🔬🎨 Lesson 6: Designing for Well-being

⏱️ 75 minutes 📚 Year 8 🇳🇿 NZ Curriculum: Health, Technology, The Arts

Kaitiaki Pūtaiao: Data analysis complete. You've identified the problems and understood the underlying systems. Now, we move from analysis to synthesis. The challenge is to design a solution.

Kaitiaki Toi: And that's where we shine! A design challenge is a story waiting to be told. How can we redesign these digital spaces to be more beautiful, more human, and healthier for our Taha Tinana? Let's become ethical architects!

Knowledge (Māramatanga)

Define 'ethical design' as designing with the user's well-being as a priority.
Identify specific design elements that can be changed to improve well-being.
Understand that design involves making trade-offs (e.g., engagement vs. health).

Skills (Pūkenga)

Brainstorm creative solutions to a design problem.
Create a simple prototype or wireframe of a redesigned interface.
Justify design choices based on principles of hauora and ergonomics.

Values (Wairuatanga)

Develop empathy for users of technology.
Appreciate the power and responsibility of being a creator of technology.
Value solutions that prioritise human well-being over profit or engagement.

➡️ Whakatūwhera | The Design Brief (10 minutes)

Main Activity: The Problem Statement

Recap (5 mins): The teacher asks for a quick summary of the key problems identified in the last two lessons (e.g., "Apps are designed to hook us," "Using devices can cause physical strain").
The Brief (5 mins): The teacher presents the challenge: "Your task is to redesign a popular app's interface to make it better for a user's Taha Tinana. You are not just a user anymore; you are an ethical designer."

💡 Main Learning | The Ethical Design Sprint (40 minutes)

Main Activity: Redesigning an App

Choose an App (5 mins): In small groups, students choose a popular app to focus on (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, Instagram).
Ideation (10 mins): Using the "Ethical Design Challenge" handout, groups brainstorm answers to the question: "How could we change this app to reduce physical strain and break the dopamine loop?" (e.g., add break reminders, change colours, remove infinite scroll).
Prototyping (20 mins): Groups use the wireframe templates on the handout (or a blank piece of paper) to sketch out their redesigned interface. They must label at least three key changes and explain *why* they made them, linking back to concepts like ergonomics or the dopamine loop.
Prepare to Pitch (5 mins): Groups prepare a quick (1-minute) pitch to explain their redesign.

Teacher Note: Emphasise that the sketches don't need to be perfect. This is about the ideas. The "why" is more important than the artistic quality. This is a blend of scientific reasoning and creative problem-solving.

🤝 Consolidation | The Design Showcase (20 minutes)

Main Activity: Pitching the Prototypes

Pitches (15 mins): Each group presents their redesigned app prototype. They have 1 minute to explain the key changes and the reasoning behind them.
Class Vote (5 mins): After all pitches, the class votes for the "Most Ethical Design"—the one that would best support their Taha Tinana.

Formative Assessment: The prototype and pitch are the key assessment artifacts. Do the design changes logically address the problems identified in previous lessons? Can students clearly articulate the "why" behind their creative choices?

🏁 Whakakapi | We are all Architects (5 minutes)

Main Activity: Final Reflection

The teacher concludes: "Today, you were all architects of a healthier digital world. You proved that technology doesn't have to be the way it is. It can be changed. It can be designed with care. You have successfully strengthened the first wall of your whare, Taha Tinana. Next week, we begin work on the second wall: Taha Hinengaro, our mental and emotional well-being."