Designing visual charts for kōwhai flower data presentation
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In a unique and engaging educational project, students in Year 5-6 classrooms are creating infographics about Kōwhai trees, a native species significant to New Zealand with deep cultural importance for Māori. The aim is to deepen students’ understanding of local flora through a Māori lens, integrating scientific inquiry with cultural knowledge.
The process begins with scientific inquiry, where students investigate the Kōwhai plant’s characteristics, habitat, lifecycle, and ecological role. This includes gathering facts about the plant’s biology (e.g., the yellow flowers, growth patterns) and its place in the local environment.
Next, students delve into the Māori cultural significance of Kōwhai, such as its name meaning "yellow," its traditional uses, and symbolic importance in Māori worldviews. This step encourages respect for indigenous knowledge alongside scientific facts.
Following this, students design infographics that visually communicate the information they have researched. This involves selecting key data points, images (e.g., pictures of the Kōwhai flower), and Māori motifs or language elements to create culturally meaningful and informative graphics.
The infographics serve as a tool for students to share their learning with peers and teachers, reinforcing both scientific concepts and cultural understanding.
This activity supports learning in 'Communicating in science' and 'Participating and contributing.' It can work as a stand-alone lesson or as part of a wider teaching/inquiry sequence about mātauranga Māori of Kōwhai. A recorded webinar titled "Exploring mātauranga in the classroom" is available where you can hear Chloe Stantiall, the project's creator, discussing these resources.
The resources for this activity can be downloaded as a Word file, and additional activities include collecting Kōwhai seeds, planting Kōwhai seeds, observing Kōwhai, and sharing scientific understanding through poetry. The Science Learning Hub has curated a number of infographics in their "science infographics" Pinterest board for further inspiration.
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." While direct references on creating Kōwhai-specific infographics in this exact educational setting are scarce, the cultural significance of Kōwhai as a native New Zealand plant and its visual prominence in educational materials make it a fitting subject for Māori-focused scientific inquiry involving infographic design.
For those interested in exploring the literacy components of infographics further, "Te Kāhui o Matariki - interpreting infographics" offers additional opportunities. A collection of bilingual and reo Māori infographics and diagrams is also available.
Science education and self-development can be fostered through the design of infographics about Kōwhai trees, as students integrate scientific inquiry with cultural knowledge to deepen their understanding of local flora and respect for indigenous knowledge. These infographics serve as tools for communication and sharing learnings about both scientific concepts and cultural significance.
