Let's Learn About Plants

By Science Connected

In this book, you get eight fun science experiments that introduce children to the wonderful world of botany! These experiments are recommended for parents and teachers to use with children in US grades K-6. This is kitchen-science, using items commonly found around the home. No special equipment is needed. Each experiment comes with a list of inexpensive (or free) materials, easy-to-follow instructions, explanations of the science behind the experiments, worksheets, comprehension questions, teacher resources, and more! For folks who want to learn even more, each experiment is linked to true stories about related scientific research that's happening right now in laboratories around the world. Brought to you by Science Connected, a nonprofit that connects people with the latest scientific research.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Science Connected
• Release date: Sep 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393715610

Book preview

Let’s Learn

About Plants

Botany Experiments for Children

NGSS* Aligned For US grades K-6

Brought to you by Science Connected Magazine

Let’s Learn About Plants: Botany Experiments for Children

Published by Science Connected, Inc.

©2019 by Science Connected

180 Steuart Street #190213

San Francisco, CA 94119 USA

www.scienceconnected.org

Project manager: Jonathan Trinastic

Writers: Kelly Derham, Maggie Gaddis, Neha Jain

Lead copy editor: Jess Romaine

Copy editor: Małgorzata Pachol

Cover: Marketplace Designers

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is independently authored and published and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any trademarked product mentioned or pictured within is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in the text, illustrations or photographs in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. Science experiments should only be carried out with robust safety precautions and adult supervision.

This book mentions the Next Generation Science Standards, a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.

Contents

Natural Selection: Exploring Plant Evolution

It’s All in the Family: Exploring Plant Classification

Exploring Plant Anatomy and Regrowth

How Plants Take Up Water and Minerals

Roots, Shoots, Leaves: Plants’ Place in the Food Chain

How Plants Grow Toward the Light

Plants and Pollinators

Guardians of the Soil: How Plants Protect against Erosion

About Science Connected

More from Science Connected

Natural Selection: Exploring Plant Evolution

SUGGESTED AGES: 5–9

NGSS Standards: 1-LS3-1, K-ESS2-2

What You Will Learn

TODAY THERE IS A GREAT diversity of life on Earth. However, millions of years ago there were only primitive forms of life on the planet. How did the diversity in today’s world arise? The greatest advantage Earth’s organisms possess is the ability to adapt to environmental variability. Earth is a changing place: it does not stay the same from year to year, decade to decade, millennium to millennium. These changes give rise to the variability and diversity on Earth.

What You Will Do

IN THIS LAB, YOU WILL learn about plant evolution by investigating how plants change due to environmental variability. Evolution defines how plants develop over time to cope with environmental changes. The characteristics of some organisms help them survive longer and have more offspring in a particular environment compared to other organisms. As a result, the population changes over time to favor those exhibiting a survival advantage, known as natural selection. In this activity, each learner will pretend to be a plant in the environment, and you will play a game of musical chairs to understand how natural selection works across generations.

After completing the activity, you may also learn more about evolution by reading these Science Connected articles about evolution in mammals, humans, and even neurons!

What You Need

●  Chairs equal to the number of learners: label half of the chairs with black construction paper and the other half with white

●  Enough black and white construction paper to make note-card-sized cutouts for each learner

●  Yarn

●  Glue

●  Music to play during the game of musical chairs

Useful Words

●  Camouflage: a natural disguise that helps animals blend into their environment

●  Environmental variability: changes in the environment due to events such as weather, seasonal changes, or human activities

●  Evolution: the change in characteristics of a species over time

●  Natural selection: the process by which evolution occurs, in which well-adapted organisms survive and have more offspring that populate the next generation

What to Do

You will be playing musical chairs to illustrate the process of natural selection. The goal of the activity is to show that natural selection