Skip to main content
Ministry of Education New Zealand
On this page
Important

Draft curriculum content

This page is based on the draft Year 4 content for Social Sciences. Consultation on this draft is now closed. Schools are not required to implement the refreshed curriculum content until the learning area is finalised.

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.