanga — critical and analytical thinking skills — examining claims, evaluating evidence, identifying bias, and constructing reasoned arguments. This unit frames critical thinking through both Western analytical traditions and the kōrero-based reasoning of Te Ao Māori.
Scaffold support: Provide argument frames (claim → evidence → reasoning → counter-argument) for entry-level access. Use structured controversy activities where students argue assigned positions. Offer extension tasks requiring students to analyse a real media article or policy document using the lesson's critical framework.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach argumentative language structures ("I argue that…", "The evidence suggests…", "However, one might counter…"). Allow oral argument as a first step before written production. Sentence frames and argument maps lower the language barrier while maintaining cognitive demand.
Inclusion: Structured debate and discussion formats benefit all learners — particularly neurodiverse students who thrive with explicit rules and clear roles. Affirm that disagreement done respectfully is a high-value academic and civic skill. Allow quiet processing time before group discussion. Offer written alternatives for students who find oral argument challenging.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Te whakaaro māramatanga — enlightened thinking — reflects a long tradition of reasoned debate in Te Ao Māori. The whare (meeting house) is a place of kōrero, where multiple perspectives are heard before decisions are made. Tikanga requires that arguments be made with integrity and respect (mana). Māori oratory (whaikōrero) is a sophisticated critical tradition — whakataukī encode compressed wisdom that often challenges surface-level thinking.
Prior knowledge: Best used within a sequence building critical thinking skills progressively. No specialist knowledge required for entry-level engagement with structured tasks.
Curriculum alignment for this handout has not yet been verified against the live curriculum statements. A generated placeholder that stood here was removed on 2026-08-29 because it matched no real statement.