Nature's Healing Power

Overview

Curriculum Level: Level 3
Learning Area: Science – Living World
Strand: Life Processes, Ecology, and Evolution
Lesson Duration: 60 minutes
Class Size: 25 students
Context Focus: Kawakawa – investigating native plants and their traditional and modern uses in Rongoā Māori (traditional healing), integrating mātauranga Māori with science.

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Big Idea

Plants have life processes that sustain them and can provide vital functions within ecosystems and human lives.
Students will explore the plant kawakawa, its role in the ecosystem, and how its properties have been understood and used for generations by Māori communities. This is a cross-curricular, place-based learning opportunity that values indigenous knowledge and scientific inquiry equally.

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Learning Intentions

By the end of the session, students will be able to:

• Identify key characteristics and life processes of the kawakawa plant.
• Describe how kawakawa has been used in traditional Māori medicine (Rongoā Māori).
• Investigate the effectiveness of kawakawa in a simple scientific test.
• Connect mātauranga Māori with western scientific approaches.

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Success Criteria

Students can:

✅ Identify the kawakawa plant and its unique features.
✅ Explain at least two traditional uses of kawakawa in Rongoā Māori.
✅ Collect data through observation or a controlled test related to kawakawa leaves.
✅ Make links between cultural knowledge and scientific knowledge.

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Resources Required

• Live or fresh kawakawa leaves (teacher sourced or from school garden/local area)
• Magnifying glasses
• Observation journals or science notebooks
• Bowls of hot water (for infusion demonstration)
• Clean cloth (for poultice simulation)
• Printed images of other native healing plants (e.g., harakeke, mānuka)
• Whiteboard and markers
• Māori plant use books or prepared info cards
• A3 paper and coloured pens
• Inclusion of whakataukī linked to the lesson:
  “He taonga te mokopuna, kia whāngaia, kia tipu, kia rea.”
  (A child is a treasure, to be nurtured, to grow, to flourish.)

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Lesson Flow

1. Karakia + Mihi (5 mins)

Open with a short karakia and mihi to set the tone for learning with respect and connection to place and kaupapa.

Optional: Begin outside under a school tree or near the garden if weather permits.

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2. Engaging Question (5 mins)

Ask:
"What do plants give us more than food and oxygen?"
Encourage discussion. Prompt with: healing, shelter, storytelling, apparel, tools.

Introduce kawakawa through visual material and a fresh leaf for each group. Let them gently smell and touch it.

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3. Māori Worldview Focus – Rongoā Māori (10 mins)

Using story cards or printed fact sheets, give students a short pūrākau (story) about the spiritual and healing role of kawakawa in Māori tradition:

• Use during tangihanga (funerals)
• Infusions to treat cuts and fevers
• Chewed for toothaches
• Its heart-shaped leaves symbolising aroha (love)

Encourage students to listen to a recording or live sharing if a member of the community can be present (guest speaker optional).

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4. Science Integration – Observation & Life Process (15 mins)

Students break into small groups of 5.

Each group receives:

• A magnifying glass
• A kawakawa leaf
• An observation sheet

They examine the leaf for signs of life processes:

• Holes from insect bites – what might that tell us?
• Veins and structure – how does it bring nutrients through the plant?
• Scent – could those oils help with healing?

Groups record observations in their notebooks.

Wrap this part with a science talk: circulate and support vocabulary such as photosynthesis, adaptation, insect-plant relationship, lifespan.

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5. Experiment: Kawakawa Infusion (15 mins)

Demonstration Only (for health and safety):

• The teacher prepares a hot water infusion of kawakawa (like tea).
• Labelled jars: one with kawakawa infusion, one with plain hot water.
• Invite students to use their sense of smell and sight to describe the difference.
• Discuss how substances from kawakawa extract into water.
• Introduce the concept of solubility, extracts, and why plant-based medicines are often heated in water or oils.

Add a simulation – using a clean cloth soaked in infusion to show how a poultice might be used for a cut or rash.

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6. Reflective Discussion & Creative Response (8 mins)

Ask:
"How can we use both science and Māori knowledge to better understand nature?"

Students form a circle and “pass the leaf” – each person shares one thing they learned, or one question they still have.

Then, in pairs, they create a poster labelled: "Kawakawa: Ngā Mahi, The Science + Mātauranga Māori"
They illustrate and annotate what they learned using A3 paper.

End discussion by reframing science as a "Genealogy of Curiosity" – placing indigenous and western thinking side by side instead of one after the other.

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Extension Opportunities

• Grow a kawakawa plant in the class/library garden
• Research and compare uses of other native NZ plants (harakeke, mānuka, kūmarahou)
• Write a report or create a short documentary about a local rongoā practitioner
• Link to Health & PE curriculum by exploring wellbeing practices

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Assessment Opportunities

• Observation sheets and participation in group work
• Poster quality and depth of understanding
• Reflective contributions in class circle
• Science and mātauranga vocabulary used appropriately

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Differentiation & Diverse Learners

• Visual aids and bilingual labels for ELL learners
• Buddy system for students requiring learning support
• Sentence starters on poster activity for hesitant writers
• Opportunities for oral over written reflection

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Teacher Reflection Prompts

• Which students were highly engaged when cultural knowledge was shared?
• How well did students connect the scientific observation with traditional practice?
• What surprised me about their responses to native plant knowledge?

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Final Note

This lesson embodies the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum focus: weaving mātauranga Māori and scientific knowledge systems, locally responsive teaching, and a holistic view of children's learning.

Let this be more than a science lesson—let it be a step on a journey of curiosity and cultural connection.