GRADE 5- CAPTAIN PLANET'S PROJECT LEARNING GARDEN

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Which Plant is Which?

Grade 5

Standards GPS.S5L1. b NGSS.4.LS1.A , 5 . LS2.A, 7.LS4.a

Time approx 1.5 hours over 2 days

Supplies (per student) Plant Scavenger Hunt • Plant Scavenger Hunt checklist • Clipboard and pencil Plant Wanted Poster • Internet-connected computer (per class) Botanical Garden • Plants brought in by students • Gloves, trowels • Craft sticks or laminated signs • Twine for lines between plants Giant Plant Classification Role Play • Signs, as listed in lesson • Optional: stakes for signs • Plant role play cards (laminated) + student-made cards Garden Connection Students will study plant structures in the garden and schoolyard, identify and classify plants, and create a botanical garden or a field guide to local plants.

Overview 5th grade students will learn about plants by creating their own

classification systems and dichotomous keys, going on a Plant Scavenger

Hunt to identify plant structures and external parts, each becoming expert

on one local plant, creating a Wanted Poster describing its characteristics,

roleplaying plants sorting themselves through a giant classification system,

and planting a botanical garden or making a schoolyard field guide. Engaging Students Students will go on a Plant Scavenger Hunt to find examples of certain

plant structures; and create their own classification system for the school

garden by grouping and naming plants in an original way. Exploration

Students will become expert in one plant, create a Wanted Poster describing its characteristics; role-play plant species and sort themselves by running through a Life Size Plant Kingdom Key set up as a cladogram. Explanation Students will be able to articulate how and why plants are classified, and

know there have been many different ways to classify organisms through

history: most based on similarity of physical characteristics. Modern

methods of classification depend more on DNA evidence of relationships

and shared evolutionary history.

Environmental Stewardship Students use the information learned in this lesson to report data to

the Discover Life database as a contribution to research on the diversity

and distribution of species in their area, or plant a living classification

system and botanical garden. Evaluation A rubric is available to assess student performance in lesson activities.

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Standards Georgia Performance Standards

S5L1. Students will classify organisms into groups and relate how the determined the groups with how and why scientists

use classification.

b. Demonstrate how plants are sorted into groups

Next Generation Science Standards 4. LS1.A: Structure and Function Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. (4-LS1-1) 5.LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. . . . . A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem. (5-LS2-1) 7.LS4.A Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity . . . . Anatomical similarities and differences between various organisms living today and between them and organisms in the fossil record, enable the reconstruction of evolutionary history and the inference of lines of evolutionary descent. (MS-LS4-2) Comparison of the embryological development of different species also reveals similarities that show relationships not evident in the fully-formed anatomy. (MS-LS4-3)

Background Information for Teacher

• There are many valid ways to categorize and classify things. • Scientists used to classify plants according to physical similarities, especially of leaves. • Linnaeus classified plants based on 24 different arrangements of flower stamens (reproductive structures) • Mnemonic devices for taxonomic classifications: Kindly Place Cover On Fresh Green Spring vegetables. • OR David Come Out For Goodness Sake (botanists use “division” instead of “phylum”) Kingdom, Phylum/Division,

Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

• Modern classification systems group organisms based on common ancestors and shared evolutionary history. • What separates plants from all other organisms = ability to photosynthesize and make own food • Plant Names and Classification ppt on history of plant classification schemes (teacher background- not students) • 1.74 million named organisms on Earth (excluding bacteria) / 320,000 species of plants identified / estimated

80,000 plant species yet to be discovered (estimated total = 390,800 plant species on Earth excluding algae)

• 18,783 species native plants in US vs 2,972 species native animals in US • 80,500 species vertebrate animals vs 6,755,830 species invertebrates vs. 390,800 species plants • “What makes a Plant a Plant” notes by Dr. Dirnberger include helpful posters.

http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/Bio2108/Lecture/LecBiodiversity/BioDivPlants.html Teacher Preparation • Print checklists for the Plant Scavenger Hunt (one per student or per team of 2 to 4 students: attached). • Print, laminate and cut apart color copies of role play cards for Life Size Plant Key activity (attached). • Have students make signs for Life-Sized Plant Classification Key. • Print and laminate Life Size Plant Key signs (attached), staple to stakes, and place in ground per diagram. • Identify in the schoolyard or btain plants classified in different orders or different parts of a cladogram and ask

students to each bring specimens of plants not represented in schoolyard such as cycads, ferns, cacti, gingkos,

mosses, liverworts, hornworts, etc. Offer a prize for unrepresented families or laminate pictures to represent parts

of the key for which no plants are available.

