🌿 Your Garden is a Science Lab!
A garden is full of science! When you grow plants, you're learning about biology, chemistry, and ecology. Let's explore the amazing science that makes gardens grow.
🧺 Te Kete Ako
Garden Plot Science — Growing and Learning
Garden Plot Science — Growing and Learning · Years 7–10
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate a significant question using evidence from multiple sources
- Analyse and evaluate information to form and support a reasoned position
- Connect learning to real-world contexts, including Aotearoa New Zealand settings
- Communicate understanding clearly and accurately for a specific audience
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I use at least two sources and can evaluate their credibility
- My position is clearly stated and supported by specific evidence
- I can connect my learning to at least one real-world Aotearoa context
- My communication is clear, organised, and appropriate for the audience
What Do Plants Need to Grow?
☀️ Sunlight
Plants use light energy to make food through photosynthesis.
- Most veges need 6+ hours of sun
- Some plants prefer shade
💧 Water
Water travels up through roots and brings nutrients to leaves.
- Too little = wilting
- Too much = root rot
🌍 Soil
Soil provides nutrients and anchors roots.
- Healthy soil has worms, microbes
- Different plants like different soils
💨 Air (CO₂)
Plants breathe in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
- They breathe out oxygen — for us!
- Good air circulation prevents disease
🔬 The Magic of Photosynthesis
How Plants Make Food
Photosynthesis is how plants turn sunlight into food!
Formula:
Sunlight + Water + Carbon Dioxide → Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen
This happens in the chloroplasts in leaves. Chlorophyll (the green pigment) captures the light.
Label the Photosynthesis Diagram
Draw a plant and label: sunlight, CO₂ entering leaves, water coming up roots, oxygen leaving, sugar stored
🪱 Soil Science
What's in Healthy Soil?
- Minerals — broken down rock (sand, silt, clay)
- Organic matter — decomposed plants and animals
- Living organisms — worms, bacteria, fungi
- Air pockets — roots need to breathe
- Water — held around soil particles
🧪 Experiment: Soil Jar Test
- Put 2 cups of garden soil in a clear jar
- Add water until nearly full
- Shake well, then let it sit for 24 hours
- Watch layers form: sand (bottom), silt (middle), clay (top), organic matter (floating)
What type of soil do you have?
🐝 The Garden Ecosystem
Everything is Connected
A garden is an ecosystem — all the living things depend on each other:
- 🐝 Bees pollinate flowers → fruit grows
- 🪱 Worms break down dead leaves → nutrients for soil
- 🐞 Ladybugs eat aphids → protect plants
- 🦅 Birds eat caterpillars → pest control
- 🍄 Fungi share nutrients between plants underground
🌿 Traditional Māori Gardening
Māra Kai — Food Gardens
Māori were expert gardeners who brought kūmara from Polynesia and developed techniques for NZ's colder climate:
- Raised beds — to warm soil faster
- Gravel mulch — dark stones absorb heat
- Companion planting — growing plants together that help each other
- Maramataka — planting by the moon phases
✏️ Garden Observation Journal
Track your plant's growth over time:
| Date | Height (cm) | Leaves | Observations |
|---|---|---|---|
What science did you discover in the garden?
👩🏫 Teacher Notes
Curriculum Links
- Science: Living World — life processes, ecology
- Mathematics: Measurement, data collection
- Te Ao Māori: Kaitiakitanga, traditional growing methods
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Curriculum alignment for this handout has not yet been verified against the live curriculum statements. A generated placeholder that stood here was removed on 2026-08-29 because it matched no real statement.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
This handout is designed to be used alongside other resources in the same unit. This handout stands on its own; it is not part of a linked unit planner. All content is provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.