Explore the concept of a circular economy. The following resources may be helpful: 

• Rethinking progress – Explaining the circular economy: A brief animation on redesigning the way we make and use stuff 
• Circular economy: A guide from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 

Familiarise yourself with te ao Māori perspectives on interacting with te taiao and how it differs from the Western concept of “resources”, even in a conservation context.  

A key difference is the idea that humans are separate from the environment (Western viewpoint) or integrally connected through whakapapa and a part of te taiao (te ao Māori). The Western concept of 'natural resources' is at odds with the te ao Māori concept of Kaitiakitanga.  

The following links may help: 

• Kaitiakitanga – guardianship and conservation: A Te Ara article that explores the importance of kaitiakitanga to the Māori world view 
• Water as the source of life: A Te Ara article that provides an overview of Māori relationships with water 
• Te ngahere: A Te Ara article about the connections between people and ngahere in the Māori world view. 

Find out about your school’s relationships with the local hapū and iwi before beginning this activity set. See the Productive partnerships with whānau, hapū, and iwi section in the Leading Local Curriculum Guide Part 1 for more information on growing these relationships. If appropriate, ask a representative to consider how the tikanga of their hapū or iwi reflects elements of the “circular economy” concept, and how the tikanga of their tīpuna may have done this. They could respond to you or speak to your class about this topic. 

You may want to review the activities you choose to use with your class to identify vocabulary that may need to be pre-taught beforehand. Create a word wall including these words that you can add to throughout the learning experience. 

• How can circular economies support communities to manage scarcity? 
• What can we learn from how the earth’s ecosystem works? How is it providing a model for innovative industries? 

• Ask ākonga to think of and research an object they use every day. Give them a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw: 
  • In the middle of the paper: the object 
  • On the left side of the paper: where the object came from (who made it, where the materials came from) 
  • On the right side of the paper: where the object will go when it breaks, or you are finished with it. 
• Ask ākonga to compare their pictures, specifically where the objects are likely to end up. How much variation is there? Does everything end up in the same place? 
• Discuss the difference between a linear and a circular economy. Use this video to illustrate the difference. 
• Have ākonga work in groups and use a three-column chart to illustrate the difference between linear and circular economies. On the left-hand side brainstorm words describing linear economies and their effects on people and the planet. In the middle column, identify the antonym for each word in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, identify the characteristics and benefits of circular economies. What matches are there between the middle and right-hand columns? Why do these matches exist? 
   

• Facilitate a class brainstorm to identify unspoken assumptions that our popular culture subscribes to about how and what we buy and use, and that might require challenging or re-thinking. For example, ‘all growth is good growth’, ‘new is better than used’, etc. Have ākonga write these assumptions down and post them on the wall. Then as a class discuss the reasons behind them. Suggest that ākonga identify possible alternatives to each assumption and display them alongside. 
• Provide ākonga with a range of resources related to initiatives and businesses who are participating in the circular economy model. Ask them to pick one of the examples provided or find their own and use a circular illustration to show what’s happening. Suggested resources include: 
  • Compost collective  
  • Fight the landfill

• Provide an opportunity for ākonga to reflect on how their school or syndicate participates in the linear economy now, and how they could make positive changes to the way they participate in the future. Note: keep this activity at a school or syndicate level and avoid examining decisions made by ākonga or their whānau as this can bring up equity issues. See the Tips for engaging with community section of the Pūtātara homepage for specific support. 
• Some examples of possible reflection and change actions are: 
  • Ākonga examining the lifecycles of some school common items and their packaging – from raw materials to production and distribution, use, and finally waste. What is the journey of the photocopier paper used in the office? Tea and coffee in the staff room? Classroom stationery? Soap in the bathrooms? Help ākonga to identify ways of accessing, using, recycling, or discarding the items that are better for the planet. 
  • Ākonga collaborating with local zero-waste proponents to conduct an audit of their school’s or syndicate’s waste habits and identify areas that could be improved. What can they refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose, or rot? Work with ākonga to identify areas for improvement and collaborate with stakeholders to develop a better approach to waste. Then implement the plan, taking note of all the waste that they have diverted from landfill. 
  • Ākonga reading zero-waste blogs and listen to talks from zero-waste proponents in the community or online. They could then plan, make, promote, and sell zero-waste products (e.g., cleaning or body products) as school fundraisers. Selling could be via a stall at the school gala, in local shops, or through a link on the school website. 
• Ask ākonga to reflect on their change action. What impact did it have on the school? What impact did it have on them personally? What strengths and limitations did it have? 

