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

Activity 34: Taxonomist-for-a-Day

Grades: 5-8

Associated Lesson Topics:

• Classification systems
• Diversity
• Evolution

National Standards:

• SCIENCE: Standard C
• LANGUAGE ARTS: Listening and Speaking 11
• MATH: Data Analysis and Probability Standard

Planting the Seed...

Do all plants look the same? Can you name some characteristics that we could use to tell plants apart? What does it mean to classify something? If you had to classify plants, which characteristics would you use?

Teacher Information:

Taxonomists are people who specialize in the classification of things. For example, a plant taxonomist is responsible for classifying plants into Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. (An easy way to remember the order of this classification system is King Phillip Came Over From Germany Saturday!) Plant classification is often based primarily on plant reproductive structures, pollen and seed shapes, vein patterns, and epidermal hairs. In this activity, students will examine photographs of plants and classify them according to different plant characteristics.

Necessary Materials:

• Plant cards. Search the Internet for images of plants. It is best to have a wide selection of organisms, including algae, fungi, duckweed, mosses, flowering plants, and trees. Print out and glue the pictures to cardboard or index cards and laminate them using clear contact paper.

Note: This same activity can be carried out in the classroom or greenhouse using several different varieties of potted flowering plants, mosses from outside, and duckweed from your local pet (fish) shop. The key is for students to be able to physically move the plants into their classification groups.

Procedure:

• Divide the class into groups.
• Provide each group with a selection of plant cards.
• Have each group classify its plant photographs into "X" number of groups based on plant characteristics students consider to be obvious or important (e.g., showy flowers, no flowers, low-growing, tall, shiny leaves). The number X is provided by you-a realistic number based on the number of different plant photographs you provide.
• Each group should present its classified plant photographs to the other groups, who try to guess the classification system.
• Each group reveals the rationale behind its classification systems. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers here, as long as each group can justify how it classified the plants.
• You can have students repeat this activity several times, each time coming up with a new way to classify the same plants.

Harvesting the Crop...Students place the plant cards along an evolutionary time line indicating the age of the species from oldest to youngest. Allow them to decide which plant characteristics are more primitive or advanced than others. Which plants seem simpler? More complex? On what characteristics did you base your answer? When this classification is complete, students will again explain the rationale behind their time line to the class. This activity can easily lead into a discussion or a lesson on the evolution of plants.

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