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PROCEDURES FOR LESSON ACTIVITIES Day 1 Engaging Students Plant Scavenger Hunt Divide the class into teams (if desired) and tell students they will be searching for plants based on structures (observable characteristics) that are often used to identify and classify organisms.

• Distribute plant scavenger hunt checklists with clipboards / students will need pencils. • Establish timeframe, boundaries and signal for returning. • Send students out to observe plant structures and to identify, photograph or collect items on list. • Let students share favorite results with entire class.

Garden Groups: An Original Classification System

Introduce this activity by asking students to “imagine labels in the school garden were all blown away…. how would you know which plant was which?” Organize students into teams of 2-4 and establish boundaries, timeframe, and signal for returning. Challenge students to name plants and create a system to classify them (yes, they can make up the names). • Ask each student or team of students to create an original classification chart for plants in the school garden using

photos, specimens or drawings; plant names; and key descriptors for categories into which plants are grouped (e.g. red-stemmed plants). Students will argue from evidence in support of their classification systems.

• Share results: tally the characteristics or types of information students used to group plants as well as number of categories.

• Explain that, over the years, scientists have used various different criteria to group plants, also. o Early scientists categorized plants based on growth form, medicinal effects, or other uses and characteristics. o Linnaeus classified plants based on 24 different arrangements of flower stamens (reproductive structures). o Modern classification is based on common ancestors and shared evolutionary history revealed by DNA.

• Ask students to brainstorm reasons for categorizing, classifying and identifying plants. (Helps study, identify, protect).

Day 2

Exploration Wanted: Dead or Alive Giving students the role of plant experts and providing opportunities for fact-checking and research following a walk in the school yard will take pressure off the teacher to be expert in all things and allow students to become peer teachers.

• Each student will choose one plant that is present in the garden or schoolyard, about which s/he will become an expert. After researching the plant’s characteristics and habitat, s/he will describe the plant on a Wanted Poster.

• Wanted Poster should include a picture and six identifying characteristics or habits. • Wanted Poster template: http://www.studentposters.co.uk/temp_files/wanted-poster-template.doc

and also http://www.glassgiant.com/wanted/ • During a visit to the garden or schoolyard habitat, each student will take his or her Wanted Poster and locate a

specimen of the plant. Then students will exchange Wanted Posters and search for each other’s plants.

Life Size Plant Kingdom Key

Have students make a set of signs Stake “Life Size Plant Kingdom Key or Clad” signs to make a race course in a field, in order of the diagram.

• Diagrams for cladograms and keys may be found at Dr. Dirnberger’s web site:

http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/Bio2108/Lecture/LecBiodiversity/BioDivPlants.html

• Pass out role play cards to students and ask them to line up at the beginning of Life Size Key.

• Students should run the course one at a time, self-sorting as they go.

• Review the plants represented at each part of the key and let class decide if classification is correct.

• Collect old / pass out new role play cards and repeat process.

• Photo credits for plant role cards:

*http://plantspages.com/freeplantimages.htm

** http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/pictures/plants.html

*** http://www.plant-pictures.net/

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Explanation • There are many different classification systems for plants. • There are many different reasons why people distinguish among and group plants (for instance, by how much

water they need, by whether they are edible, by their medicinal value, by their shade-tolerance, etc.) • Major scientific classification schemes: similar characteristics; genetic relationships; shared evolutionary history • Reasons scientists group plants: to study related organisms, to identify, to protect, to preserve diversity, etc.

