MAKING SENSE OF THE LIVING WORLD: LEVEL 7
ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES
Students can
- describe and explain the reasons for the special characteristics of New Zealand's plants and animals;
- investigate factors that affect a living process, e.g., physical factors of the environment, enzymes, hormones;
- describe processes that may lead to genetic variation, and understand the implications of these for plant and animal breeding, e.g., mutation, crossing over during meiosis, dihybrid crosses, genetically linked diseases in humans; natural and artificial selection, genetic engineering;
- research and develop a defensible position, about a selected issue affecting the New Zealand environment, e.g., population biology of fish, urban waste disposal, renewal of indigenous forests.
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SAMPLE LEARNING CONTEXTS
- Digestion
- Homoeostasis
- Genetics
- Farming
- Whakapapa
- Livestock industry
- Forestry
- Sports medicine
- Toku whanau
- Water
- Te ngahere a Tane
- Poultry farming
- Energy management
POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Students could be learning by:
- researching the reasons for the special character of the New Zealand bush;
- accessing and interpreting literature relating to the effect of New Zealand's geographical isolation on its endemic bird populations;
- finding out about enzyme activity by designing and carrying out controlled experiments;
- designing an experiment to discover the optimum temperature for starch digestion in the mouth;
- researching the introduction and cultivation of kumara to find out the importance of gene pools;
- drawing diagrams of a dihybrid cross in peas to illustrate concepts of variation;
- visiting a stud farm to find out about the breeding methods used;
- analysing various plant and animal family trees to discover the incidence of dominant, recessive, and incompletely dominant expression of inherited characteristics;
- visiting a horticultural propagation centre and observing the techniques used in propagation, e.g., orchid cloning, pine silviculture;
- visiting the diabetes clinic at the local hospital to find out about the incidence of diabetes in different racial groups;
- researching current biotechnological issues to become informed about a selected biotechnology, e.g., genetic engineering, reproductive technology, cancer research, HIV/AIDS research, food processing, brewing, waste treatment;
- collecting data about a local environmental or conservation issue by carrying out an investigation in the field;
- discovering from literature research, and by asking experts, the factors involved in the energy management of a particular resource;
- analysing data from MAF publications regarding shellfish populations on New Zealand beaches.
ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES
Teachers and students could assess the students':
- knowledge of the indigenous plants and animals of their local area, when the students carry out a field survey of a local ecosystem;
- skills in designing and carrying out a controlled experiment, when the students present an experimental report about an aspect of a living process;
- understanding of dominant, recessive, and incompletely dominant gene expression, when the students answer questions about inherited characteristics by interpreting a family tree;
- ability to present relevant information in an interesting way, when the students present an oral report about some aspect of plant or animal breeding;
- understanding of a topic and their ability to write a scientific article, when the students submit an essay on the significance of genetic technologies in plant and animal breeding;
- skills in collecting, analysing, and evaluating appropriate information and presenting a considered argument, when the students write a report about a current conservation issue with recommendations for action, e.g., deforestation, a polluted estuary, draining a wetland.
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