Year 9 Science: Aotearoa's Living Landscapes

Ecosystems — Practices: Constructing models of species interactions using food webs, nutrient cycles, or habitat maps to explain the interconnected nature of ecosystems
Ecosystems — Knowledge: Ecosystems can usually regenerate naturally, and humans can support this through conservation and restoration.
Ecosystems — Knowledge: Indigenous knowledge systems, such as mātauranga Māori, are often founded on long-term observations of environmental patterns. For example, ngā tohu o te taiao can be used to monitor seasonal changes and ecosystem health.
Scholar note (not a curriculum statement): Marama Muru-Lanning (Contemporary) explores mātauranga Māori as environmental knowledge, linking Indigenous perspectives to ecological science.
Ecosystems — Practices: Interpreting data (e.g. graphs, maps) to evaluate how human activity (e.g. agriculture, resource extraction) influences ecosystem stability and biodiversity

🧭 Pedagogical Approaches | Ngā Ritenga Whakaako

Māuri and Kaitiakitanga

Centring the Māori concept of mauri (life force) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship) as primary framing mechanisms for understanding ecosystems. This bicultural science framework is supported by Graham Hingangaroa Smith's Kaupapa Māori principles and Sir Mason Durie's Te Whare Tapa Whā model, which assert indigenous knowledge systems as authoritative in their own right.

Empirical Field Inquiry

Engaging students in active field investigation using transects and quadrats. The connection of theory to physical inquiry is the hallmark of Paulo Freire's praxis and John Dewey's experiential learning—where students learn by doing and reflecting on active observations.

Place-Based Environmental Science

Grounding ecological learning in the local taiao (environment) of the schoolyard and community. In alignment with Wally Penetito's place-based education, learning is rooted in the physical and cultural geography students inhabit daily.

📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot

🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga

Science — Ecosystems and Earth Systems. Every statement below is quoted verbatim from the live Te Mātaiaho curriculum and anchors specific lessons. The first two are Phase 4 (Years 9–10); the kaitiakitanga statement is Phase 3 (Years 7–8) — the foundation this unit builds on, not a Year 9 expectation.

"Constructing models of species interactions using food webs, nutrient cycles, or habitat maps to explain the interconnected nature of ecosystems"

"Indigenous knowledge systems, such as mātauranga Māori, are often founded on long-term observations of environmental patterns. For example, ngā tohu o te taiao can be used to monitor seasonal changes and ecosystem health."

"Evaluating ways humans can positively impact ecosystems and communicating actions that support kaitiakitanga (e.g. planting trees, composting, recycling, growing food, planting native species)"

Phase 3 (Years 7–8) statement.

How the statements map to the arc:

Species models and interactions (Lesson 1-2): Understanding biotic and abiotic factors and native ecological niches.
Mātauranga Māori and ngā tohu o te taiao (Lesson 3): Using maramataka observations alongside scientific tools for environmental monitoring.
Human impact and kaitiakitanga (Lesson 4-6): Measuring degradation and designing active restoration plans for the local school or community.

📑 Full verified curriculum alignment for this unit → — Phase 4 · Years 9–10.

🎯 Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions

Throughout this 6-lesson unit, students engage in scientific inquiry and kaitiakitanga practices by auditing their local environment and proposing restoration pathways:

Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem? — Identify biotic and abiotic factors in the schoolyard and describe the Māori concept of mauri as a life force connecting all ecosystem elements.
Lesson 2: Biodiversity & Endemism in Aotearoa — Describe the ecological niches of endemic and native species and map threats faced by indigenous ecosystems.
Lesson 3: Field Study - Rangahau Taiao — Gather species abundance data using quadrats and transects, and explain how maramataka and ngā tohu o te taiao serve as long-term environmental observation tools.
Lesson 4: Human Impact & Conservation — Analyse the effects of human activities and pest species on ecosystem stability, referencing New Zealand conservation projects like Predator Free 2050.
Lesson 5: Restoration & Kaitiakitanga — Examine ecological restoration methods and evaluate the role of kaitiaki in healing degraded environments.
Lesson 6: Guardians of the Future — Collaborate to design and present a practical restoration proposal for a local site, justifying choices based on field study evidence.

