Building a Local Case Study

Overview

In lesson 24 of Whenua, War, and Sovereignty, students move from broad unit themes to a manageable local or regional historical case study. They will test possible topics, formulate an arguable focussing question, and begin a source portfolio using legislation, maps, newspapers, oral histories, and scholarly works.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify a local or regional historical event or place significant to New Zealanders.
• WALT narrow a broad topic into an arguable focussing question.
• WALT select varied evidence and record accurate source details.
• WALT annotate sources by considering usefulness, perspective, and reliability.

Success criteria

• I can explain why my case study matters to people in the past and today.
• I can write a question that requires an argument, not just a description.
• I can collect a balanced range of relevant sources.
• I can annotate evidence and identify a source’s perspective and limitations.

Curriculum links

• Carry out an inquiry of an historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders.
• Preparing an inquiry by identifying a topic, conducting preliminary reading, and developing focussing questions.
• Making annotations on evidence, organising sources, evaluating usefulness and reliability, and recognising different perspectives.
• New Zealand Curriculum Level 7 history capabilities: interpreting evidence, understanding perspectives, communicating conclusions, and participating in informed inquiry.

Lesson structure (120 minutes)

1. 0–10 min · Hook and retrieval. Teacher opens with the provocative opening question and local-history image: “Whose whenua, whose history, and whose evidence?” and revisits prior learning about whenua, conflict, authority, and sovereignty. Students complete a silent retrieval task: list two unit concepts, one local place or event, and one question they still have.

2. 10–25 min · What makes a strong case study? Teacher models how a broad topic such as “land loss” can become a focused case study, using significance criteria: impact at the time, number of people affected, duration, depth of impact, and continuing consequences. Teacher explicitly notes that local histories may involve different iwi, hapū, community, Crown, settler, or whānau perspectives and should be approached respectfully. Students use the case-study selection and question-development worksheet to rank three possible topics for significance, relevance, available evidence, and manageable scope.

3. 25–45 min · Question workshop. Teacher contrasts descriptive questions (“What happened at…?”) with arguable questions (“To what extent did…?”; “How significant was…?”; “Why did…?”), then demonstrates narrowing by place, time period, people, and historical issue. Students draft two or three possible focussing questions individually, check that each can be answered with evidence, and improve one through a peer conference. Partners test questions using three prompts: Is it historically focused? Is it arguable? Can evidence support different answers?

4. 45–55 min · Case-study conferences. Teacher conducts rapid conferences, approving topics only when they are significant, appropriately focused, ethically researchable, and supported by accessible sources. Students record their provisional topic, rationale, key people and perspectives, time frame, and revised focussing question on the worksheet. Students who cannot settle on a topic choose from teacher-prepared options such as a local memorial, land protest, confiscation or purchase, environmental dispute, military site, or commemorative place.

5. 55–65 min · Source portfolio briefing. Teacher introduces the portfolio structure through the source-portfolio and annotation slides. Each student must begin organising legislation or official records, a map, a newspaper or periodical, an oral history or recorded testimony, and a scholarly work. Teacher models one annotation: identify what the source shows, link it to the focussing question, explain its usefulness, note perspective or purpose, and identify a limitation or reliability issue. Students set up a portfolio table with source title, creator, date, type, location, evidence collected, perspective, usefulness, limitations, and full details for independent checking.

6. 65–105 min · Portfolio research carousel. Teacher provides curated source packs or approved digital folders for each case study, circulates to question source choices, and prompts cross-referencing rather than copying. Students work independently or in pairs to locate and record at least five varied sources, including the required source types where available. For each source, they write a meaningful annotation and highlight one quotation, detail, map feature, image, or statistic that may answer the focussing question. Students must identify whose voice is present, whose may be missing, and where evidence needs corroboration.

7. 105–120 min · Peer audit and exit reflection. Teacher displays the final checklist in the peer-audit and plenary slides and leads a brief debrief about patterns in evidence and unanswered questions. Students exchange portfolios for a structured audit, then complete the worksheet exit reflection: “My question is arguable because…”, “My strongest source is… because…”, “A perspective or reliability issue I must investigate is…”, and “My next research action is…”.

Resources

• the local case-study inquiry deck
• the case-study selection and source-portfolio worksheet
• Teacher-curated local and regional source packs
• Copies or extracts of legislation and official records
• Historical maps and newspaper articles
• Oral-history transcripts or approved audio excerpts
• Scholarly articles, books, or museum publications
• Library catalogue and approved research databases
• Highlighters, sticky notes, folders, and devices

Assessment

• Listen to peer conferences and case-study discussions; check that questions are focused, significant, and arguable.
• Formatively review each portfolio table for five varied source types, accurate source details, linked evidence, perspective, usefulness, and reliability commentary.
• Collect the exit reflection to identify students needing support with topic scope, source balance, or question wording before the next lesson.

Differentiation

• Provide a teacher-approved topic bank, source packs, question stems, a completed annotation model, and a partially completed portfolio table for students needing structure.
• Offer text-to-speech, enlarged or dyslexia-friendly copies, audio oral histories, and paired reading; pre-teach terms such as legislation, sovereignty, perspective, corroboration, and reliability.
• Support EAL learners with a visual question framework, word banks, bilingual dictionaries, and opportunities to rehearse ideas orally before writing.
• Extend confident students by requiring comparison of conflicting evidence, inclusion of a Māori and Crown or community perspective where relevant, and an initial judgement answering their focussing question.