This article draws primarily on a policy discussion hosted by the New Zealand Association of Research in Education's (NZARE) Science Special Interest Group at the 2016 national conference, arguing that an ecosystem view of science education is a useful metaphor when considering both what is being done to implement the vision for science education as articulated in "The New Zealand Curriculum," and where some of the gaps continue to exist. [This article was written with Dayle Anderson, Ally Bull, Robyn Caygill, Rose Hipkins, Elaine Khoo, Victoria Metcalf, Azra Moeed, Kate Rice, Craig Rofe, Mira Peter, Georgina Stewart, and Carrie Vander Zwaag.]