Challenge students to explore and observe kōwhai trees with a particular focus on the seeds.
Initially, students may only notice the seed pods hanging from the kōwhai trees, but after some purposeful searching of the ground near kōwhai trees, careful observers may notice the vast number of seeds. The hunting of seeds, which are quite inconspicuous, can promote curiosity and act as a hook for further learning.
Having completed this activity, I was surprised at the level of curiosity and questions that such a simple task sparked for the tamariki and myself! We were all surprised at the number of seeds there were. An unplanned outcome was the questions that came from observing the seed pods that the seeds came from. There was a large variety of length, shape, size and colour. This could have been pursued further as its own investigation. Due to students’ own curiosity, seeds and seed pods were brought into the class over the subsequent weeks.
Chloe Stantiall, Silverdale Normal School
In this activity, students search for and collect seeds from local kōwhai trees.
Tamariki collecting kōwhai seeds
Tamariki at Silverdale Normal School collect kōwhai seeds and seed pods as part of an investigation into the past, present and future uses of kōwhai. This activity was used as a hook into a week-long inquiry unit about the uses and different knowledge sources of kōwhai.
Kōwhai generally flower in late winter to early spring. Seeds are available to collect from beneath trees and from their pods for most of the year.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- identify kōwhai trees, seed pods and seeds
- locate and collect kōwhai seeds beneath and around kōwhai trees
- describe their observation of kōwhai seeds in terms of the shape, colour and hardness of the seed pods
- be curious about what they have observed and ask questions about kōwhai trees.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Student inquiry
This activity works as a stand-alone lesson or as part of a wider teaching/inquiry sequence about mātauranga Māori of kōwhai. Additional activities include:
- Planting kōwhai seeds | Whakatōngia kākano kōwhai
- Observing kōwhai | Āta titiro kōwhai
- Sharing scientific understanding through poetry
- Creating kōwhai infographics
You can hear Chloe talking about these resources in our recorded webinar Exploring mātauranga in the classroom.
Nature of science
The purposeful observations to locate kōwhai seeds and describe kōwhai seeds based on observations support student learning in the ‘Investigating in science’ and ‘Communicating in science’ strands of the Nature of Science.
Related content
Learn more about kōwhai with the following resources:
- Identifying native plants
- He pūnaha whakarōpū ❘ Classifying and identifying plants
- Flower parts
- Ngā kākano ❘ Seeds
- Te haenga me te ruinga o te kākano ❘ Pollination and seed dispersal
- Seed dispersal
- Attracting pollinators
Related activities
Useful links
The Department of Conservation offers helpful information:
Acknowledgement
This article was written by Chloe Stantiall as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative project Envisioning student possible selves in science: Addressing ‘plant blindness’ through place-based education. The project explores students’ sense of place and science-related possible selves through local curriculum units that focus on plants. Chloe was assisted by researchers Maurice M. W. Cheng and Bronwen Cowie from The University of Waikato.
