Topic: Ferns

Author: Elżbieta Szedzianis

Target group

Students of the 5th grade of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

3) Fern, clubmoss, horsetail. The student:

a) observes representatives of ferns, clubmoss, horsetail (photos, figures, live specimens) and presents the characteristics of their external structure,

b) identifies an unknown organism as a representative of ferns, clubmoss, horsetail based on the presence of characteristic features,

c) presents the meaning of ferns, clubmoss, horsetail in nature and for humans.

The general aim of education

The students describe the structure and adaptation of ferns to life on land.

Criteria of success

• You will observe and name the parts of the fern body,

• You will explain by giving three examples of how a fern is adapted to life on land.

Methods / techniques

Conversation, laboratory work, work with text, didactic game.

Individual work and work in groups.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• communication in the mother tongue;

• mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; 

• learning to learn.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive or traditional board;

• tablets/computers;

• work cards;

• fern leaves with sori;

• magnifying glass,

• cuvette with moist soil;

• fern grown in a pot.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

At the beginning of the school year, each student received a closed white envelope with an unknown content from the teacher. The envelope was signed with the student's name and a note saying: Open on the lesson about ferns.

Introduction

1. The teacher asks the students how protists, mushrooms, algae and mosses reproduce. The teacher focuses mainly on asexual reproduction - by body division and spores. In particular, the teacher reminds a crop of mushroom spores and asks the students to describe these spores and their function.

2. The teacher informs that the students will learn about ferns on this lesson. The teacher says that ornamental ferns at home are sometimes called pot flowers. Is the name „flowers” correct for these plants? The teacher explains that the students will find out during the lesson.

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students to conduct Observation 1 while working in groups. During the observation they should identify and name parts of the fern body and use Illustration 2 „Fern structure” for this purpose. The teacher asks everyone to photograph the fern.

2. The students are invited to play the Observe‑describe game. This is a variation of the country‑city game. The students are divided into groups of six to eight people. Everyone receives a sheet with a table.

The students successively give a signal to start the round. During the round, the students put in the table adequate and short descriptions of fern organs, and adjectives that describe them. The first student to finish counts up to three and stops writing.
Counting points: all players, one by one, read the descriptions from individual columns. For putting the correct description, which none of the other players has used, 2 points are awarded, for putting a description that was used by another student, 1 point is awarded. For putting no description or an incorrect description in a given column, no points are added or subtracted. The students in the group determine if the description in the table is correct. If there is a disagreement, the dispute is resolved by the teacher.

3. The teacher asks the students to open the envelopes received at the beginning of the year and examine their contents carefully. The envelopes contain leaves with sori and scattered spores. The students observe the sori through a magnifying glass. They sow the spores into a cuvette filled with moist soil and covered with a transparent cover. The cuvette will be placed in a well‑lit place. Keen students will take care of the cultivation, photograph the growth of the prothallia and then the ferns. They will complete the task in the form of a research project, which will be discussed during extracurricular activities.

4. The teacher asks the students to look at the fern taken out of the flowerpot again, and discuss its adaptations to live on land, and then perform interactive task 1.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students to:

• explain how ferns reproduce,

• give examples of spore organisms and explain what spores are used for,

• explain how the roots, underground stem and fern leaves are adapted to life on land.

Homework for keen students.

Using a graphic programme, sign the adaptation of ferns to life on land in the photograph taken on the lesson. Print the photograph with the description on an A4 sheet of paper. Sign your name. The illustrations will be posted in the classroom.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Ferns

Pteridophytes is a common name for a group of terrestrial plants, which include ferns, horsetails and club mosses. These organisms are commonly found in the temperate zone, where they are a component of the undergrowth and underbrush. They can also be found in swamps, meadows and fields. Few species live in water reservoirs. However, the greatest diversity is found in warm and humid rainforests. Many species of exotic Pteridophytes are grown as ornamental plants in gardens and apartments.

Pteridophytes are perennial, not too large plants, which, however, achieve larger sizes than mosses. This is possible, among others, thanks to the creation of conductive tissues that facilitate the transport of nutrients and water over long distances, as well as strengthening tissues that stiffen the grown sprout and protect it from damage, e.g. wind breakage. For this reason, they are referred to as vascular plants.

Pteridophytes are also organisms. Their stems often take the form of an underground rhizome, which acts as a storage. Thanks to it, plants after losing leaves can survive winter underground and in the spring, using the stored nutrients to create new above‑ground organs. The roots of Pteridophytes grow out of the rhizome in the form of short, dense beams. Their task is to fix the plant in the substrate and to collect water along with mineral salts. The leaves can have various shapes, from inconspicuous, scaly, to large and spread, resembling frayed feathers. They play a dual role: they produce nutrients in the process of photosynthesis and produce spores for asexual reproduction. Pteridophytes reproduce also by dividing the rhizome. Sexual reproduction, similarly to bryophytes, depends on the presence of water.

Ferns produce short and quite thick rhizomes that grow underground. Many roots grow out of them downwards, and upwards – leaves. Young leaves (fiddleheads) of ferns are coiled and covered in brown scale that protect them from drying, whereas adult leaves (fronds) take different shapes. They are usually complex and consist of numerous smaller leaves that have the same main axis. There are also species with tapered, fan‑shaped or branched leaves. The leaves can have two functions: nutrition and reproduction. Assimilative leaves are green. Sometimes on their bottom side one can find yellow, then sori producing spores. Sometimes some sporangia are created on brown trophophyll leaves.

The size of ferns is very diverse – from tiny, a few centimeters long floating on water to tree forms growing in tropical forests that reach a height of several meters.

The male fern (Dryopteris filix‑mas) is a common fern found throughout Poland. It grows on fertile soils in deciduous and mixed forests. It occurs on rocks, along streams and under bushes. It produces feathery divided, magnificent leaves. Its healing properties have been known since antiquity. Decoction of the rhizome is used for compresses for difficult to heal wounds and rheumatic pains. In parks and gardens, it is planted as an ornamental plant.

The eagle fern (Pteridium aquilinum) is found on sandy, clear and dry soils of pine and mixed forests. Its leaves grow individually from the rhizomes and are divided three times. Spores are placed on the edges of assimilative leaves.

Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) occurs in areas with a mild climate. It grows in wet, shady deciduous forests and on peat bogs. Its leaves are divided into the lower –-- assimilating part and the upper part containing sporangia. In Poland, it is subject to strict species protection. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant.

An ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)  is found on the banks of streams, wet meadows and forest glades. It produces two types of leaves: funnel‑shaped assimilative leaves and dark brown, stiff ostrich‑like sporophylls. It is planted in the gardens as a decorative plant.

The hart‑tongue fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium)  is found in the mountains, in shady and damp places. Its undivided leaves grow directly from the rhizome to form a plume. Sporangia arise underneath the assimilative leaves. It is a dying species, in Poland subject to strict species protection. Imported from Asia, it is grown as an ornamental plant.

Common water clover (Marsilea quadrifolia) is water fern growing on the muddy banks of shallow water reservoirs. From the thin rhizomes, the leaves are divided into four‑part folios, which makes them resemble a four‑leaf clover. In Poland, it is protected by species protection.

• Ferns have a body differentiated into organs: roots, leaves, stems; they do not produce flowers and fruits.

• Shoots of ferns produce spores.

• Numerous species of ferns are protected species.