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Ministry of Education New Zealand
Important

Draft curriculum content

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

Have your say:

Consultation for Year 0 to 10 draft curriculum content

In Year 4, your child creates designs for a specific purpose, tests how well each part works, and makes improvements using evidence and feedback.

Their understanding of materials and ingredients continues to develop as they focus on collecting feedback and using it to inform their designs and outcomes. They begin to see how technology connects people, materials, and systems.

Design, make and innovate#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • investigate how things work by looking at something at home that has parts working together, like a torch or a door latch/knob, and discuss what happens if one part changes
  • encourage your child to sketch, communicate, or draw how the parts of a product link as they design something useful, like a bird feeder for local native birds or a ‘mini-beast’ hotel for insects
  • plan projects together, and record and share thinking using photographs, videos, brainstorms, or simple instructions
  • discuss material and design choices, and ask which materials are reusable or sustainable, connecting to kaitiakitanga | guardianship, caring for people and places
  • encourage them to notice and be curious about new technologies, how they operate, and their impact
  • ask friends and whānau for questions about your child’s design ideas and what they are planning on doing next.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will guide students from curiosity to purposeful creation, helping students to solve real-world problems. Through discussion and gathering feedback, students consider the impact these designs may have on others and their environment. They strengthen their ability to think critically about their designs and the decisions they make while designing.

Teachers introduce students to simple systems found in everyday things, whether:

  • mechanical, like toys
  • electronic, like gadgets or
  • electrical, like circuits.

Students explore how the parts work together and how what you put in (input) changes into what you get out (output). Think of it like this: pressing the power button (input) causes the light to turn on (output).

For example, by the end of Year 4, your child may be able to:

  • design questions and use tools to record information, for example, gather data in a graph about the water usage of a watering system in a māra kai | vegetable garden to see how much water is used
  • select and test materials and methods to find the best approach for solving the problem, for example, testing recycled plastic for strength and weather resistance
  • consider the social and environmental impacts of their designs based on feedback and observation, for example, using natural materials and explaining how this supports sustainable, respectful design, kaitiakitanga | guardianship
  • plan and explain how parts of a system work together, for example, design a handheld toy windmill and describe how the blades, axle, and wind work together to turn the blades
  • question how one part of a system depends on another part, for example, when making toast, the heat browns the bread and the lever lifts it when it’s ready.