At the beginning of the lesson, students will view an engaging video of time-lapse photographs of flowers blooming, and students will create a T-chart listing the similarities and differences among the appearances of each flower. To formatively assess students' current knowledge of specialized plant structures, the students will sort key vocabulary words related to plants' structures into categories. Then, students will read an informational article on flowering plants and re-sort the key vocabulary words into the correct categories to demonstrate their knowledge of plants' specialized reproductive structures. Next, students will complete a lab activity in which they will carefully dissect a flower and observe the various specialized structures, collect specimens to view under the microscope and create and label scientific sketches of the flower's specialized structures. Lastly, students will design a unique flower that will have a high probability of reproductive success and provide a written response in a claim-evidence-reasoning format.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Gymnosperms are the oldest seed-bearing plants. There are four types of gymnosperms: gnetophytes, cycads, conifers, and ginkgos. Learn about gymnosperms’ distinctive appearance and unique life cycle here.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the function of seeds in seed-bearing plants. After utilizing this resources, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
Flowering plants have many parts that are required for reproduction. These parts, including the stamen, pistil, and ovary, work together to make seeds through the process of fertilization.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the process of reproduction in flowering plants. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
Plants produce seeds in order to reproduce. Gymnosperm seeds develop in cones, and angiosperm seeds develop in fruit. When a seed is fertilized, in the right conditions, it will germinate, starting the life of a new plant!
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the process of reproduction in plants with seeds. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
Angiosperm plants reproduce by producing seeds inside a flower. There are two kinds of angiosperms: monocotyledons and dicotyledons.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the process of reproduction of flowering plants. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
Plants that reproduce without seeds use several different methods, like budding, plant runners, and spores.
This resource presents a short slide show about the process of reproduction in plants that do not have seeds. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
Students review what animal adaptations are, identify marine animal adaptations in a photo gallery, and predict how types of adaptations vary with ocean habitats.
Students investigate conditions in the deepest parts of the ocean, make inferences about ocean creatures based on their physical characteristics, and design creatures that could survive in the Mariana Trench.
Through videos and sorting exercises, this lesson delves into the fascinating process and products of sexual selection: the process by which traits become more or less common depending on an individual’s ability to mate with more or better partners.
The focus of this lesson is threefold. First, it will expose students to the fact that all species have a capacity for communication. Second, the lesson will enlighten students to the fact that communication abilities range from very simple to extremely complex, depending upon the species. Third, students will realize that communication is influenced by a species' genetic makeup, its environment, and the numerous ways by which animals and humans respond to and adapt to their surroundings.