Subject adaptation · Years 7–8 · Health and Physical Education · Field-Based STEM · Tony Jones
In Health and PE, students often know what they are supposed to think before they have thought it. The familiar language of wellbeing and performance can produce a position that was never personally arrived at. Position First makes that visible before any investigation opens.
1Write your position first
2Investigate with intent
3Compare what changed
4Show your reasoning
Strategy — Position First Protocol
Before any investigation opens, give students five minutes to write what they already believe about the inquiry focus. A specific, claimable position is the target — not a topic heading.
Collect or timestamp the initial position. Students do not share it with peers before the research phase begins.
Students investigate using class-approved resources or any permitted tools. Their initial position is visible to them during this phase but is not revised.
Before submission, students write the Position Comparison: what shifted, what held, and what specific piece of evidence made the difference.
Assess the initial position and Position Comparison alongside the final work as a package. The comparison is where the evaluative reasoning lives.
Year-Band Practice
Years 7–8 · Health inquiriesThe initial position should name a specific claim, not a topic. "Sleep affects performance" is a topic. "Less sleep leads to worse decision-making in team situations" is a position. Redirect students who write headings rather than claims before the research phase opens.
Years 7–8 · Physical EducationIn fitness or physical development contexts, the initial position may be a prediction about an activity's effect. The Position Comparison becomes a comparison between that prediction and a measured or researched outcome.
Years 7–8 · NCEA preparationIntroduce the Position Comparison explicitly as preparation for internal assessments where students must show how evidence informed their position. The habit built here travels into Years 9 and 10.
Implementation Notes
Decision checkpointThe initial position must be a genuine claim, not a question or a topic heading. If students write "I want to find out about…" rather than "I think that…", redirect them before the research phase opens.
Teacher judgement noteFor students with limited prior knowledge, the initial position reveals exactly that — which is useful teaching information. Frame the exercise as a commitment to try, not a test of what is already known.
Related frameworksPosition First Protocol (core) · The 90-Second Decision Vignette · Evidence Overlay