✅ Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria

Students demonstrate progress and mastery through the following lesson-specific indicators:

Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?
✓ I can distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors and explain how they interact to support ecosystem health.
Lesson 2: Biodiversity & Endemism in Aotearoa
✓ I can explain why endemic species are highly vulnerable to introduced pests and list three native New Zealand birds and their niches.
Lesson 3: Field Study - Rangahau Taiao
✓ I can collect reliable quadrat sample data and record two environmental indicators using ngā tohu o te taiao.
Lesson 4: Human Impact & Conservation
✓ I can describe the impact of habitat loss and mammalian predators on native forest food webs.
Lesson 5: Restoration & Kaitiakitanga
✓ I can identify two distinct restoration methods and explain how kaitiakitanga guides local conservation practices.
Lesson 6: Guardians of the Future
✓ I can pitch a restoration plan with specific native plant selections and pest control recommendations.

🤝 Differentiation & Inclusion

Scaffold support: For entry-level learners, provide visual identification cards for native species, pre-measured quadrat templates, and structured data tables. Offer guided design prompts for the final restoration pitch.

ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key scientific terms (biotic, abiotic, endemic, biodiversity) and bicultural concepts (mauri, kaitiakitanga). Use visual diagrams of carbon/water cycles and food webs.

Accelerated learners: Challenge students to research complex ecological interactions (e.g., soil microbiome health) or design multi-variable pest trapping grids with statistical justification.

Inclusion: Support multiple presentation methods for the restoration pitch (visual posters, verbal presentation, or digital mapping/modelling).

🚀 Whakawhānui — Extension Pathways

Three pathways of genuine depth — each extends real unit substance rather than adding busy work, and each ends in a tangible deliverable.

Entry-level — Microhabitat Comparison. Extend the Lesson 1 and 2 schoolyard ecosystem audits by mapping species distribution across three distinct microhabitats (e.g., gravel path, native garden, open grass lawn) and reporting abiotic variations (light, moisture) that influence their distribution.
Developing — Knowledge Integration. Connect the field survey findings from Lesson 3 with local history. Compare the species count and abundance with local kaumātua narratives, historical records, or maramataka tohu for the current season, and write a two-page report explaining where the two records align and what they suggest about long-term ecological shifts.
Mastery — Restoration Advocacy. Take the local ecological restoration plan designed in Lesson 6 and present it directly to an authentic audience (e.g., school board, community care group, or local council biodiversity team), outlining target native species, pest control traps, and a volunteer planting timeline.

🔗 Te Ara Whanaketanga — Unit Progression & Next Steps

This unit moves students from observer to analyst to kaitiaki. It begins by grounding students in their immediate environment, conducting a hands-on schoolyard audit to identify biotic and abiotic factors and introduce the concept of mauri (Lesson 1). Students then zoom out to explore the evolutionary history of Aotearoa, analysing endemism, biodiversity, and the ecological niches of native species (Lesson 2). Lesson 3 provides empirical field experience, training students in transect/quadrat sampling while introducing maramataka and ngā tohu o te taiao as authoritative monitoring systems.

The second half of the unit shifts to human interactions and action: exploring threats like pests, deforestation, and climate change (Lesson 4), examining ecological restoration projects and the role of kaitiaki (Lesson 5), and culminating in the design of a practical school or community restoration plan (Lesson 6).

Where it leads: This unit builds foundational ecological knowledge and scientific practices (data collection, analysis, and environmental critique). It directly prepares students for senior science (NCEA Level 1 ecological investigations) and fosters a lifelong sense of responsibility as active kaitiaki of their local taiao.

Pedagogical Foundations | Ngā Tūāpou Akoranga

Ecosystems are living networks of relationship, not static assemblies of species. Three researchers explain why understanding living landscapes requires both scientific method and mātauranga Māori inquiry.

Kaupapa Māori

Graham Smith

Mātauranga Māori ecology — the knowledge of relationships between species, seasons, and wāhi accumulated through generations of careful kaitiakitanga practice — constitutes a systematic empirical record of ecosystem dynamics. Smith’s framework validates this alongside Western ecology: two traditions of sustained observation producing complementary accounts of the same living landscapes.

Place-Based Education

Wally Penetito

Penetito’s place-based framework insists that ecological learning must happen in a specific ecosystem — this stream, this bush block, this estuary — not “ecosystems” in the abstract. Students who have collected species data in a real local landscape and tracked its change over time understand ecosystem dynamics in a way that textbook students cannot replicate in examinations or in practice.

Progressive Education

John Dewey

Dewey’s argument that science education should be education through science — not learning about science — explains why fieldwork is the core of this unit, not the extension. A student who has formulated a real hypothesis about a real local ecosystem, collected real data, and reached a real conclusion has done science. A student who read about ecosystems has prepared for the appearance of doing science.

→ Explore all theorists at Te Whare Ako — Teaching Theory