Environmental Stewardship Make a Schoolyard Field Guide and Report Confirmed Findings to Discover Life

Students will verify and confirm the plant identifications in the schoolyard that were initially made based on their

Wanted Poster research, create an online field guide for those plants, and report the species to the Discover Life

database as a contribution to research on the biodiversity and distribution of species in their area.

• Discover Life: http://www.discoverlife.org/pa/ • Free apps for confirming identity of plant species: TreeBook, LeafSnap • Other sources of plant identification: Cooperative Extension Service of local university, state Forest Service OR Design and Plant a Botanical Garden Students will design a botanical garden using existing specimens in the schoolyard or planting new specimens. The botanical garden will remain as a living identification or classification guide. • If labeling existing plants where they stand, make peek-a-boo hinged or folded signs that allow classmates to

attempt identification before seeing name. • Optional: Give signs numbers and make an accompanying field guide. • If planting or arranging specimens to create a living classification system, such as the cladogram used for the Giant

Plant Key, students may want to use signs, labels, string lines, and pictures of missing specimens, as necessary. • Divide class into two teams to design and/or plant the botanical or classification gardens, and compare.

Evaluation Each student should be able to perform and explain the lesson activity tasks. A rubric is provided to assist in assessing student proficiency in this content area.

Extensions Dichotomous Key

Create a simple dichotomous key with the class, using one shoe from each student and pairing opposing statements.

• Take notes of characteristics and create key while sorting. • Separate shoes into two groups by a defining characteristic and sub-divide each group by a different characteristic

until there is only one shoe in each category OR separate one shoe at a time from the group based on a way in which it is different from all other shoes, and create a yes / no question to justify its category, continuing the same way until all shoes are separated into categories.

• Make a branching chart to document the way that shoes were sorted. • Go to the garden in teams and create keys to sort plants into groups, using student-developed criteria. • Compare results of different teams. • Additional directions for using shoes to make a dichotomous key: http://tab-

sa.org/cd2014/Veronica%20Ledoux/Workshop%20Additional%20Materials/Life%20&%20Living/Activity-%20Dichotomous%20Keys.docx

Monocots vs Eudicots Divide flowering plants into monocots and eudicots using any one plant part to compare specimens (seeds, leaves, flowers, roots). For reference, see the two Monicot vs Eudicot posters embedded in these lecture notes and make copies. Also note the exceptions to monocots and eudicots (the non-monocots) listed in the section of this lesson about students role-playing plants and sorting themselves through a giant cladogram.

Monocot and Eudicot posters to print (2): http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/Bio2108/Lecture/LecBiodiversity/BioDivPlants.html

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Plant Scavenger Hunt Checklist

Name(s) Date: Find a living plant or parts of a plant exhibiting these structures and photograph, note or collect specimens, according to teacher’s directions.

a plant with needle‐like leaves

a plant with seeds in a fruit

a plant with its seed in a nut

a plant with pairs of leaves that are exactly opposite

a plant with alternate leaves

a plant that is flowering

a plant with waxy leaves

a plant with toothed leaves

a plant with almost-parallel veins in leaf from stem to tip

a plant with an edible part (don’t eat it yet)

a climbing plant with aerial roots (above ground)

a plant with leaves that are hairy or velvety

a plant with a leaf that has been damaged or eaten

a plant with a wound scar or a gall (growth)

a plant that makes its own food

picture or drawing of plant with leaves in sets of three (don’t touch!)

other:

other:

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Creating a Giant Classification Key for Plant Role-Playing Activity

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Signs for Giant Life-Size Classification Key of Land Plants:

(Each Classification sign should have a question and the word No with arrow pointing to left and Yes with arrow to right.

Endpoint signs may be made in contrasting color, to avoid confusion.)

