World Famous in New Zealand

Social Studies Online

TEACHER Jacinda Andrews

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

This unit is not simply about famous New Zealand women. It is about the ideas and actions of these women, and how their ideas and actions were viewed through time. It is important that this focus is very clear from the start of the unit.

Notes:
The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography is now available online. People must have died before they are eligible for the dictionary so living women heroes will have to be researched using resources other than the DNZB.

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1. Ideas and Actions
   An idea is a plan or scheme that is formed by thinking (New Zealand Oxford Dictionary) An action is the process of doing something, or a sequence of events (New Zealand Oxford Dictionary).

   What other definitions can students find for both "ideas" and "actions"? Check out OneLook Dictionaries.

   Students are to complete the ideas and actions activity.

2. Impacting on others
   How can "ideas and actions" shape other people's lives and experiences? Students complete the Impact of Ideas and Actions chart (a form of cause effect chart) identifying possible ways in which people's ideas and/or action might affect other people.

3. A Women's Perspective?
   Choose 6 key events in world or New Zealand history, such as:
   • The Treaty of Waitangi
   • Gallipoli
   • World War II
   • First Man on the Moon
   • The wall street crash and depression
   • Abolition of slavery
   • Parihaka

   In small groups students list all the people they can think of who were involved in these events (can be specific names or jobs, etc). Discuss (in their groups and/or as a class):

   • How many women are on the list? Why/why not?
   • How were the actions and ideas of women apparently seen at the time of the events?

4. The language of the topic
   Draw up a word list with first and second definitions. Words can be added as the unit progresses.

Part B: KATE SHEPPARD
A Case Study

A woman whose ideas and actions have shaped the lives and experiences of New Zealanders - Kate Sheppard.

It is assumed that students have some prior knowledge of life in pioneer New Zealand in the late nineteenth century. Useful web sites that provide this background information include:

• European settlers
• The Colony in 1874

The first few activities are designed to develop and/or review background knowledge about Victorian New Zealand, Kate Sheppard and the Suffragists before students move onto identifying and describing the ideas and actions of Kate Sheppard.

1. A Pioneer Woman at the Bottom of the World
   Time period: 1840 - 1900

   Either: Go to the library and conduct a scavenger hunt. And/Or: conduct an Internet scavenger hunt.

   The main purpose of the activity is for students to see what life was like prior to 1890 so that they can understand why some woman were fighting for prohibition and the right to vote.

   Students are to find and photocopy/download at least three pictures of women working in pioneer New Zealand. They then paste (with glue or electronically) the pictures on to A4 or A3 paper. Place each picture in the centre of the page. Students then write around each picture, what was expected of pioneer women. (eg. their place was in the home, males made the decisions, women worked hard on the land with the men, domestic duties, women had no legal rights etc.).

   Pin the finished pages around the room and discuss the class's findings.

2. What would you do?
   In groups students complete the What would you do? activity using the Problem-solving chart.

3. Mind map it
   Read about women's suffrage in New Zealand. Construct a mind map on the suffrage movement. Focus on the IDEAS of the suffragists such as Kate Sheppard and the ACTIONS that they took to achieve their aims. You could also use the information on Celebrating Woman's Suffrage or the brief history of suffrage in New Zealand 'Not a Privilege but a Right'. There is also more information on the Suffrage Timeline.

4. Kate Sheppard
   Read about Kate Sheppard and then complete the Mubbles activity.
   • The New Zealand Edge: Reformers (Note: This article is quite long so it may be preferable for students to read it in sections. The Jigsaw Method would suit this approach very well.)

5. Perception Check: Her ideas and actions
   What were the ideas and actions of Kate Sheppard? How did they influence the lives and experiences of others? As a class, complete the Ideas Actions Impact chart on Kate Sheppard.

6. Views on the idea of votes for women
   Complete the speech bubble activity to see what different groups of people thought of women's suffrage at the time.

7. How are her ideas and actions viewed today?
   In 1993, New Zealand celebrated 100 years of women voting in New Zealand. People's views about the idea of votes for women have probably changed since 1893. People's views about the actions taken by suffragists like Kate Sheppard have probably changed too. The very fact that votes for women was widely viewed as something to celebrate suggests that her actions and ideas are regarded as positive.

