Solutions and Stakeholder Voices

Overview

In lesson 19 of 24, students move from identifying Auckland’s housing and sustainability challenges to designing realistic responses. In groups, they role-play different stakeholder perspectives, negotiate a shared proposal, and communicate benefits, trade-offs and evidence-informed reasoning. The lesson supports English language development through structured speaking, listening, reading and visual planning.

Learning intentions

• WALT develop sustainable solutions for Auckland that consider different perspectives.
• WALT explain the benefits and trade-offs of a proposed action.
• WALT listen actively and communicate respectfully during a stakeholder discussion.
• WALT use social science concepts and evidence to justify a decision.

Success criteria

• I can propose a realistic action for a sustainable new home or neighbourhood.
• I can explain at least one benefit and one trade-off.
• I can include the voices of at least three stakeholders in my proposal.
• I can use evidence, respectful language and clear reasons to defend my group’s decision.

Curriculum links

• Social Sciences Years 9–10: understanding how places change and how societies function and change, including New Zealand’s place in a globalised world.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10: engaging with higher-order concepts such as inequality, ethics and power, analysing sources and data, and making decisions about significant challenges.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10: exploring governance systems, human rights frameworks and the constitutional significance of te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Social Sciences practices: communicating using evidence, logic, social science concepts and conventions, with awareness of audience and purpose.

Lesson structure (70 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Hook and retrieval. Teacher displays the opening Auckland housing image and provocative question: “Who should have the strongest voice when a new neighbourhood is planned?” Revisit the previous lesson’s challenge map and ask students to write one sustainability issue they remember. Students think-pair-share, then identify whose interests may be affected.

2. 8–18 min · Model sustainable decision-making. Teacher uses the sustainability criteria and worked example to model a possible action, such as mixed-use housing near public transport. Introduce the criteria: environmental impact, affordability and fairness, cultural safety and identity, practicality, and long-term wellbeing. Model the language of benefits and trade-offs, including: “This could…, however…” Students annotate the stakeholder role-play and solution planner with one example and ask clarifying questions.

3. 18–28 min · Prepare stakeholder voices. Teacher forms six mixed groups of five and assigns each group a stakeholder perspective: youth, mana whenua, council, businesses, migrants, or Pacific communities. Distribute the worksheet and clarify that students represent a perspective rather than speak for every person in that community. Students read their role information, identify two priorities and one concern, and prepare a 30-second statement. Provide rehearsal time, with each student practising at least once.

4. 28–47 min · Stakeholder role-play. Teacher facilitates a simulated planning hui: each group presents its priorities, then groups ask one respectful question of another stakeholder. Display discussion roles, speaking stems and listening prompts. Students listen for common ground and disagreement, record useful ideas from at least three stakeholder voices, and use stems such as “From our perspective…”, “We agree because…”, and “A possible concern is…”.

5. 47–62 min · Negotiate and design a solution. Teacher asks groups to become a planning team and agree on one sustainable action for Auckland’s new home. Students complete the solution planner: action, stakeholders included, evidence or reasoning, benefits, trade-offs, and how the action could be implemented. They must refer to at least three voices and apply the agreed criteria. Groups prepare a one-minute recommendation. Early finishers rank two or more possible solutions against the criteria and prepare to defend the ranking.

6. 62–70 min · Present, assess and exit. Teacher invites three or four groups to present, while the class listens for stakeholder inclusion and trade-offs. Use the presentation checklist and final reflection questions. Students complete the worksheet reflection or write: “Our action is… The main benefit is… The trade-off is… The three stakeholder voices we considered were…”. Collect responses to inform the next lesson.

Resources

• the Auckland sustainability discussion deck
• the stakeholder role-play and solution planner
• Projector or interactive display
• Board and markers
• Timer
• Six stakeholder group labels
• Pens or highlighters
• Prior lesson’s Auckland challenge map or student notes

Assessment

• Listen during preparation and role-play for accurate use of stakeholder perspectives, active listening and respectful questioning.
• Check solution planners for a realistic action, at least three stakeholder voices, clear benefits and trade-offs, and reasons linked to sustainability criteria.
• Use the final reflection to identify students who can explain a trade-off and those needing further support with evidence, vocabulary or perspective-taking.

Differentiation

• Provide role cards and the worksheet’s short role descriptions, with key ideas visually separated into “priorities”, “concerns” and “possible contribution”. Read instructions aloud and check understanding before group work.
• Support English language learners through rehearsal time, partner practice, gestures, labelled visuals and sentence stems: “Our priority is…”, “This matters because…”, “One trade-off could be…”, and “We respectfully disagree because…”.
• For ELLPs speaking and listening development, allow students to rehearse before presenting, assign roles such as speaker, questioner and recorder, and explicitly model turn-taking, clarification and paraphrasing. Encourage students to use home languages for planning where helpful, before expressing key ideas in English.
• Offer an alternative written response or recorded explanation for students who are anxious about public speaking or need additional processing time. Provide a partially completed planner, word bank and a scribe or speech-to-text option where appropriate.
• Extend advanced learners by requiring them to rank solutions against the agreed criteria, explain how weighting the criteria changes the ranking, and defend their decision using evidence and acknowledgement of uncertainty.

Extension

• Groups create a short “council recommendation” naming one immediate action and one long-term action.
• Students identify whose voice may still be missing and explain how the planning process could include them fairly.