1. Apical meristem? (so plant can extend upwards)

If no -> branch left and choose Liverworts (flattened) <END>

If yes -> follow along main line to next question

2. Vascular system? (so water can flow up the stem)

If no -> branch left and choose Hornworts and Mosses (no tube for transporting water) <END>

If yes -> go right and follow along main line to next question

3. Megaphyll? (leaves with more than one vein)

If no -> branch left and choose Clubmosses (scaly leaf structure without web of veins) <END>

If yes -> go right and follow along main line to next question

4. Seeds?

If no -> branch left and choose Ferns (spores under leaves) <END>

If yes -> go right and follow along main line to next question

5. Flowers? (and seeds in an ovary that matures into a fruit /nuts are fruits)

If no -> branch left and choose Gymnosperms (literally “naked seeds”) and then choose…

Conifers (seeds in cones) OR Cycads (seeds in special structures) or Gingko (fan shaped leaves) <END>

If yes -> branch right and follow along main line to next question

6. Pollen grains have three openings and seeds have two parts?

If no -> branch left and choose Monocot (one part seed, parallel veins on leaves, flower petals in 3s, fibrous roots)

. . . Or Non Monocot Misfits, including Water lilies OR Magnolias OR Laurels OR Pokeweed OR Cactus OR

Carnation OR Amaranth OR Sundews OR Knotweed OR Geraniums OR Tulip Trees

If yes -> branch right and follow line to Eudicot (two part seed, taproot, branching veins, petals in 4s, 5s) <END>

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FERN*

HORSETAIL

CLUB MOSS

CYCAD

VIRGINIA PINE

WHITE OAK

CORN / MAIZE**

GINGKO

SAMPLE ROLE PLAY CARDS FOR LIFE-­‐SIZE PLANT KEY (HAVE STUDENTS MAKE MORE)

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SAMPLE ROLE PLAY CARDS FOR LIFE-­‐SIZE PLANT KEY

SUGAR MAPLE*

LIVERWORT

MILKWEED

MOSS*

HORNWORT

WHEAT*

GRASS*

RICE**

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MOSS

BAMBOO

HORSETAIL

LIVERWORT

FERN

AVACODO TREE

OSAGE ORANGE TREE

SASSAFRAS TREE

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SPRUCE

REDWOODS

LONG LEAF PINES

IRISES

LILIES

SWISS CHARD

ROSE

RYE GRASS

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Assessment for Which Plant is Which? Name: Date:

Level of Mastery

Benchmark or Performance Measure

EMERGING

Not yet proficient 1 point

COMPETENT

Partially proficient 4 points

PROFICIENT

Mastered task

5 points

TOTAL POINTS

Student has created

and demonstrated

own plant

classification

system.

Student grouped three or

fewer plants and was

unable to articulate criteria

for groups

Student grouped four or five plants; was able to explain characteristics plants in each group had in common

Student's classification

system was used to group

6 or more plants; criteria

for grouping plants was

articulated

Student went on

Botanical Safari and

identified plant

structures that are key

to many classification

systems.

Student found fewer than ten plant structures on the list or was not able to explain how each met the criteria

Student found at least ten plant structures on the list and was able to explain how they met the criteria

Student found at least twelve plant structures on the list and was able to explain how they met the criteria

Student role-played a

plant sorting itself thru

a giant life-sized key.

Student participated in self-sorting activity

Student participated and provided evidence for sorting choices and re-grouped if strong evidence to the contrary was discovered

Student participated, provided evidence for sorting, regrouped if evidence to the contrary discovered, researched discrepancies back in the classroom

Student became an

expert on a local plant

species; created a

Wanted poster; found

and observed the

species in schoolyard

Student poster included a picture and one descriptor; student was unable to find a known specimen in the garden or schoolyard

Student poster included a picture and two or three descriptors; student found specimen in schoolyard and showed evidence for identification

Student specimen included a picture and four or five descriptors; student located plant in schoolyard and showed evidence of definitive i.d.

Student helped design

and plant or label a

botanical garden or

contributed to the

Discover Life database

Student participated in planning and completion of project.

Student participated, can articulate how botanical garden is arranged and why or how schoolyard field guide for Discover Life is arranged and why

Student participated, can articulate how and why the project was created as it was, and identify component plants