Technology · Years 7–8 · DESIGN
Think like a designer and technologist
Design for a real person, test it and make it better.
8 inquiry worlds · 63 hands-on activities · 25 readings
Choose your world
8 Technology worlds to explore
Each world is a full inquiry: a real question, week-by-week sessions, hands-on activities, readings and a real audience. The whole class works on the same world, in any term.
4 weeksTe Hoahoa Otinga: Designing SolutionsFind one real person with an everyday problem, dig for the real cause, then build, test and improve something that helps.Explore this world →
5 weeksDesigning for Our CommunityTake on a real problem in your school or neighbourhood, design within tight limits, and prove it works with test data.Explore this world →
5 weeksKai Lab: Food TechnologyDry it, pickle it, ferment it: turn surplus garden and orchard kai into a safe, tasty product and test it on real people.Explore this world →
5 weeksBuild It Strong: Structures and MechanismsStraws, string and pulleys: build a bridge, tower or flying fox that holds strong, then show a real engineer how you did it.Explore this world →
5 weeksSmart Circuits: Electronics and ControlSensors that notice, code that decides, motors that move: build a smart gadget that solves a real problem at your place.Explore this world →
5 weeksCode a Game: Algorithms and DebuggingDesign, code and debug a Scratch game that younger kids love to play, then sit beside them and watch what really happens.Explore this world →
5 weeksData Detectives: Data, Spreadsheets and AICount it, code it, chart it, question it. Turn real local data into a true story, then find out when AI can be trusted.Explore this world →
5 weeksGrow It: Aquaponics and Sustainable SystemsFish feed the plants, plants clean the water, bacteria do the invisible work. Design, build and run a living system that grows kai.Explore this world →
Your journey: DESIGN
Every Technology world moves through the same stages.
- Discover
- Explore
- Sketch
- Improve
- Give Value
- Navigate Constraints
Background reading
Read to understand
Short readings from every world, written for Kōkiri Learn students.
- Needs, not solutions: designing for a real personWhy good design starts by listening to one real person, and how to turn what they say into needs you can design for.
- Solving the right problemSymptoms, root causes and the five whys: how problem solvers make sure they fix the real problem, not just the obvious one.
- Prototypes: make it rough, test it earlyWhy designers build quick, cheap prototypes, how teams decide fast, and what famous inventors learned from their mistakes.
- Designing for everyone: universal designWhat accessibility and universal design mean, why designing for people with the most barriers helps everyone, and the numbers designers use in Aotearoa.
- Specifications and test data: proving it worksHow designers turn needs into measurable specifications, run fair and repeatable tests, and use data to make better decisions.
- The life of a product: from raw material to rubbish (or not)Life cycles, planned obsolescence and the circular economy: how designers think about what happens to a product before and after we use it.
- Keeping kai safe: hygiene, allergens and sharp knivesThe 4Cs of food safety, why bacteria love warm food, how to read allergens on a label, and how to use knives and heat safely.
- Why food lasts: drying, pickling and fermentingWhat makes food go off, and how people in Aotearoa and around the world have used drying, acid, salt and friendly microbes to keep kai for months.
- From garden to jar: developing a food productHow food technologists write specifications, test taste fairly with sensory panels, improve recipes and think about waste, culture and cost.
- Squash, stretch and the power of trianglesThe four forces every structure fights, and why engineers fill bridges and towers with triangles.
- Machines that multiply your musclesHow levers, pulleys, gears and cranks let you move big loads with small forces, and the trade you always make.
- Built to shake: how Aotearoa designs for earthquakesWhy New Zealand buildings need to bend without breaking, and the Kiwi invention that lets Te Papa slide safely.
- Input, process, output: seeing the systemHow to break any smart device into what it senses, what it decides and what it does, and why engineers draw system diagrams.
- Inside a circuit: voltage, current and resistanceThe three ideas that explain every circuit, the symbols engineers use to draw them, and how to keep circuits safe.
- Sensors, decisions and smart trapsHow sensors turn the world into numbers, how code decides what to do, and how New Zealand conservation groups use smart traps.
- Algorithms: instructions a computer can followWhat an algorithm is, the three building blocks of every program, and the woman who wrote the first one in 1843.
- Bugs, and how to squash themWhy every programmer writes bugs, where the word comes from, and five strategies for finding and fixing them.
- Zeros and ones: how computers store everythingHow binary works, why computers use it, and how your score, your sprites and your sounds all become zeros and ones.
- Fair play: making games that respect playersThe choices behind a game: privacy, copyright, fairness and design tricks, and how to make a game that is good for a young player.
- Ones, zeros and the data trail you leaveWhat data is, how computers store words and pictures using only on and off, and why metadata matters.
- Finding the true story in a spreadsheetHow to collect fair data, clean it in a spreadsheet, and choose charts that show the truth instead of tricking people.
- How AI learns, and when to trust itAI learns patterns from data, so unfair or missing data makes unfair AI. How to judge when AI is suitable and who should control the data.
- Thinking in systems: loops, feedback and surprisesWhat a system is, how inputs, processes, outputs and feedback loops work, and why small changes can cause big surprises.
- The invisible workers: how fish waste becomes plant foodThe nitrogen cycle inside an aquaponics system, the bacteria that power it, and the water tests that let you see what you can't see.
- Goldfish, lettuce and the law: growing sustainably in AotearoaWhich fish you can legally keep, why New Zealand systems are plant-first, how temperature and power cuts shape design, and how wicking beds and eco-homes close loops too.
New Zealand Curriculum, Phase 3
What Technology asks for in Years 7–8
A summary of the refreshed teaching sequence. A combined class meets the Year 7 sequence in one year of the cycle and the Year 8 sequence in the other.
Required from 2029 (can start earlier) Official statement ↗
Design and innovation
Year 7 sequence
- Human-focused designs balancing function, look and sustainability
- Culture and design
- Designing, testing and improving with feedback
- Sketches and 3D drawings
Year 8 sequence
- Balancing purpose, function, aesthetics and sustainability
- Iterating through peer feedback
- Design life cycle and environmental impact
- Technical drawing
Materials and ingredients
Year 7 sequence
- Physical and digital models
- Choosing materials responsibly
- Safe techniques
- Recycled and sustainable materials
Year 8 sequence
- Reliable tests and trials
- Writing specifications
- Comparing processing methods and cultural practices
Systems and control
Year 7 sequence
- Mechanical, electrical and digital systems
- Circuit symbols
- Simple circuits and machines
Year 8 sequence
- System diagrams and subsystems
- Input–process–output
- Electro-mechanical systems
Go deeper in Kōkiri Lab: Robotics & Systems (sensors, motors and input–process–output)
Digital technologies
Year 7 sequence
- Data, algorithms and testing solutions
- Debugging
- Binary
- Ethics and choice of digital tools
Year 8 sequence
- How data is collected, stored and encoded
- Algorithms for games and robots
- Spreadsheets to find patterns
- Questioning information and AI
Go deeper in Kōkiri Lab: Worldbuilding & Navigation (algorithms and models in scratch), Robotics & Systems (programming robots)
Trusted NZ sites
Explore more
- Code Club Aotearoa ↗
Code Club Aotearoa
Free coding projects and clubs for NZ tamariki.
- Scratch ↗
MIT
Free block coding for games, animations and models.
Ready to run it with your class?
Free trial for NZ schools. One combined Years 7–8 class, any term.