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Draft curriculum content

This page is based on the draft Year 4 content for Social Sciences, which is currently open for feedback. Schools are not required to implement changes until the consultation process is confirmed.

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Consultation for Year 0 to 10 draft curriculum content

The Social Sciences help students understand how people live together, make decisions, and shape communities so they can participate thoughtfully in society. In Years 4 to 6, students build upon their prior learning as they start to connect important concepts such as migration and democracy.

Teaching is structured around 4 strands that focus on key areas of learning. In Year 4, these include:

  • History: the Treaty of Waitangi | Te Tiriti O Waitangi, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
  • Civics and Society: democracy, civic participation and contribution
  • Geography: population change, landscape formation
  • Economic Activity: the exchange of goods and services.

History#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • talk about your family’s relationship with Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi as Tangata Whenua or Tangata Tiriti
  • discuss or research whether other countries have an agreement like Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi and the significance of this for New Zealand
  • use books and podcasts about to learn more about Te Tiriti, and talk about what you learn together to develop your child’s understanding
  • use books and podcasts to explore Greek and Roman gods and mythologies
  • talk about the ways societies in the past were different from today, including daily life, the roles of women, and how people became leaders and held on to leadership
  • use words like significance, sovereignty, rangatiratanga, agreement, signatory, government, Crown.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi, Ancient Greece (c.800 BCE–323 BCE), and Ancient Rome (753 BCE–476 CE). For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • explain the ongoing significance of The Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi
  • tell the story of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi, including the roles of James Busby, William Hobson, Henry Williams, and Hōne Heke
  • provide examples of how different people commemorate Waitangi Day
  • identify the key periods in Ancient Greek history: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic
  • describe the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the spread of the Roman Empire
  • compare key features of Ancient Greek civilisation with what they know about Egyptian civilisation, for example, their systems of government, social structure, and religious beliefs
  • explain how Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire contributed to shaping the modern world
  • think critically about the sources we use to find out about Ancient Greece and Rome and how much they can tell us.

Civics and Society#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • discuss elections, and invite your child to observe the voting process in local and general elections when they happen
  • talk about the role and responsibilities of local and central government
  • hold family meetings to model the democratic process by setting up, applying, and reviewing family rules and routines
  • discuss how people who are not in government or local councils can take part in our society
  • use words like participation, democracy, election, and representation.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on the concepts of democracy and civic participation and contribution. For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • explain the values and principles of democracy, such as fairness, equality, citizen voice, and the peaceful transfer of power
  • consider the values and principles of democracy while discussing a current national or local issue
  • understand the value of civic participation and contribution and the ways people can be active citizens, for example, volunteering, attending hui or public meetings, or joining community groups
  • compare democracy with other forms of government, for example, monarchies or dictatorships
  • give examples of how the democratic ideas from Ancient Greece influenced the formation of New Zealand’s democratic government
  • explain the election process in New Zealand, how a new government is formed, and the roles of the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and House of Representatives
  • compare the roles of central and local government.

Geography#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • find the current population numbers in New Zealand – for the whole country, your region, and your local area – and see if they have changed since their parents and grandparents were born
  • discuss the various ethnicities present in your community and look at Stats NZ’s place and ethnic group summaries to find out more
  • use sandpit play to explore different ways to shape a landscape.

Place and ethnic group summaries – Stats NZ

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on population change in New Zealand and on landscape formation. For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • analyse data about population change, including population growth and density, and our ageing population
  • present population data in a variety of ways, for example, maps and pie charts
  • explore the impact on population of migration to and within New Zealand
  • compare what they know about New Zealand’s population with other countries that have high growth rates, rates of migration, and population density
  • interpret diagrams to understand how plate tectonics have led to the formation of mountains like the Southern Alps
  • make observations about different kinds of rock as they learn how they form, for example, sedimentary rocks like limestone, igneous rocks like pumice, metamorphic rocks like pounamu
  • explain how earthquakes, volcanoes, and erosion shape the landscape
  • complete a case study describing features of the local landscape, how they were created, and how they might change in the future.

Economic Activity#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • walk around a mall or your local shops and help your child identify which places sell products and which offer a service
  • make a short shopping list:
    • discuss whether you have to buy the items or could swap or share to get them
    • look at shopping websites to compare prices for the items you have to buy.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on the exchange of goods and services. For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • differentiate between:
    • goods – physical items that you own or can buy
    • services – things that people or businesses do to help others
  • identify examples of goods and services in daily life, for example, a dairy owner sells groceries, a bus driver takes people where they need to go
  • describe how people get goods and services in different ways, for example, buying, swapping, sharing
  • recognise that people have limited money, which limits what they can choose to buy
  • make a shopping list and compare the item prices at different places to know which is cheapest
  • discuss what it means for an item to be ‘good value’ and understand that the cheapest item isn’t always the best value.