Title: Meristems

Author: Zyta Sendecka

Target group

5th grade student of elementary school

Core curriculum

II. Diversity of life.

5. Variety and unity of plants:

1) plant tissues - the student observes and recognizes (under a microscope, in the diagram, in the picture or on the basis of the description) plant tissues and indicates their adaptive features to perform specific functions (creative, covering, parenchyma, strengthening, conductive tissue).

Lesson objectives

Students discuss the occurrence and structure of meristems.

Criteria for success

• discuss the occurrence of meristems;

• describe the structure and function of meristems;

• recognize meristems on the microscopic slide.

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;

Methods/forms of work

Direct observation, workshop method, talk, traffic lights method.

Individual activity and activity in groups.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive whiteboard or traditional blackboard;

• tablets/computers;

• leafless willow branches with buds;

• watercress seedlings;

• microscopes;

• preparations of meristems.

Lesson phases

Introduction

1. The lecturer asks the chosen person how new plant cells are formed.

2. The teacher gives the subject and the purpose of the lesson in a language that the student understands and displays the criteria for success.

Realization

1. The teacher instructs students to familiarize themselves with the content of the abstract, and pay special attention to the illustrations in it.

2. The teacher gives willow branches to the pupils and asks them to show the places of the fastest growth of the plant. He explains that the elements indicated by the students are buds from which new branches will develop.

3. Students, working in pairs, observe cress seedlings. On the main root they find the youngest side roots. They wonder where in the root is the tissue responsible for its lengthening.

4. The teacher explains that creative tissue cells are dividing all their lives. Their divisions are frequent and fast. He asks students what features of construction should meristems have to perform their function well. On the interactive whiteboard the teacher displays the table „Meristems .............” (attachment No. 1) or draws it on the traditional board. He asks his pupils to delete wrong entries and justify their decisions. Then the students complete the table.

5. The teacher introduces an animation titled „Root meristems”. Instructs the students to write a research question and hypothesis on the relation of the structure and function of the root meristems in the form in the abstract. The teacher displays the video, and the students record their observations and conclusions. The selected student reads his / her observations. The teacher completes the lesson and corrects any mistakes.

6. Students, instructed by the teacher, look at the cells of the root growth cone under the microscope. They point to the meristems preparation and then draw four neighboring meristems in accordance with the principles of microscopic observation documentation.

Summary

1. The lecturer displays the gallery, and asks students to discuss the adaptation of meristems to their functions.

2. Students perform interactive exercise No. 1 and 2.

Appendix 1

Table „Meristems…………..”

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Meristematic tissues

Plants grow throughout their lives. Responsible for their growth are meristematic tissues made of small cells with thin walls and large cellular nuclei. These cells have non‑ligneous walls and a small volume, and therefore are capable of continuos division. The daughter cells of meristem cells give rise to all the tissues that build the plant's body.

Meristematic tissues growth occurs in cones at the top of the stem and at the end of the root. The effect of cell divisions taking place in stem growth cone and root growth cone is that the plant extends. In perennial plants – trees and shrubs– there is also a meristem called cambium, which is below the surface of the stem and root. Thanks to it, the plants grow in thickness.

• The body of plants is filled with tissues, i.e. assemblies of cells with a similar structure specialized to perform specific functions.

• Meristematic tissues have a constant ability to divide and are responsible for the growth of the plant in length and thickness.