Sustainable Development Goals — Digital Future Aotearoa

Think global. Act local.

Design a prototype for your community based on the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Digital Future Aotearoa have developed a 5-step, classroom-ready resource. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are drawn upon to address social needs like access to education, clean water, medicine and food, with a focus on climate action and environmental protection. Our goal is to encourage Aotearoa’s youth to use Digital Technology and Design Thinking processes to solve the very real problems faced by their communities with the guidance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital Technologies and Hangarau Matihiko

Cover many curriculum areas with this free educational resource designed by Digital Future Aotearoa, aimed at years 5-18. However we do encourage engagement across all year groups.

For a breakdown of key learning areas in the project and the application to the New Zealand Curriculum please see our Teachers Support document.

Learn about Prototyping & Design Thinking

The project challenges students and exposes them to the concept of prototyping; a common, collaborative design technique used by designers to implement their ideas into tangible forms/ models.

Over 5 weeks or 5 days, students look to the UN SDG’s and prototype a solution to a problem they feel is important to their community.

Learning from home & accessibility

Accessibility is important to us. While we encourage coding and the application of digital technology wherever possible, the project can be printed out and completed offline.

Share and let your students get busy creating and designing with digital technologies! It’s a great resource to engage with students learning from home.

The project guide

The project can be completed in 5 stages; either 5 days or 5 weeks dedicated to a different stage of the design thinking process:

The project guide is split up into booklets for each stage and available in two formats, we recommend printing out the PDF version, one for each group or individual.