A flax bush ecosystem

A flax bush ecosystem

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about relationships between living and non-living things in a flax bush.

Question Change answer

a) A drawing of a flax bush has been started for you.
What other living and non living things might you find on and around a flax bush?
Draw and label as many ideas as you can think of to add to the drawing below.

Question 1Change answer

flaxbush
b)  A relationship is a connection between 2 things. An example of a relationship in the picture could be: The tui drinks nectar from the flower.  
 
From your picture describe a relationship between two things that are on or near the flax bush.

Question 1Change answer

c) Describe some ways in which human activity can change relationships on a flax bush.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or by drawing online.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
Science, Participating and contributing, Living World
Keywords: 
ecology, interdependence, relationships, flax, ecosystems, drawing
Description of task: 
Task: Complete a drawing of things found in and near a flax bush, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a flax bush environment.
Curriculum Links: 
Science capabilities
The capabilities focus is brought about by the conversations you have and the questions you ask.
 
Capability: Engage with science
This resource provides opportunities to discuss the direct impact to organisms when there is a change to their environment.
 
 
Capabilitiy: Use evidence
This resource provides opportunities to discuss using logical reasoning and developing science understandings to present science ideas about food chains and/or food webs.
Science capabilities: 
Engage with science, Use evidence
Answers/responses: 
a) Check for the following points.

  • Are there plants and animals?
  • Are there living and non living elements?
  • Are there elements under, in, and above the flax bush?
  • Are there elements related to human activity?
  • Do students include any systems that may impact on the flax community, e.g., elements of the water cycle/weather?
b)
Check that the relationship described is correct. For example, are the descriptions of feeding relationships accurate?
c) Can accurately describe an element that may be affected by a human action. This may be at 1 of 2 levels:

  • Can accurately describe a simple cause and effect relationship.
  • Can describe a more complex cause and effect relationship involving a chain of events.

For more details go to Thinking about systems.
Diagnostic and formative information: 
NOTE: This resource was designed to provide an alternative context for exploring interactions in an ecosystem, and has not been trialled with students.
Go to What lives in our waterways? for diagnostic and formative information relating to the waterways (which was the context of the original resource) as a guide for what to look for.
Next steps: 
For Next steps refer to 

The games in the following resources provide models that can be adapted to address relationships on a flax bush:

A website that provides some information about life in a flax bush is