Topic: The ways of movement of organisms, plant movements

Author: Leokadia Stalewicz

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

I. Organization and chemism of life. Student:

8. presents the vital functions of organisms.

General aim of education

Students will explain why organisms are moving.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to explain the ways of movement of organisms;;

• to distinguish the movements of plants..

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• cage with a hamster;

• hamster food;

• sachet with sawdust from a different sex hamster cage;

• sachet with grit from a cat litter box.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• The week before the lesson, the interested pupils carry out the experiment according to the instructions (Attachment No. 1). The documentation of the experiment consists of two photographs: a photographed experimental set at the beginning and at the end of the experiment..

Introduction

• The teacher gives the topic, the goals of the lesson in a language understandable for the student, and the criteria of success.

Realization

• The teacher asks students to answer the question Why are organisms moving? Students work on a brainstorming method, the teacher writes down ideas on the board.

• Students observe the behavior of the hamster and answer the same question as before. They determine what can be put into his cage to confirm whether the reasons listed on the board are true. The teacher puts a bag of gauze filled with sawdust into the hamster cage from the cage of another sex, and then a bag of grit from the cat litter box. Students based on the behavior of the hamster verify the entries on the board.

• The teacher asks students to read the first paragraph in the abstract and then do the exercise 4.

• The students who conducted the experiment present photos, presenting the set at the beginning and end of the experiment, complement the diary.

• Students discuss the assumptions of the experiment and its result. They explain the relationship that this experience has with the topic of the lesson.

• The teacher asks students to read the second paragraph of the „Plant movements” abstract. Students explain why the roots of the plants are directed downwards and the stems up. They call the observed type of movement.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to submit a proposal for an experience that would show that the root grows towards shady places, and the momentum - sunlit.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

• Explain in the notebook why pot plants standing on the window sill need to be turned from time to time to grow evenly..

Attachment No. 1

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The ways of movement of organisms, plant movements

Movement is one of the manifestations of life, it is also important for the functioning of organisms in the environment. Owing to the ability to move, the animals can find and get food, and in the event of danger escape from a predator, avoid adverse environmental factors or seek a partner for reproduction. The way animals move around depends on the structure of their bodies and the environment in which they live.

Three ways of movement can be distinguished: amoeboid and ciliary occurring mainly in unicellular organisms, and muscular. Amoeboid movement involves spasms and protrusion of cytoplasm of the cells, which results in the formation of multiform projections known as pseudopodia. Some animal‑like protists (e.g. amoebas) move in this way. Ciliary movement – performed with short cilia and long flagella, – characterizes certain bacteria and animal‑like protists (such as Paramecium or Euglena). Muscular movement is based on the contraction of muscle cell assemblies. It is common to most animals living both in water and on land. The rigid external or internal skeleton, to which the muscles are attached, facilitates the movement of those animals. Depending on the environment they live in, animals move by flying, running, jumping, crawling or swimming.

Moving is not synonymous with relocation. Plants do not change the habitat, yet they move, changing the position of leaves, flowers and whole shoots, they also show movement associated with growth. Plant movements are a manifestation of sensitivity to environmental stimuli. The change in the position of organs results from the influence of environmental factors: light, temperature, humidity, gravity or touch. Two types of movement are known in plants: tropisms and nasties. Tropisms are movements that depend on the direction of the stimulus. According to the type of the influencing factor, there are several types of tropisms. Phototropism is a directional reaction to light. Stems show positive phototropism, as they are directed towards the light. Growing roots are directed towards unlit spaces, so they show negative phototropism. Tigmotropism is a directional response to touch – it occurs when young shoots of plants or tendrils are wrapping around a support.

Nasties are growth or turgor movements that do not depend on the direction of the stimulus. Photonasties are reactions to the change of lightning – this is the reason why in the morning flowers open, and in the evening they close. Seismonasty is observed, for example, in mimosa, a plant that folds the leaf when touched.

• Energy from nutrients is needed to perform movements.

• Three ways of movement of organism can be distinguished: amoeboid and ciliary occurring mainly in unicellular organisms, and muscular.

• Two types of movement are known in plants: tropisms and nasties.