From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Activity 20: Changing with the Times

Grades: 5-8

Associated Lesson Topics:

• Adaptations to meet water, light, air, and nutrient requirements
• Darwin's theory that adaptations have led to diversity of species

National Standards:

• SCIENCE: Standard C
• LANGUAGE ARTS: Writing 4, Reading 7, 10, Listening and Speaking 11

Planting the Seed...

What is the harshest environment you can imagine? Extreme cold? Extreme heat? How do you think plants are able to grow in the Arctic and in the desert? What do you think you would need to do to survive in environments like these?

Teacher Information:

Over time, plants adapt in order to survive. Those plants that are most capable of adapting to their environment are the ones that survive to produce offspring that have the traits that will make them successful in a given environment. Plants that grow in the desert, for example, have evolved a unique way of photosynthesizing. In this activity, students will design plants that have adapted to certain environmental conditions. To accomplish this task, students must first assess the requirements that plants have and then determine how their "assigned" environmental conditions fail to meet those requirements.

Necessary Materials:

• "Environment Cards." You can create these by describing different environmental conditions on index cards. These can be realistic or fantasy environments. Examples include flood zone, desert, shade, low carbon dioxide, and no gravity. Each environment card can describe a single environmental condition or a scenario with several different factors to consider.
• Materials for chosen media.

Procedure:

• Students can randomly choose an "Environment Card" or come up with their own environments.
• Students should conduct research and design a plant that has adapted to their "assigned" environment. They must be able to present to the class details on how these plants carry out their necessary activities (for example, How does the plant in the low-carbon-dioxide environment photosynthesize?).
• Have students sketch a diagram of their plant (with adaptations) in their journals.
• Students should choose a medium (e.g., poster-size picture, sculpture) to present their plant to the class.

Harvesting the Crop...

Did you encounter any challenges? Surprises? Do you have any new questions? How is the plant that you designed similar to "real" plants that you have seen in the natural world? What do you expect would happen if the conditions of your "assigned" environment changed? How does this tendency to adapt impact the diversity of species on our planet?

Please click the BACK button on your browser to return to the course.