Technology · Inquiry B · Years 7–8
Designing for Our Community
Your school or community has a constraint — space, access, sustainability, or inclusion. Your design must work in the real world, not just on paper.
Your mission
Why it matters
Designers justify their solutions against constraints and evidence from testing.
- You'll make
- An iterated solution with test evidence for a community partner or school facility.
- Who it's for
- A community partner, local business, or school facility
- How long
- About 5 weeks, in any term
- Who takes part
- The whole Years 7–8 class, together
Your first step
Define the problem, three constraints, and how you will know your solution works. Build a low-fidelity prototype this week.
Your journey: DESIGN
- Discover
- Explore
- Sketch
- Improve
- Give Value
- Navigate Constraints
Every stage has Getting started, On track and Stretch support, so the whole class can work on it together.
Explore more
Trusted New Zealand sites for your research.
- Code Club Aotearoa ↗
Code Club Aotearoa
Free coding projects and clubs for NZ tamariki.
- Scratch ↗
MIT
Free block coding for games, animations and models.
For teachers: how to run it
Partner with one community contact where possible. Document iterations. Final presentation to authentic audience.
Run it with a combined Years 7–8 class in any term. Students record each stage in Kōkiri Learn; you see progress by stage, never rankings or scores.
Ready to run it with your class?
Free trial for NZ schools. One combined Years 7–8 class, any term.