Consider the backgrounds of the ākonga in your class and be conscious of how you approach discussions around the issues of food insecurity. Some students could feel uncomfortable or whakamā about this topic.  

Depending on who the ākonga are you could do an initial activity to gauge feelings on discussing this topic. A piece of paper could be handed out so students can write their private thoughts about it which you could then review to inform your teaching practice. 

As part of your preparation for this teaching and learning you need to have some understanding of mahinga kai (see Learning Activities below for links to further information). If possible, identify mahinga kai practices in your rohe and related issues facing hapū and iwi. 

Find out about your school’s relationship with the local hapū and iwi before beginning this activity set. See the Productive partnerships with whānau, hapū, and iwi section in the Leading Local Curriculum Guide Part 1 for more information on growing this relationship. Ideally the activities will incorporate these relationships, however many will still be meaningful without this connection.  

You may want to review the activities you choose to use with your class to identify vocabulary that may need to be pre-taught beforehand. Create a word wall including these words that you can add to throughout the learning experience. 

• What are the challenges and opportunities of food supply in our society? How are they different for different groups? 
• What are the challenges of food in a globalised world? How can we connect more with our local community?

• Facilitate a class brainstorm on all the issues humans face around food supply. Have ākonga write them on strips of paper, stick them on the wall, and take a step back to discuss what’s caused them. Some may have the same cause. For example, food waste, or overuse of plastics. Ask ākonga to group ideas thematically and discuss what can be done to address them, at local, national, and international levels. For additional scaffolding, provide themes for students to sort the issues into. 
• Divide ākonga into groups for a jigsaw activity. Assign each group one of the following resources related to the causes of food injustices, and ask them to identify the key points: 
  • If only they made better life choices: An article on how simplistic explanations of poverty and food insecurity miss the mark 
  • Feed the five million first: An article exploring the effect of food exports on food prices in Aotearoa New Zealand 
  • Mahinga kai a beginners guide: A video and an article discussing the practice of mahinga kai and recent issues faced due to pollution and climate change 
  • Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai: A video where tangata whenua talk about mahinga kai in relation to Kanakana in Southland 
  • Food waste survey: An article reporting on a 2023 survey showing the amount of food waste in Aotearoa New Zealand 
  • The global issue of food waste: An article reporting on the global issues surrounding food waste. 

Next ask half of each group of ākonga to go around each of the other groups, so ākonga in the other groups can explain to them what they have learned from their resource. Travelling ākonga should then return to their own ‘home’ group and share with the half who remained what they have learned. In this way all ākonga get a chance to learn about all the resources. 

• Compare and contrast who each identified food supply issue affects, and by how much. For example, use the table below and ask ākonga to shade in the cell to the point that they think it will affect the people’s everyday lives. 

• Tell ākonga to work individually or in groups to discover the origins of goods in a supermarket. This can be done online or by asking ākonga to visit a supermarket as a homework task. Alternatively, you could bring in a selection of items. Ask ākonga to choose five products each and identify: 
  • Where does the food come from? How many kilometres away is that from where the food is now? 
  • What packaging does the product use? Cardboard? Tin? Plastic? 

Ask ākonga to show their findings using graphs to illustrate where food is coming from and what percentage of goods are packaged using each different material.  

Encourage ākonga to reflect on whether this is an accurate way of identifying what percentage of goods in the whole supermarket come from different places and are packaged using different materials. What could be done to improve your methods? 

• Facilitate ākonga research into the ways in which different communities are addressing food supply issues in their area. For example, Tokelau is creating “vertical gardens” to respond to loss of land caused by rising sea levels. You can see an example of what this looks like here. 

