Topic: Angiosperms

Author: Elżbieta Szedzianis

Target group

7th grade student of elementary school.

Core curriculum

5 ) Angiosperms - student:

A) distinguishes morphological forms of angiosperms (herbaceous plants, chamaephytes, shrubs, trees),

I) recognize representatives of indigenous deciduous trees,

J) shows the importance of angiosperms in nature and for man.

Lesson objectives

The students distinguish between the morphological forms of the angiosperms, identify the representatives of deciduous trees and shrubs and discuss the importance of angiosperms.

The criteria for success

• you will list at least three features that enabled plants to master all environments;

• you will recognise five species of deciduous trees and shrubs;

• you will give three examples each of the importance of angiosperms in nature and human economy.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• mathematical competence and basis competences in science and technology; 

• digital competence;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Methods/forms of work

Indirect observation, talk, educational game.

Individual activity and activity in groups.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard or traditional blackboard;

• tablets/computers;

• Old maid game cards prepared by the teacher.

Before classes

The teacher prepares the Old maid game cards using the illustration gallery.

A pair of cards should consist of:

• a card showing the shape of particular tree and shrub species;

• a card showing their leaves, flowers and fruit.

The cards showing the shape of the trees and shrubs should indicate the names of the shown species. “Old maid” is a card with an illustration of a juniper.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher specifies the subject and objectives of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher introduces the students to the subject of the classes. The teacher says that millions of years ago, the land was dominated by arborescent polystichums, then by forests composed of gymnosperms. Soon, however, the competition was won by angiosperms that were younger than gymnosperms. During the classes, students will learn how this happened.

Realization

3. Together, the students do interactive activity 1 on an interactive whiteboard. They explain why some of the mentioned features of plants give the plants an advantage over others, allowing angiosperms to master almost all of the Earth's environments.

4. Students do interactive exercise no. 2.

5. The teacher asks students to look carefully at the trees and shrubs presented in the gallery and try to remember the names of the plants and the details of their structure.

6. The teacher divides students into groups of four, gives them cards prepared before the classes and invites them to play the game. Students play two rounds in groups.

7. The teacher asks each student to tell the number of tree and shrub species he/she can recognise.

8. The teacher encourages the students to look around and identify the objects that have been created thanks to plants. The teacher asks if people (and other organisms) live and breathe thanks to plants. The teacher asks the students to justify their answers.

9. The teacher presents a photograph of a one hundred‑year‑old beech with a total leaf area of 1,600 m2 . The teacher makes the students aware that if all the beech leaves are spread out next to each other, they would cover the area of ten volleyball courts. The teacher says that a one hundred‑year‑old beech can keep 1 tonne (1000 kg) of dust on its leaves every year.

10. The teacher asks the students to finish the following sentence: “Thanks to plants, we have ...”. Students come up with their proposals, the teacher verifies them. Then, the students make notes in their notebooks by their own.

Summary

1. Students indicate the angiosperm they consider to be the most important in nature or for human. They justify their opinions.

2. The teacher asks the students to show, using their fingers, how many features of angiosperms they can list.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Angiosperms

Flowering plants, known in biology as angiosperms are common throughout the world. They are the most numerous and diverse group of plants. They can be found in every climate zone, from equatorial zone to polar regions. They cannot be found only in the Antarctica. They have adapted to almost all terrestrial environments except the highest parts of mountains and craters of active volcanoes. They also live in water.

They owe their dominant position to the production of flowers and fruits, organs unprecedented in other plants. The ovules hidden in the flowers and closed in the seed fruit are very well protected, therefore these plants are more resistant to environmental changes than gymnosperms. As a result, in the past, angiosperms displaced gymnosperms in most environments. Since flowering plants appeared, pollination can be carried out not only using wind but also animals.

The leaves with wide, broad blades are perfectly suited for efficient photosynthesis, although needles are better suited to moderate cold climate. Shedding leaves for winter or during drought has enabled many plants to master harsh environments in which it would be difficult for them to survive in the leafy state. Many angiosperms have occupied habitats that are not accessible to gymnosperms, such as tree trunks and shallow waters. Angiosperms form compact communities, such as forests or meadows. There, thanks to various modifications of the structure, many species may exist simultaneously in a limited area.

Angiosperms show numerous adaptations to the environment. One of these is the production of durable organs. Based on these organs, distinguished are trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.

Trees are long‑lived plants with a woody and corked stem called trunk. Its branches overgrown with leaves form a crown, the shape of which is characteristic for a given species. Flowering trees form deciduous and mixed forests in the temperate zone and tropical forests rich in species. Among the trees there are specimens of very large sizes. One of the highest trees is the Australian eucalyptus, which is more than 120 m high. The thickest trees are baobabs, the trunk’s diameter of which can be as large as 11 m.

Shrubs reach a height of up to 5 m. They do not have a main trunk (or it is very short) and instead produce a bunch of shoots of similar thickness. Natural shrubs, such as hazel, euonymus, black elder, viburnum, form a layer of undergrowth in deciduous and mixed forests. In parks and gardens, shrubs are planted as ornamental plants, for example common lilac and forsythia.

In the leafless state, trees and shrubs can survive frost because their trunks are covered with a multilayer cork (bark), whose dead cells are filled with air. It forms an insulation layer against frost and protects against water loss. However, in the vicinity of the polar circle, this is not enough. Only species which, thanks to their small size, are completely covered with snow that isolates them from frost in winter, may survive in the conditions prevailing there. Therefore, in tundra, trees and shrubs have a low (dwarf) shape.
Among the woody perennial plants, there are prostrate shrubs – low (up to 50 cm) perennial plants with permanent, quite thin shoots. Some of them are hardy, such as cowberry, whose thick, leathery leaves can survive winter. Others, such as European blueberry, remain leafless in autumn and winter. Prostrate shrubs are common in deciduous and coniferous forests as well as on peatlands.

Unlike trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants have shoots with non‑wooden stems and a delicate structure. Among these plants, there are many annual species that, when finishing vegetation, produce seeds and die. Biennial and perennial plants which, thanks to the underground organs, survive the winter, live longer.

• Angiosperms are the most numerous group of plants, most diversified in terms of species, in the world.

• They live in many terrestrial environments, and also in water.

• Among the angiosperms, there are herbaceous plants, trees and shrubs.

• Angiosperms are used by humans in many areas of life.