Written by Dr Craig Hansen, New Zealand’s leading AI educator, digital specialist, and founder of the Summit Institute.
More than 1,000 schools across New Zealand trust Craig and the Summit Institute—a New Zealand private training provider—to navigate safe and responsible AI in schools, professional development, and strategic roadmaps. As we enter the next phase of this global shift, we must address the ultimate paradigm: “AI is the biggest equity move we can make in our generation.”
🚀 Supercharge Your Lesson Planning with AI & The New Zealand Refreshed Curriculum!
Are you a New Zealand educator looking to save massive amounts of time on lesson planning while maintaining high-quality, differentiated instruction? In this video, Dr Craig Hansen from Summit Institute walks you through a game-changing framework to create explicit teaching lesson plans in minutes using Gemini and other AI tools!
Discover how to align your science lesson plans directly with the draft Refreshed Science Curriculum (Phase 2, Years 4–6) and seamlessly integrate official Ministry of Education progress descriptors.
Here is the link for them, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MVBngLhyaWSRnmItc2MFOJyGaqqrzYVG/view?usp=sharing
and to Tahurangi’s explicit teaching guidance for Phase 2 https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/structured-approaches-to-maths-teaching-and-planning/5637303576.p?activeTab=tab:4
and the refreshed Science documentation https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/nzc—science-phases-1-4-years-0-10/5637290855.p
💡 What You’ll Learn In This Video:
The TELL-IT Prompting Framework: The ultimate three-stage framework (Tell it who it needs to be, Explain what you want, Like how you want it formatted) that works across Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot.
The Power of RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): Why simply typing a prompt isn’t enough, and how uploading specific curriculum text files guarantees hyper-accurate, context-specific results.
Neurodiverse Differentiation: How to prompt AI to automatically build in adjustments for students with ADHD or dyslexia.
Bicultural Reporting: Crafting growth-mindset, positive progress indicators tailored for both teachers and Whānau.
🎓 Take Your AI Teaching Skills To The Next Level!
Want to get officially certified in using AI for education? Summit Institute is New Zealand’s only NZQA-approved and accredited institution offering specialized micro-credentials for teachers.
Gain confidence, save hours of admin time, and future-proof your teaching career. 👉 Explore our accredited AI Micro-Credentials here: Summit Institute
📝 Copy Craig’s Master Prompt & customise it for your own classroom.:
(Paste this into Gemini, or your favourite AI platform, adjust for your year level, and don’t forget to upload your reference files!)
“You are an expert teacher of science in New Zealand using the New Zealand Refreshed Curriculum. You will be designing a series of three lessons based on the teaching sequence statement that follows: ‘[INSERT YOUR STATEMENT HERE]’. Create a three-lesson plan. Each lesson will be thirty minutes. Ensure there are options for hands-on activities and ensure there are options for neurodiverse students who may have ADHD or dyslexia. The process of the lesson will be an explicit teaching approach. Refer to the uploaded progress descriptors to give guidance in the lesson plan to identify the progress of the students against the emerging, developing, consolidating, proficient and exceeding progress markers. Give these lessons to me using headings, bullet lists, and at the end, a summary table with resources, links, and materials.”
⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction: The Draft Science Curriculum & The Science of Learning
1:14 – The TELIT Framework Explained
2:24 – Setting up the Prompt & “Shentering”
5:11 – Seeing the First AI Output
6:05 – The Magic of RAG: Uploading the Files
7:28 – Analyzing the Revised Lesson Plan & Whānau Descriptions
9:28 – Wrap Up & Summit Institute Micro-Credentials
If you found this video helpful, please hit the Like button, Subscribe to our channel, and join us on this journey to innovate education across Aotearoa and the world! 🌏🇳🇿
#NZEd #NewZealandCurriculum #AIEducation #GeminiAI #LessonPlanning #SummitInstitute #ExplicitTeaching #NeurodiversityInEducation
To avoid systemic irrelevance, the first action for school boards and intermediate, secondary, and tertiary principals is to remove blanket bans. Banning a tool that is now ubiquitous only hides student usage while depriving them of prompt literacy and critical thinking. Craig argues that we must position AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Re-framing these environments allows Kiwi teachers and school leaders to navigate assessment workloads, lesson planning, and bicultural alignment efficiently, without compromising academic rigor.
💬 What New Zealand Educators Are Saying:
“AI has significantly improved my workflow by helping me plan lessons quickly, provide targeted feedback using e-asTTle rubrics, and create culturally responsive content. It saves time, allowing me to focus on active student interaction.”
— Primary School Digital Tech Lead, Auckland
Responsible AI Governance & Implementation
Developing a robust school AI policy that is safe, responsible, and culturally responsive is the cornerstone of strategy. Leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand must align school policy to support digital fluency, ensure data privacy, and protect critical assessment integrity under the NCEA. By integrating localized legislation directly into our curriculum and Te Mātaiaho framework maps, schools can build an environment that fosters innovative, self-directed learning.
For deep, step-by-step guidance, explore our complete list of educational strategies and workshops on our official YouTube Channel Masterclass.
