🌿 Week 3: Biodiversity Count — Measuring Life Diversity
Students conduct systematic biodiversity surveys to measure ecosystem health. They learn to identify native and introduced species while understanding how biodiversity indicates environmental problems and solutions.
Focus Question
How does counting species tell us about environmental health and what needs fixing?
🎥 Media Anchor (8 mins)
Video: Māori Systems: Kaitiakitanga
- What biodiversity pattern reflects the health of the wider environmental system?
- How can cultural knowledge improve your species-count decisions?
Ngā Mahi - Week 3 Activities
1. Hook: Biodiversity Spotting Challenge (15 mins)
Activity: Give students 10 minutes to list as many different living things as they can see from the classroom window or in the school grounds.
2. Scientific Sampling Methods (25 mins)
Activity: Learn and practice the Quadrat Sampling Method for systematic biodiversity counts.
- Use 1m × 1m quadrats (wire frames or string squares)
- Select sampling sites using random number coordinates
- Count and identify all species within each quadrat
- Record data systematically on survey sheets
- Practice identifying plants at ground level, shrub level, and canopy level
3. Species Identification & Classification (30 mins)
Activity: Use the Native vs Introduced Species Guide to identify and classify species found in surveys.
- Photograph or sketch unknown species for later identification
- Learn key identification features (leaf shape, bark patterns, flower types)
- Distinguish native species (endemic and indigenous) from introduced species
- Research which introduced species are considered pests vs. beneficial
- Document Māori names and traditional uses for native species
4. Biodiversity Survey Field Work (25 mins)
Activity: Conduct comprehensive biodiversity surveys using the Biodiversity Survey Sheets.
- Survey different habitat types (grass areas, gardens, around buildings, near water)
- Count species numbers, abundance, and percentage cover
- Note evidence of animal life (birds, insects, traces)
- Record environmental conditions (shade, moisture, human disturbance)
- Compare biodiversity between different areas of the school
5. Data Analysis & Interpretation (15 mins)
Activity: Calculate biodiversity indices and interpret results to assess ecosystem health.
- Calculate species richness (total number of species found)
- Calculate Shannon diversity index (accounts for both richness and evenness)
- Determine percentage of native vs. introduced species
- Create graphs comparing biodiversity across different survey sites
- Identify areas with highest and lowest biodiversity
💡 Differentiation Strategies
- Support: Pre-identify common species, provide laminated species cards, work in mixed-ability groups
- Extension: Research threatened species in the region, investigate impacts of climate change on biodiversity, design habitat restoration plans
- Cultural connection: Research traditional Māori uses for native species, investigate local iwi conservation projects
🔄 Assessment & Next Steps
Formative Assessment:
- Completed Biodiversity Survey Sheets with accurate species counts
- Correct identification of native vs. introduced species
- Calculated biodiversity indices with proper mathematical working
Preparation for Week 4:
- Teams combine biodiversity data with water quality results from Week 2
- Begin connecting local environmental patterns to broader climate data
- Prepare to analyze NIWA climate data and its environmental impacts
Curriculum alignment
- Motion and Forces — Knowledge: The amount of pressure depends on both the total applied force and the total area it is applied to.
- Motion and Forces — Knowledge: Note: In Year 8, the focus is on solid pressure. Fluid and gas pressure are introduced later and do not need to be covered here.
- Number — Knowledge: - Finding equivalent fractions and representing fractions in their simplest form - Adding and subtracting fractions, including improper fractions and mixed numbers, and repres…
- Measurement — Knowledge: - Finding equivalent fractions and representing fractions in their simplest form - Adding and subtracting fractions, including improper fractions and mixed numbers, and repres…
- Statistics — Knowledge: - Finding equivalent fractions and representing fractions in their simplest form - Adding and subtracting fractions, including improper fractions and mixed numbers, and repres…
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to explore how mātauranga Māori and Western science offer complementary frameworks for understanding and responding to environmental challenges — learning to read landscapes, ecosystems, and ecological change through both indigenous and scientific lenses.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how mātauranga Māori environmental knowledge provides insights that Western science alone may miss.
- ✅ Students can apply both indigenous and scientific frameworks to analyse a local environmental issue in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide dual-lens analysis frameworks (mātauranga Māori lens | Western science lens) for entry-level comparison tasks. Offer extension challenges asking students to investigate a real environmental monitoring programme in Aotearoa that integrates both knowledge systems — for example, iwi-led water quality monitoring using both traditional indicators and scientific sampling.
ELL / ESOL: Environmental and scientific vocabulary (ecosystem, biodiversity, indicator species, sustainability, kaitiakitanga, taonga species) benefits from visual glossaries with images of local species and environments. Allow students to discuss environmental observations from their home countries as valid comparative contexts. Oral field observation is a powerful entry point that reduces language barriers.
Inclusion: Outdoor and field-based learning naturally supports diverse learners — sensory, kinaesthetic, and place-based engagement complements classroom tasks. Neurodiverse learners often thrive in structured outdoor inquiry. Ensure physical accessibility is considered for field components. Indigenous and Pacific students may bring family knowledge of traditional environmental practices — create space for this knowledge to be honoured, not just acknowledged.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Mātauranga Māori environmental knowledge is not folklore — it is centuries of systematic observation, classification, and adaptive management. Ngā tohu o te rangi (signs of the weather), ngā tohu o te taiao (signs of the natural world), and the detailed ecological knowledge encoded in place names all represent sophisticated environmental science. Kaitiakitanga is not simply "conservation" — it is a dynamic, relational ethic of guardianship that recognises humans as part of, not separate from, ecosystems. Marama Muru-Lanning and other contemporary mātauranga Māori researchers are demonstrating how this knowledge enriches environmental science.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from foundational understanding of ecosystems and environmental science concepts. No specialist mātauranga Māori knowledge required — the unit builds this knowledge through inquiry.
Curriculum alignment
- Ecology — Living World: Understand how biotic and abiotic factors in ecosystems affect the distribution and abundance of organisms; and how changes in one part can affect the balance and wellbeing of the whole system.
- Place and Environment — Social Studies: Understand how people's management of resources reflects their values — and how mātauranga Māori provides a framework for kaitiaki responsibilities to the natural world.