Learn about classification

People have always given names to things, including plants and animals and non-living things like soils or rocks. 

Taxonomy is the science of classification – a system that arranges things into natural related groups based on some factor common to each. 

Whakapapa denotes familial connections, genealogy, ancestry and lineage of living things and non-living things.

Background information

• Classification system – article

• Taxonomy – the science of species discovery – article

• Classifying marine organisms – article

• He pūnaha whakarōpū ❘ Classifying and identifying plants – article

• Whakapapa of stone – video

• The whakapapa of trees – video

• Plants and whakapapa – video

Teaching resources

• Classifying and identifying: explore scientific classification and whakapapa with responses to video and text – Word document

• Living organisms – create a mihi: use classification to introduce an organism – Word document

• What can DNA in the environment tell us about an ecosystem? – teacher instructions: use a journal article to actively research and answer questions about taxonomy and eDNA – Word document

• What can DNA in the environment tell us about an ecosystem? – student questions: – Word document

• What can DNA in the environment tell us about an ecosystem?: journal article – PDF