Lesson 1: Introduction to the unit - Plants
Stage 2 Duration: 1hr
Objective: To introduce the students to the unit of work on life cycles of living things by first exploring the life cycle of plants. The students will be given the opportunity to investigate the parts of a seed as well as the process and the conditions required for germination. Students will also gain an understanding of the process and role of photosynthesis in a plant.
Curriculum Links
Science and Technology K-6:
CONTENT STRAND: LT S2.3 – Identifies and describes the structure and function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their environment INDICATORS: UT S2.9: experiments with using blogs to communicate scientific learning on conditions necessary for germination INV S2.7: Devises and implements a fair test with assistance, to find out the effects of different variables on plant germination VALUES AND ATTITUDES: VA4 – Gains satisfaction from their efforts to investigate, to design, to make and use technology VA5 – Works co-operatively with others in groups on scientific and technological tasks and challenges KLA INTEGRATION English: RS2.6 – information skills WS2.9 – independent writing |
Australian Curriculum:
CONTENT: Biological Sciences OUTCOME: ACSSU072: Living things have life cycles ACSHE061: Science involves making predictions and describing patterns and relationships ACSIS064: With guidance, identify questions in familiar contexts that can be investigated scientifically and predict what might happen based on prior knowledge ACSIS065: Suggests ways to plan and conduct investigations to find answers to questions ACSIS071: Represent and communicate ideas and findings in a variety of ways such as diagrams, physical representations and simple reports. INDICATORS: ACSSU072:Describing the stages of life cycles of different living things such as flowering plants ACSIS064: Choosing questions to investigate from a list of possibilities ACSIS065: Working in groups, with teacher guidance, to plan ways to investigate questions ACSIS071: Communicating with other students carrying out similar investigations to share experiences and improve skills KLA INTEGRATION English: ACELY1654 – Constructing texts with technology ACELY1651 – Constructing texts to communicate ideas |
Key Scientific Knowledge
How do seeds germinate?
|
Lesson Overview
Whole Class - 10 minutes
Introduce the lesson by showing the students a mystery bag of items including real items such as seeds and fruit as well as pictures of plants and animals in different stages of their cycle (Primary Connections, 2012). Brainstorm the children’s ideas of what they think they will be investigating in this unit and complete a “TWLH chart” (Primary connections, 2012, p.12) |
Resources
· TWLH chart (Primary connections, 2012, p.12) · Pillow case filled with - Assortment of seeds, pods, fruits and flowers - Plant, turtle and butterfly life cycle model (from Dominie Educational Suppliers - $19.95) If unable to obtain any of the above, printed laminated pictures can be substituted. |
Break into groups for workshops - 15 minute rotations
Seed Dissection Workshop
Students will compare a dry and pre-soaked bean. After, students will dissect a bean seed and draw a scientific diagram of the bean. After, ask the students to turn over the card with a diagram of the bean seed and use the diagram to assist in labeling the parts. Independent Research into Seed Germination & Plant life cycle Students can access iPads and books to research how a seed germinates using their own search terms or the websites provided in the resource section of this plan. In their science journals, students will then explain the process of germination through words or pictures and place this within the context of a plant’s life cycle. Re-group: Whole Class - 20 minutes
Students continue working in their groups to choose a condition for germination to test (“water, light, temperature or gravity” (Diamond, 1975, p.42)) and develop an experiment to test one of these conditions. On the class edublog, the students will outline their aim, hypothesis and method for their experiment. Over the coming weeks, students will share their results of their experiments on this blog and comment on the experiments of their peers. The teacher will need to float between groups to assist groups as necessary to ensure tests are fair and meet the intended aim. Over the next week, students will need to spend 10 minutes daily to measure and take pictures of the change occurring. |
Websites for researching seed germination: Template for developing investigation (Primary Connections, 2012, p.58)
Computers to enable student to upload information to Edublog: http://plantlifecycle.edublogs.org/ (edublog requires a monthly fee of $7.95 or 39.95 if you buy an annual licence - for more information click here.) Resources to conduct the experiments including
|
Modifications
Simplification: students who require additional assistance will receive support from group members in both the seed dissection and experiment development components of these lessons. The research task can also be limited to the websites provided in the resources column. All students will work on developing their experiments as the same time so that the teacher can float between groups and provide assistance to students as necessary.
Extension: students can be encouraged to independently explore a plant life cycle that is of interest to them such as a venus fly trap using the books from the class library or iPADs and share their findings on the class blog.
Simplification: students who require additional assistance will receive support from group members in both the seed dissection and experiment development components of these lessons. The research task can also be limited to the websites provided in the resources column. All students will work on developing their experiments as the same time so that the teacher can float between groups and provide assistance to students as necessary.
Extension: students can be encouraged to independently explore a plant life cycle that is of interest to them such as a venus fly trap using the books from the class library or iPADs and share their findings on the class blog.
Resources for Learning and Teaching
TWLH Chart from Primary
Connections (2012). Plants in action.
Canberra, ACT: Australian Academy of Science
Template for Investigation from
Primary Connections (2012). Plants in action. Canberra, ACT: Australian Academy of Science
Template for Investigation from
Primary Connections (2012). Plants in action. Canberra, ACT: Australian Academy of Science