Title: Seed plants

Lesson plan elaborated by: Zyta Sendecka

Target Group

Pupils of the fourth grade of primary school.

Core Curriculum

Grade IV

VI. The natural environment of the local area. Pupil

6) lists and describe the factors for life on land and how organisms adapt to it;

7) recognizes and names common organisms found in the immediate vicinity of the school.

The general aim of education

Students describe the appearance and living environments of seed plants.

Criteria for success

• describe the structure of a seed;

• recognize gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Key Competences

• Communication in the mother tongue;

• Communication in foreign languages;

• Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;

• Digital competence;

• Learning to learn;

• Social and civic competences.

Methods / forms of work

Talk, work with text, direct observation, indirect observation.

Individual work and work in pairs.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive or traditional board;

• tablets / computers;

• swollen bean seeds;

• magnifying glass;

• Dissecting needle;

• white card;

• twigs of coniferous trees (with cones) and deciduous trees marked with numbers;

• cards with numbers.

Before the lesson

The teacher asks students to bring seeds to class (set up in accordance with the guidelines contained in „Exercise 1.1” in the abstract entitled „Plant adaptation to life on land”).

Lesson phases

Introduction

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

Realization

1. The students are paired up. Each receives a white card from the teacher, dissection needles, magnifying glasses and a swollen bean seed. The students split the beans in half and put them on a piece of paper. They draw arrows to the individual parts of the seed and describe them using the illustration „Structure of bean seeds”.

2. Students, working in pairs, evaluate each others homework according to predefined criteria. They justify their answers.

3. The teacher instructs students to draw a table showing the differences between the two groups of plants: gymnosperms and angiosperms. The chosen students presents the results of their work.

4. The teacher asks the pupils, to which group (gymnosperms or angiosperms) belong the plants whose seeds they have brought to class.

5. The teacher distributes the numbered branches of the trees and the corresponding cards to the students. Next, the teacher displays an interactive illustration showing a collection of trees. After viewing a picture of a given collection, students pick up cards with the appropriate number of the twigs.

Summary

Students independently perform an interactive exercise.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Seed plants

Seed plants are those that produce flowers and seeds. The seeds contain an embryo – a miniature of the new plant. In seeds, there is usually a supply of embryonic food. Both parts are covered with a seed coat.

Seed plants are divided into two large groups: gymnosperms and angiosperms. Gymnosperms seeds lie exposed on the scales of cones. On the other hand, angiosperms produce fruit in which seeds are hidden. The fruit protects the seeds and makes them easier to spread. If the fruit is fleshy, it encourages animals to eat it. Along with expelled food residues, animals spread seeds that are not digestible. Some species of plants produce dry and light fruit which spread in the wind (e.g. maple fruit). Other species produce spikes, hair with hooks or burrs (eg burdock, or thistle) to also be spread by animals.

Examples of gymnosperms are conifers and shrubs. Currently, several hundred species of these plants are known on Earth. Among the trees growing in Poland, there are mainly pine, spruce, fir and larch. Yews and junipers are the best‑known shrubs.

A much larger group of seed plants living on Earth, including Poland, are angiosperms. At the moment, about 250,000 species have been distinguished. They include the majority of trees and shrubs and herbaceous plants.

• Seed plants produce seeds.

• In plants, gymnosperms produce seeds, but they do not produce fruit.

• Angiosperms produce fruits in which seeds are found.

• Among the gymnosperms, mostly coniferous trees and shrubs are found.

• The angiosperms are mostly deciduous trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.