• Provide an opportunity for ākonga to think of and execute an action to address the issue of food waste or food insecurity in your rohe. Help them to come up with an action idea. See the Tips for engaging with community section of the Pūtātara home page for specific support. 
• Examples of actions include: 
  • Ākonga connecting with community groups that redistribute quality food, and looking for ways that the school could contribute to the community group’s initiative. For example, by volunteering, or by giving donations from the school garden. Ākonga could also explore the benefits of local produce, connect with local food proponents, and learn from local producers about their processes and product. 
  • Ākonga organising a local or neighbourhood food co-operative at the school, with the aim of reducing food packaging waste and creating a local hub. They could collaborate with interested community members and parents to plan a stakeholder meeting, and survey school families to see what they would order on a regular basis. They could then develop a plan for approaching bulk organic companies in New Zealand and create spreadsheets to capture orders within term dates and design a promotional campaign. 
  • Ākonga developing and implementing a plan for a ‘vertical garden’ in the school environment. They could develop a vision, research options for a green wall, and plan the strategy for building it, including the need for light, water, and soil. They could then fundraise (or access available funding) and collaborate with local companies or the community to build the structure. They could also create articles for the school’s newsletter or website to share the benefits of green-walling, and the progress of their project. 
• Ask ākonga to reflect on their action. What impact did it have on the school? What impact did it have on them personally? What strengths and limitations did it have? 

Review this article on tips about how to get someone to change their mind or understand your point of view. Divide the article (digitally or cutting up print copies) into segments for a jigsaw activity. 

You may want to review the activities you choose to use with your class to identify vocabulary that may need to be pre-taught beforehand. Create a word wall including these words that you can add to throughout the learning experience. 

How does the fashion industry impact on human rights and what are people doing to address this? 

• Ask ākonga to audit the popular culture they “consume” and the messages they receive from it about sustainability. Over a weekend, have them keep a consumption diary, recording the entertainment (movies, television, music, games, sports, etc.), social media, and news that they watch or participate in. Ask them to identify: 
  • the number of times climate change, sustainability, or resource limits are mentioned. 
  • the number of times a product for purchase is mentioned. 
• Ask ākonga to show their findings using a graph. 
• Discuss the effects of when climate change or resource limits are not mentioned. Then consider the consequences of when we get inundated with warnings about climate change. How does popular culture influence the ways we perceive and support the health of the environment? 
• Support ākonga to critically examine some of the consumerist subcultures that exist online, such as unboxing and haul culture. For example, they could analyse toy unboxing, including looking at the number of people engaging with this type of video, and the messages being communicated to the audience. Discuss their responses to these cultures. What are the underlying messages that are resonating with people? In what ways are they in tension with a sustainable world? 
• Ask ākonga what they know about fast fashion, and the impact it has on the planet. Working in groups, provide ākonga with a range of resources related to fast fashion. Ask them to identify the consequences of fast fashion, as well as the reasons people buy into it. Include discussion of how much control ākonga or other people have over the clothes they buy, and what barriers they face to making their preferred choices. 
• Examples of resources include: 
  • 15-minuterise in clothing waste: A 15-minute news video on trends, rationales, and the consequences of fast fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand 
  • Wasted: Fast fashion: A short video from the UN Environment programme detailing the ecological crisis caused by pollution waste and emissions due to fast fashion 
  • The true cost of fast fashion: A short, documentary-style video produced by The Economist.
• Facilitate a class brainstorm on what they think would be likely to change their minds or behaviour on an issue like what clothes they buy. Include discussion of to what extent they have true agency about what they buy. 
• Divide ākonga into groups for a jigsaw activity. Assign each group part of this article on tips about how to get someone to change their mind or understand your point of view. Ask ākonga to identify the key points in their section of the article. In their groups, ask ākonga to consider a time when they or someone they know has tried to change someone’s mind. Did it work? Would these strategies have made a difference? 

• Provide an opportunity for ākonga to reflect on how their community participates in an issue such as fast fashion and take steps to make change. Note: keep this activity at a community level and avoid examining decisions made by ākonga or their whānau, as this can bring up equity issues. See the Tips for engaging with community section of the Pūtātara home page for specific support. 
• Encourage your students to choose a context and action that interests them. Some examples of reflection and change actions in the fast fashion context are: 
  • Ākonga organising a clothing swap at a class, syndicate, school, or community level to challenge the impact of the fast fashion industry and redistribute unused clothing. Attendees should bring along clothes in good condition that they no longer want or use, to swap for items they do want. Ākonga can plan the rules, promote the occasion, and execute the event, making sure they count how many items were successfully swapped and kept out of landfill. 
  • Ākonga investigating the ethical and environmental status of the company that provides school uniforms, using a tool such as goodonyou. If the company has a bad rating, ākonga could advocate for the school to switch supplier to a better rated company. 
  • Ākonga developing a consciousness-raising exercise around consumerism and fast fashion and their impact on an already-stretched world. 
• Ask ākonga to reflect on their action. What impact did it have on the school? What impact did it have on them personally? What strengths and limitations did it have?  

