📚 Unit Plans → 📜 Unit 9: Environmental Mātauranga → 📖 Week 4: Climate Data Analysis
Years 9–10 Pūtaiao / Science

📊 Week 4: Climate Data Analysis — Reading Nature's Warning Signs

"How Do We Fix What

Unit 9 · Week 4

📊 Week 4: Climate Data Analysis — Reading Nature's Warning Signs

Students analyse real NIWA climate data to understand how climate change affects local environments. They connect scientific measurements with traditional climate indicators to develop a comprehensive understanding of environmental change.

Focus Question

How does climate data help us understand environmental problems and plan solutions?

🎯 Learning Intentions

  • Analyse real climate data from NIWA to identify trends and patterns
  • Connect climate changes to local environmental problems observed in previous weeks
  • Compare scientific climate measurements with traditional environmental indicators

✅ Success Criteria

  • I can read and interpret climate graphs and data tables accurately
  • I can calculate climate trends and identify extreme weather events
  • I can connect climate data to environmental problems my team wants to solve

🗣️ Kupu / Vocabulary

  • climate, trend, anomaly, data set
  • indicator, forecast, maramataka, taiao

📚 Curriculum Links

  • Science: Climate systems, data interpretation, evidence-based conclusions
  • Mathematics: Statistical analysis, graph interpretation, percentage calculations
  • Social Studies: Human-environment interactions, cause and effect relationships

Ngā Mahi - Week 4 Activities

1. Hook: Climate Change in the News (15 mins)

Activity: Show recent New Zealand climate headlines (drought, flooding, extreme heat) and ask students to connect these to problems they've observed at school.

Big Picture Connection: The environmental problems we're investigating at school are connected to global climate change. Understanding the data helps us plan better solutions.

2. NIWA Climate Data Analysis (35 mins)

Activity: Work through the NIWA Climate Data Analysis handout with real 2024 data.

  • Calculate average temperature increases across New Zealand cities
  • Analyse rainfall extremes (droughts and floods in same year)
  • Create graphs showing temperature changes over time
  • Count extreme weather events and map their locations
  • Convert temperature changes to percentages for comparison
Mathematics Integration: This activity develops data literacy skills — reading tables, calculating averages, creating graphs, and interpreting statistical patterns.

3. Local Climate Impact Assessment (20 mins)

Activity: Use the Local Climate Impacts Worksheet to connect NIWA data to local environmental problems.

  • Identify which climate changes affect your region specifically
  • Connect climate trends to water quality problems from Week 2
  • Link weather extremes to biodiversity changes from Week 3
  • Predict how climate change might worsen environmental problems identified in Week 1

4. Traditional Climate Knowledge Integration (15 mins)

Activity: Use the Traditional Climate Indicators to compare scientific data with mātauranga Māori.

  • Research traditional Māori signs of climate and seasonal change
  • Interview kaumātua (if available) about observed environmental changes
  • Compare traditional observations with NIWA scientific measurements
  • Identify where traditional knowledge and science agree or complement each other
Mātauranga Māori: Traditional knowledge often provides long-term observations that complement scientific data, offering insights into natural patterns and changes over generations.

5. Environmental Action Planning (25 mins)

Activity: Connect climate data analysis to environmental action planning for the chosen problem from Week 1.

  • Identify how climate change makes your chosen environmental problem worse
  • Research what climate projections predict for your region
  • Brainstorm solutions that address both immediate problems and climate adaptation
  • Consider traditional knowledge in solution design
  • Prioritise actions that will be most effective given climate trends
Strategic Thinking: Understanding climate trends helps us design solutions that will work both now and in the future as conditions continue to change.

💡 Differentiation Strategies

  • Support: Provide pre-calculated data, focus on graph reading rather than calculations, use colour-coded data tables
  • Extension: Research global climate data comparisons, investigate climate modelling and predictions, explore carbon footprint calculations
  • Cultural connection: Research local iwi climate adaptation strategies, investigate traditional seasonal calendars and how they're changing

🔄 Assessment & Next Steps

Formative Assessment:

  • Completed NIWA Climate Data Analysis with accurate calculations
  • Local Climate Impacts Worksheet connecting data to observed environmental problems
  • Integration of traditional climate knowledge with scientific data

Preparation for Week 5:

  • Teams use climate insights to refine their environmental action plans
  • Design and test potential solutions that address climate change impacts
  • Prepare to implement and monitor environmental improvement projects

Curriculum alignment

  • Te Mātaiaho (2025) · Science · Phase 4 (Years 9–10) · Ecosystems (Practices): “Interpreting data (e.g. graphs, maps) to evaluate how human activity (e.g. agriculture, resource extraction) influences ecosystem stability and biodiversity”
  • NZC (2007) · Science · Level 5: “Show an increasing awareness of the complexity of working scientifically, including recognition of multiple variables.”
  • 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 …
  • Ecosystems — Practices: Representing ecological data using tables and graphs to interpret patterns and draw conclusions about ecosystem dynamics
  • Ecosystems — Practices: Observing local ngā tohu o te taiao, such as flowering of certain plants or bird migrations, and explaining why these indicators can be used to understand and predict other en…
  • Earth and Space — Practices: Using scientific data (e.g. light years, astronomical units) to interpret and compare the size of, and distances between, celestial bodies, as well as the time scales of event…
  • Earth Systems — Practices: Researching how changes in natural processes and human activities affect the movement and storage of carbon across Earth’s spheres