Tarawera Change

Overview

Today we investigate the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption as a natural event of historical significance in New Zealand. We will focus on what life was like before the eruption, why Māori settled near a volcano, how tourism was attracted to the Pink and White Terraces, and how lives and the land changed afterwards.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain how the Pink and White Terraces were an early tourist attraction and were destroyed in the 1886 eruption.
• WALT compare and contrast daily life before and after the Tarawera eruption for different groups (including Māori).
• WALT describe why Māori would settle around a volcano, including how place supports social, economic, and cultural life.
• WALT identify consequences of the eruption for people, livelihoods, and land (trade, settlement, tourism, and landscape).

Success criteria

• I can describe key features of life around the Terraces before the eruption.
• I can explain at least 3 ways life and livelihoods changed after the eruption.
• I can compare and contrast before and after using examples in a two-column organiser.
• I can sequence events in a simple timeline (before → eruption → after).

Curriculum links

• History: Natural events of historical significance in New Zealand (focus on Tarawera and its effects on people and landscape).
• Historical understanding: students explore how events affected communities, including consequences for settlement and livelihood.
• Historical literacy: students use simple evidence (texts/images) to build explanations and comparisons.
• Key competencies: managing self, thinking, participating and contributing, and using language/symbols to communicate comparisons.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Activate prior knowledge & Hook. Teacher shows 2 images: the Pink and White Terraces (before) and the aftermath landscape (after). Students do a quick think: “What might daily life be like here?” then share with a partner and one whole-class idea is recorded.

2. 8–18 min · Teacher model (We do): Why settle near a volcano? Teacher introduces that Māori lived in places where land offered resources, pathways, and cultural connections, including areas near volcanoes, and explains the idea of settling because volcano areas can be part of food, travel, and knowledge. Teacher models “cause → consequence” using a sentence frame: “Māori settled near the volcano because… This supported… After the eruption, it affected…”

Students complete a guided “Reason & Result” mini-chart with two prompts:

• “Before: settled because…”
• “After: changed because…”

3. 18–28 min · Direct teach (We do): Tourism and attracting visitors. Teacher reads a short, teacher-made source card about how the Terraces became an early tourist site for Victorian travellers. Teacher models how to extract facts and translate them into “before” details (e.g., visitors travelled, people earned income, stories and guided experiences were shared). Students highlight 2 “before” facts and write one “because” explanation: “Tourists came because… therefore…”

4. 28–40 min · Collaborative compare/contrast (You do, in pairs). Students use a two-column organiser titled “Before Tarawera” and “After Tarawera.” Requirements: add at least 4 points total, with at least 2 Māori-related examples, and at least 1 land/landscape point. Teacher circulates with a checklist: accuracy, use of evidence from the class cards, and clear “before vs after” language.

5. 40–49 min · Timeline sequencing (You do). Teacher provides 6 shuffled cards (Before life around Terraces, tourists arrive, eruption begins, loss of life/landscape, villages affected, aftermath and longer-term change). Students arrange into an order and write one sentence using sequencing words: “First…, then…, after that…, finally…”

6. 49–56 min · Share & feedback (Assessment of learning). Selected pairs share one comparison point and one timeline sentence. Teacher gives specific feedback linked to success criteria (e.g., “You used evidence” / “You compared clearly” / “Add one more change for livelihoods or land.”). Class agrees on “strong examples.”

7. 56–60 min · Exit ticket (Assessment for learning). Students complete: “One way life changed after Tarawera was… Another way it stayed the same/became different was…” (one or two sentences). Teacher collects for next lesson grouping.

Resources

• Teacher-made image set (Terraces before; aftermath after eruption).
• Short source cards (teacher reads) about: early tourism; Māori place connections; impacts on livelihoods and landscape.
• Two-column compare/contrast organiser (print or digital).
• Cause–consequence sentence frames.
• Timeline card set (printed).
• Coloured highlighters or markers.
• Timer visible to students.
• Dyslexia-friendly options: audio version of source cards, larger-font handouts, and sentence starters.

Assessment

• Formative: teacher observation checklist during pair compare/contrast (use of evidence; clear “before/after” contrast).
• Formative: timeline accuracy and correct sequencing language.
• Summative (light): exit ticket responses showing at least one clear before/after change and one comparison idea.

Differentiation

• Support:
• Provide sentence starters for compare/contrast (e.g., “Before…, after…” “This changed because…”).
• Offer a reduced source set (fewer facts, chunked cards).
• Provide audio read-aloud for students who need it and allow them to highlight with a peer.
• For students needing extra structure:
• Pre-fill one column with “before” prompts so they can focus on “after.”
• Use a smaller target (e.g., 3 points instead of 4) with the same success criteria focus.
• For advanced learners:
• Add a “Consequence” bubble for each compare point: “People (who) → what happened → why it matters.”
• Challenge: explain one change from the viewpoint of a tourist and one from the viewpoint of a local guide.
• EAL/SEN considerations:
• Use visual word bank (before, after, changed, settled, tourists, livelihoods, land).
• Allow oral responses that are later transcribed by teacher or student scribe for the organiser if needed.

Extension (optional)

• Students create a 4-box “Then and Now” comic strip showing: Before Terraces, Tourists attracted, Eruption impacts, After—land/livelihood changes.