Identify a scientist, technologist or other innovator to connect with your class, either in person or online. 

Review your understanding of the definition of technology as intervention by design. Prepare to present the field of technology - from sewing machines to artificial intelligence - as having common purposes in expanding human possibilities.  

Find out about your school’s relationships with the local hapū and iwi before beginning this activity set. See the Productive partnerships with whānau, hapū, and iwi section in the Leading Local Curriculum Guide Part 1 for more information on growing these relationships. If appropriate, ask a representative to consider the question of tikanga around the hypothetical use of AI and other automation in toi Māori. They could respond to you or speak to your class around this issue. 

You may want to review the activities you choose to use with your class to identify vocabulary that may need to be pre-taught beforehand. Create a word wall including these words that you can add to throughout the learning experience. 

• What new opportunities are created by automation? How can these opportunities enrich or damage lives? 
• How are new technologies impacting on sustainability? 

• In pairs, ask ākonga to research one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Ask them to identify the goal and the current situation (how far from the goal we are). Each pair should then draw up their findings and share them on a collective digital board or a display board in the classroom. 
• Individually, in pairs, or in groups, ask ākonga to choose one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and examine: 
  • Possible technologies that are or could be used to work towards the goal. What could encourage people to use them more? 
  • Possible technologies that are or could be used to undermine the goal. Why might people continue to use them? 
• As a class, create a definition of “automation”. The definition should cover the following technologies:  
  • Manufacturing robots that produce products  
  • Generative AI that can create art or writing.  
  • Cars that can drive themselves by sensing the world around them.  
• Facilitate a class debate on the use of automation technology. Consider the following points:  
  • What is the earliest example of automation in history you can think of? Is this any different to the automation we see now?  
  • How does automation make people feel? How could that affect the way the technology is used?  
  • Who has the power over what automated technology is and isn’t allowed to do? Who is making decisions about the use of automation?   
  • What impact might artificial intelligence and robotics have on what it means to be human? What can we do that robots and AI will never be able to do?   
• List some common occupations such as doctor, builder, or accountant. As a class, discuss how technologists could automate each job, then debate whether they should or not. Consider: 
  • How the job benefits from human judgement.  
  • How a machine could add accuracy or efficiency.  
  • The risk to human safety of the job.  
  • How automation could affect employment.  
  • How power and decision-making about the job would be affected. 
• Connect in person or remotely with someone in an innovative company. Consider people in Aotearoa New Zealand who are disrupting sectors with technologies that prioritise sustainability and wellbeing. 
• After the person has spoken to your class, ask ākonga: 
  • What backgrounds, skills, talents, and personalities do these people bring to their positions?  
  • What similar or complementary qualities do you have? What do you see your role being in creating the future? What do you want to cultivate in yourself most strongly? 
  • What are the roles of scientists, technologists, company directors, and innovators in solving the vast challenges we have ahead of us? 

• Arrange for ākonga to tour a local workplace that uses advanced mechanisation or automation as part of its process. What advantages does the technology have? What negative impacts has it had on people or the environment?  
• Ask ākonga to identify specific local instances of barriers that are getting in the way of moving towards a low-carbon future. Encourage them to research technological and non-technological solutions to those barriers. What are the costs and advantages of each possible technological solution? 
• Provide an opportunity for ākonga to gather information and resources relating to the use of technology in their lives and rohe, and present that information back to the community in a meaningful way. See the Tips for engaging with community  section of the Pūtātara home page for specific support. 
• Support ākonga to come up with the presentation idea. Some examples are: 
  • Ākonga developing a common set of interview questions and gathering data from whānau, community members, local elders, and hapū about how the land in their area has changed because of technology. They could gather historic images of landmarks in their area to display alongside these interviews, with photos of the same places today.  
  • Ākonga creating a video project, capturing community perspectives on the role of technology in causing and solving some of our greatest challenges. This could include asking five questions based on what they have learned. For example: What AI do you interact with daily? Could technology be part of the solution to societal issues like inequity or climate change? Would you go back to a simpler way of living if you could? Ākonga could edit community members’ responses to these questions together. This video could then be shared online or used as a class resource for discussing ‘how technology can enrich or damage lives’. 

Ask ākonga to reflect on their action. What impact did it have on the school? What impact did it have on them personally? What strengths and limitations did it have?