Environmental Education and Science in the New Zealand Curriculum

Making Sense of the Living World | Making Sense of the Material World | Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond | Making Sense of the Nature of Science and its Relationship to Technology

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Making Sense of the Living World

The aims of this strand are for students to:

• Gain an understanding of order and pattern in the diversity of living organisms, including the special characteristics of New Zealand plants and animals;
• Investigate and understand relationships between structure and function in living organisms;
• Investigate and understand how organisms grow, reproduce, and change over generations;
• Investigate local ecosystems and understand the interdependence of living organisms, including humans, and their relationship with their physical environment.

All the achievement objectives in this strand assist students to develop awareness of, sensitivity to, and knowledge and understanding of the natural environment.

Making Sense of the Material World

Level 3

• Research the use and purpose of technology in the disposal or recycling of some common materials
  e.g., waste oil, paper, plastics, glass.

Level 4

• Investigate the positive and negative effects of substances on people and on the environment
  e.g., petroleum products, fertilisers, acid rain.

Level 5

• Research and describe how selected materials are manufactured and used in everyday goods and technology
  e.g., plastics from fossil fuels.

Level 6

• Investigate and describe the applications and effects of chemical processes in everyday situations
  e.g., petrochemicals.

Level 7

• Investigate chemical effects of human activity on the environment
  e.g., lead pollution, water pollution, agricultural fertilisers.

Level 8

• Research the functions and use of selected groups of chemicals and describe some effects of these on people and the environment
  e.g., radioisotopes, CFCs, heavy metals.

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Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond

Level 1

• Share their ideas about some easily observable features and patterns that occur in their physical environment and how some of these features may be protected
  e.g., hills, beaches, rivers, and cliffs.
• Suggest ways that their immediate physical environment was different in the past
  e.g., land use, road cuttings.

Level 2

• Investigate easily observable physical features and patterns and consider how the features are affected by people
  e.g., local landscapes, soils.

Level 3

• Investigate the major features, including the water cycle, that characterise Earth's water reserves
  e.g., oceans, rivers, glaciers, icecaps.
• Gather and present information about the origins and history of major natural features of the local landscape
  e.g., volcanic cones, coastal cliffs, erosion scars.
• Justify their personal involvement in a school- or class-initiated local environmental project
  e.g., tree planting, recycling.

Level 4

• Investigate major factors and patterns associated with weather, and use given data to predict weather
  e.g., traditional Māori weather forecasting.
• Investigate a local environmental issue and explain the reasons for the community's involvement
  e.g., replanting a cleared hillside, reintroduction of indigenous birds.

Level 5

• Investigate and describe processes which change the Earth's surface over time at local and global levels
  e.g., erosion, earthquakes.
• Research a national environmental issue and explain the need for responsible and co-operative guardianship of New Zealand's environment
  e.g., water reserves, soil erosion.

Level 6

• Report on an important natural resource in New Zealand, including its method of formation, location, and extraction, as appropriate, and any issues associated with its use
  e.g., water, coal, natural gas.

Level 7

• Survey and evaluate the literature relating to an Earth sciences issue
  e.g., opencast mining, oil spillage, disposal of nuclear waste.

Level 8

• Carry out an extended investigation, involving a range of techniques, originating from their own interests into some aspect of, or issue related to, Planet Earth and Beyond
  e.g. sewage disposal, marine reserves.

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Making Sense of the Nature of Science and its Relationship to Technology

Level 3

• Investigate the impact of some well-known technological innovation or scientific discovery on people and/or the local environment
  e.g., the aerosol can, portable audio systems.

Level 5

• Explain how different cultures have developed understanding of the living, physical, material, and technological components of the environment
  e.g., Māori medicinal plants.

Level 6

• Investigate how knowledge of science and technology is used by society when making decisions about environmental issues
  e.g., fish farming, sewage treatment, food irradiation, recyclable packaging, organic farming.

Level 7

• Research the personal and ethical issues which arise from the impact of science and technology on people and their environment
  e.g., the use of Māori land for purposes that are at odds with Māori belief systems.

Level 8

• Use their scientific knowledge to evaluate the impact of science and technology on people and their environment
  e.g., the environmental impact of nuclear power, depletion of the ozone layer.

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