   Various events occurred to mark the centennial of votes for women. For example:

   • In the square between Lorne Street and Kitchener Street in Auckland a mosaic of tiles was created, showing women on bicycles.
   • In Christchurch a Suffrage Garden was created.
   • The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal was released to honour men or women who contributed to women's rights in New Zealand.
   • Kate Sheppard appeared on the new $10 note (more information is available on these banknotes - scroll down to the 'fifth issue' of banknotes).

   What happened at your place in 1993? Conduct a Mini-Mini Inquiry. Interview 3-4 people about the women's suffrage centennial celebrations. Possible questions could include:

   • What happened in your town to commemorate the suffrage centennial in 1993?
   • Do they believe that gaining votes for women was worth celebrating? Why?
   • What do they think about women having the right to vote?
   • What do they think about the actions of the suffragists in the 1880s and 1890s?

   Collate your answers as a class.

   Graffiti Sheets are a useful strategy for recording a range of answers from an informal survey like this. Place large sheets of newspaper around the room, each headed up with one of the questions from the survey. Students either write their collected responses (including "don't knows") directly on to the sheets or have their responses already prepared and glue them on. Divide the class into groups. Each group is responsible for collating one set of responses and providing a summary for the class as a whole.

8. Putting it all together: Then and Now
   Construct a Comparison Chart to show how the ideas and actions of suffragists like Kate Sheppard were viewed at the time, and how those same ideas and actions are viewed today.

   What are the similarities?
   What are the differences?

9. See the Suffrage Petition
   Wellington Schools will be able to see the real thing, but for everyone else, the Suffrage Petition is on the Internet at Archives New Zealand.

Part C: TE PUEA HERANGI

It is time for students to carry out their own teacher directed inquiry into the ideas and actions of a significant New Zealand woman who has influenced the lives and experiences of others.

There is very little on the Internet about Princess Te Puea. Therefore students will have to use the library and reference books such as Michael King's Te Puea Herangi: From Darkness to Light. All schools received free sets of this book. Contact Learning Media for more copies (plus the Teacher's Guide).

The main online source of information on Princess Te Puea is the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. The history department in your school may have information on Te Puea.

1. Getting Started
   What do we know? Who was Princess Te Puea? In small groups or as a class students create a KTD or KWHL Chart on Princess Te Puea, focusing on: what she did (her actions) and what she may have believed (her ideas); the impact of her actions and ideas on people.

2. Scavenger Hunt
   

   The Task:
   This is Your Life
   Example Answers

3. Focus for the Inquiry: Research Questions
   What did Princess Te Puea do during her lifetime?
   What did she believe?
   How did her actions affect others?
   What did people think of her actions and ideas during her lifetime?
   What do people think of her actions and ideas today?

4. Collecting and Recording Information
   Students collect information, working either individually or in small groups, that enables them to answer the five Research Questions. Use a combination of sources - text, Internet, video, interviews.

5. Communicating Information
   In small groups students prepare a "This is Your Life" about the ideas and actions of Princess Te Puea. If you can find a video of a previous "This is your life" programme, it will help the students understand what is expected. Otherwise explain what it is all about. Each group will prepare a large book (A3 size) answering the five Research Questions. The book should contain at least three visuals and observe the conventions of a book (ie. title page, contents, chapter headings, page numbering, captions for each visual, proofread and edited).

   Each group could present their "This is Your Life" book to another group in the class or to another class.

6. Evaluating the Inquiry
   Discuss as a class what went well; the strategies that students used to find and record information; the importance of having a focus for the Inquiry and sticking with the Research Questions.

   The class should now be ready to conduct a social studies inquiry about a New Zealand woman of their choice.

RESOURCES

Print

• Coney, S (1993) Standing in the Sunshine, A History of New Zealand Women since they won the Vote Penguin Books, Auckland
• Cubitt, Irvine and Dow (1999) Top Tools for Social Science Teachers Pearson Education Auckland
• Fitzsimmons, P. (2001) Nancy Wake Harpers Collins, Sydney
• King, M (1984) Te Puea From the Darkness to the Light Department of Education, Wellington
• MacKersey, I (1990) Garbo of the Skies, Penguin, London
• Sargison, P (1993) Notable Women in New Zealand Health Longman Paul, Auckland
• Hood Lynley, (1994) Minnie Dean: Her Life & Crimes Penguin, Auckland

Electronic

• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
• Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966
• New Zealand Heroes

Other

• Nancy Wake the White Mouse (TV Movie)
• Epitaph (episode on Minnie Dean)