In Fast Forward – the fourth in the Tangata Whenua series – the first half of 20th century New Zealand is explored.
This was a time of rapid change for our country. The new century was no sooner here than we were catapulted into the Boer War, closely followed by World War One, the Great Depression and World War Two.
But it wasn’t all about war. In the Great Depression, we learnt how to ‘make do’ with what we had, stretching scarce money as far as possible and learning to be very creative with small amounts of food.
Our All Blacks were becoming a force to be reckoned with, and we were recognised for our forward-thinking social welfare initiatives. Electricity, telephones, radios and flushing toilets transformed our lives, allowing us to have cleaner, warmer, healthier homes and freeing up women from daily drudgery.
Our foreign policies became more important than ever with the start of the Cold War and we discovered the consequences of industrial action. By the 1950s teenagers made their presence felt with their ‘wild’ behaviour and music.
Curriculum focus
This book focuses on Social Studies Levels 4 and 5 of the New Zealand curriculum, and covers the conceptual strands of the curriculum:
- identity, culture and organisation
- place and environment
- continuity and change.
The vision, principles, values and key competencies of the New Zealand curriculum are all richly embedded in this resource. It covers many of the achievement objectives and employs a social inquiry and conceptual understanding approach to teaching and learning.
