The origin of plants in Science

In our current unit in Year 10, students explored the concept of whakapapa and how it is used extensively in Science.

Students were asked about their whānau connection to a special plant, and were tasked to write a story about it to make into a small book.

Students wrote beautiful stories about plants that connected them and their whānau to Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and the Pacific. These stories talked of flowers and plants for special occasions, plants used for trades/crafts and plants eaten and enjoyed with their loved ones.

We then looked at how we could connect and group our special plants to other students in our class.

The students were introduced to the 5 kingdoms of classification for living things. They then classified their plants according to their kingdom, phylum, order, clade and sub families. We then mapped out the whakapapa of the plants showing how all our plants connect to one another. Students loved their plant linking to another student in the class in this way.

Afterwards, we explored how we could use this information to better understand connections and why this classification system is so useful. 

Our books and plant whakapapa now proudly take place on the wall in Room 20. Come and have a look when you can.

Kai pai to mahi Yr 10s!