Cross-curicular Themes

New Zealand's Indigenous Trees: Tree Planting – Level 3

Suggested learning outcomes for environmental education
Students will develop:

knowledge and understanding of:

• the special features of New Zealand trees;
• the impact of human activities on the environment;
• the functions of plants in the natural environment.

skills, such as:

• critical thinking – comparing and contrasting information to make connections and generalisations;
• research and inquiry – locating information in the community or libraries;
• numeracy – estimating and calculating;
• communication – expressing views and ideas about the environment using different media;
• physical skills – using tools and materials safely and efficiently;
• decision making – organising, planning, and implementing an environmental project;
• co-operation – working co-operatively with others in a project and demonstrating an ability to compromise, negotiate, and collaborate.

attitudes and values, such as:

• a respect for the beliefs and values of others;
• an appreciation and concern for living things;
• an awareness of the need for individual and group action in maintaining a natural resource.

Achievement objectives from selected curriculum statements that could be used as a focus for the environmental education topic New Zealand's Indigenous Trees: Tree Planting

These include:

Science
Making Sense of the Living World
Students can:

• investigate special features of common animals and plants and describe how these help them to stay alive (AO2);
• explain, using information from personal observation and library research, where and how a range of familiar New Zealand plants and animals live (AO4).

Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond
Students can justify their personal involvement in a school or class-initiated local environmental project (AO4).

Technology
Technological Capability
Students will:

• gather and collate information on needs and opportunities in the local environment;
• with reference to identified needs and opportunities,

  –	explore possible solutions and strategies and select appropriate options, justifying their decisions;
  –	prepare a plan of action, identify and collect the required resources, and produce the selected solution to meet agreed or specified criteria;
  –	present designs, plans, and outcomes to selected groups using suitable means of communication;
  –	review decisions and progress, assessing how satisfied they are with their strategies and outcomes.

Social Studies
Place and Environment
Students will understand:

• how different groups view and use places and the environment;
• how and why people express a sense of belonging to particular places and environments.

Resources and Economic Activity
Students will understand how and why people manage resources

Mathematics
Number: Exploring Computation and Estimation
Students should be able to:

• make sensible estimates and check the reasonableness of answers;
• write and solve problems that involve whole numbers and decimals and that require the use of one or more of the four arithmetic operations.

Suggested learning experiences that could enable students to meet the learning outcomes of environmental education in association with achievement objectives from selected curriculum statements

• Research the special features of selected New Zealand trees.
• Investigate what impact the arrival of people had on the forests of New Zealand.
• Participate in a role-play to demonstrate the variety of feelings that people in different cultural groups have about the use of native trees.
• In groups, prepare a rationale for a class or school tree-planting project by:

  –	investigating the best native trees for planting in the local area;
  –	estimating and calculating the number and the associated costs of trees required for planting in a given area;
  –	planning and carrying out a class or school tree-planting activity in a selected local area;
  –	preparing posters and other advertising material associated with the school tree-planting activity;
  –	evaluating the effects, for themselves personally, of being involved in the tree-planting project.

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