Environmental Education and Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum

Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 | Level 8

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Level 1

Social Organisation

• Why people belong to groups
  e.g., Kiwi Conservation Club.

Culture and Heritage

• Features of the culture and heritage of their own and other groups
  e.g., significant landmarks in the local environment.
• Customs and traditions associated with participation in cultural activities
  e.g., the uses of natural materials to make clothing, special foods for ceremonies.

Place and Environment

• Why particular places are important for people
  e.g., special places in the natural or cultural environment.
• How and why people record the important features of places and environments
  e.g., the use of maps, photographs, and stories.

Resources and Economic Activities

• Different resources that people use
  e.g., home vegetable gardens, the use of materials in the local environment to build shelters.
• Different types of work that people do
  e.g., that of the conservation officier.

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Level 2

Social Organisation

• How participation within groups involves both responsibilities and rights
  e.g., the rights and responsibilities of campers.

Cultural Heritage

• Ways in which communities reflect the cultures and heritages of their people
  e.g., signs of different cultures in the local environment.

Place and Environment

• How people's activities influence places and the environment and are influenced by them
  e.g., the location and use of water sources.
• How and why people describe places and environments in different ways
  e.g., what place names reveal about environments.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• How past events changed aspects of the lives of communities
  e.g., the effects of natural disasters on communities.

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Level 3

Social Organisation

• How and why people make and implement rules and laws
  e.g., noise control legislation.

Place and Environment

• How different groups view and use places and the environment
  e.g., different environments in which people live, such as the tundra, atolls, and war zones.
• How and why people express a sense of belonging to particular places and environments
  e.g., the use of photos and diaries.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• How the ideas and actions of people in the past changed the lives of others
  e.g., individuals and groups who have worked to preserve the environment.

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Level 4

Social Organisation

• How people organise themselves in response to challenge and crisis
  e.g., civil defence emergencies.

Cultural Heritage

• Why and how individuals and groups pass on and sustain their culture and heritage
  e.g., the use of songs and dances and written, oral, and visual records about environments.

Place and Environment

• How places reflect past interactions of people with the environment
  e.g., sites that are important to Māori.
• Why and how people find out about places and environments
  e.g., explorers and adventurers.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• Causes and effects of events that have shaped the lives of a group of people
  e.g., natural disasters, environmental damage caused by wars.

Resources and Economic Activities

• How and why people view and use resources differently and the consequences of this
  e.g., environmental preservation versus logging or mining.

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Level 5

Social Organisation

• How and why people seek to gain and maintain social justice and human rights
  e.g., the work of Aboriginal land rights organisations.

Place and Environment

• Why people move between places and the consequences of this for the people and the places
  e.g., landless migration in Brazil leading to deforestation.
• Why particular places and environments are significant for people
  e.g., sacred sites of indigenous peoples.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• How the ideas and actions of individuals and groups that have shaped the lives and experiences of people are viewed through time
  e.g., ways in which changes to the environment, such as mining and logging, are viewed now.

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Level 6

Social Organisation

• How and why people organise themselves to review systems and institutions in society
  e.g., the role of pressure groups on environmental issues.

Place and Environment

• The implications of changes to places, for people and for the environment
  e.g., the effects of population change.
• How people's descriptions of places and the environment reflect particular purposes and points of view
  e.g., Māori and Pākehā attitudes to the use of natural resources.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• Beliefs and ideas that have changed society and continue to change it
  e.g., "reduce, reuse, recycle", "think globally, act locally".

Resources and Economic Activities

• Factors that affect people's work opportunities and conditions
  e.g., the health and safety requirements of the Employment Act.

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Level 7

Social Organisation

• How and why international organisations become established and influence people and societies
  e.g., Greenpeace.

Place and Environment

• Why and how people regulate the use of places and the environment
  e.g., the Resource Management Act.
• How people's perceptions of places and environments are reinforced or changed by information or experience
  e.g., the effects of an environmental awareness campaign.

Resources and Economic Activities

• How and why individuals and organisations gain access to the resources of nations other than their own, and the consequences of this
  e.g., the ivory trade, the export of native timbers.

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Level 8

Place and Environment

• How and why people seek to resolve differences over how places and environments should be used
  e.g., the role of the Planning Tribunal.

Time, Continuity, and Change

• How and why people's past experiences are reinterpreted and how records of past events are revised
  e.g., the Treaty of Waitangi settlements process.

Resources and Economic Activities

• How the policies and actions of governments and international organisations result in economic change and the social consequences of economic change
  e.g., the Earth Summit in Rio.

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