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Year 9
Aotearoa's Living Landscapes
Ngā Taonga o Te Taiao - The Treasures of Our Environment
📚 Lessons / Ngā Akoranga
1
NZ Ecosystems & Whakapapa
Understanding ecosystem components and native species interactions through Māori perspectives.
🕸️ Food Web Lab
💻 EcoChains Game
2
Biodiversity & Endemism
Why Aotearoa has unique species and what threatens them.
🦎 Tuatara Case Study
🎮 Biodiversity Tagger
3
Field Study - Rangahau Taiao
Conducting real biodiversity surveys and analyzing ecosystem health.
🔬 Quadrat Surveys
📱 iNaturalist NZ
4
Human Impact & Conservation
Analyzing threats to NZ ecosystems and conservation strategies.
🐨 Possum Impact Lab
⚖️ 1080 Debate
5
Restoration & Kaitiakitanga
Ecological restoration through Māori guardianship principles.
🌱 Planting Project
🎮 EcoRestore Game
6
Guardians of the Future
Synthesizing learning into conservation action campaigns.
🎨 Campaign Creation
🗣️ Science Wānanga
📄 Resources / Ngā Rauemi
📝 Handouts
📊 Assessment Rubrics
🎮 Interactive Activities
🌿 Key Māori Concepts
Whakapapa
Genealogy & Connections
Kaitiakitanga
Guardianship
Mauri
Life Force
Tapu
Sacredness
Rāhui
Temporary Ban for Recovery
Curriculum alignment
- 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 …
- Ecosystems — Knowledge: 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