Download Curriculum Area: Science - biologyisgolden

Curriculum Area: Science
Year Level: 8
General Topic: Plants
Time Allocated: 1 lesson
Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand:
 What the different parts of plants are and what they do.
 What leaves are for.
 What photosynthesis is and where it occurs.
Students’ Prior Knowledge:
 Students will not generally have studied plants before unless briefly in
primary school, but they would have a general understanding of what
plants are, that they grow etc.
Resources/Content:
 Notes on plant structure and photosynthesis (see Appendix A),
Reference material for teacher (mentioned in Appendix A).
 Worksheet on photosynthesis (Appendix B – on wiki).
 Powerpoint (on wiki)
 Diagram of plants with labels and descriptions.
 Videos on photosynthesis, internet connection, computer, projector or
smart board with projector. Links to videos on wiki.
 Computers for all of the students to access the wikispaces lesson,
either individually or in pairs.
Procedure/Teaching Strategies:
 5 mins – Students will come in, sit, take books out, write date and topic
while teacher marks roll.
 5-10 mins – Teacher will explain topic and show students how to
access their wiki page.
 20 mins – Explanation and notes on leaves and photosynthesis.
Students will work their way through their wiki.
 10 mins – videos on photosynthesis to reinforce learning.
 5 mins – hand out worksheet, if there is time students will start
worksheet and continue as homework to be collected the following
lesson. Students who require more time will be able to take the
worksheet home to complete at their own pace.
Assessment of student learning:
 An assessment will be based on homework which will be handed in the
following lesson and checked by the teacher outside of class time.
Self-evaluation of teaching:
 Self-evaluation will be done based on how smoothly the lesson runs,
the interest level of the students, achievement in homework.
Appendix A
Reference material of teacher: Sci3 textbook unit 6.3 (Phillips, G et al,
2004, Sci3, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney) and
http://www.biology4kids.com/
Teacher script: Parts in blue are spoken. Underlined parts are notes to
be copied by students.
Heading is Plants.
Plants are made up of different parts which we will talk about shortly.
There are many different kinds of plants.
 Angiosperms have flowers
 Mosses and liverworts don’t have a classic plant structure.
 Cacti don’t have leaves, but these are all plants.
But the basic similarity in all plants is that they produce their own energy.
Vascular plants are a very common type of plant. They have the following
structures:
 Roots
 Stems/shoots
 Leaves
So let’s have a go at drawing a plant. I’ll draw it on the board while you copy
me. Teacher draws basic plant with roots under ground with lateral roots,
stem above ground with stems coming off that have leaves on them. Label 3
basic parts.
Talk to the students about the 3 parts and get them to copy down definitions
next to their drawings in their books:
 Roots: are for soaking up water and minerals from the ground. They
also anchor the plant.
Example of root we eat: carrots
 Stems/shoots: are support structures that transport food and water.
o Xylem: tubes that transport water and minerals upwards.
o Phloem: tubes that transport sugars downwards.
 Leaves: are the part that does photosynthesis/makes energy.
Teacher hands out photocopy of plant diagram below and makes students
glue into their books. From
http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/plants/basic.html
We are now going to talk about leaves, photosynthesis and respiration.
I said before that leaves makes energy via photosynthesis. So going back to
the beginning what do plants do? They grow. What do we as humans need to
make us grow? Food/Energy.
Now the question is how do plants grow? They need energy too. But plants
can produce their energy. Plants use light to convert water and carbon dioxide
into energy/plant material/growth. This process is called photosynthesis.
Carbon dioxide + water + light
 glucose and oxygen
6CO2
+ 6H2O + light and chlorophyll  C6H12O6 + 6O2
What is glucose? It’s a type of sugar. Somewhere in the leaf this process is
happening. The part of the leaf that is responsible for this is the chloroplast
(the part we see as green in the leaf).
Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplast of a cell because of a pigment
called chlorophyll which traps the light.
Like I mentioned earlier the xylem transports the water to the leaf. But where
does the plant get the CO2 from? From the air, through a pore in the
underside of a leaf called a stomata. Also the oxygen is released through this
same pore/stomata.
A plant gets CO2 from the air through a pore known as a stomata. Plants
release oxygen through stomata.
Now photosynthesis is more complex than the equation looks, because there
are also enzymes involved to make the reaction occur. Basically there is one
part of the reaction that requires light energy to transform into chemical
energy (ATP), and that is called the light reaction, and then there is a second
part where enzyme reactions cause carbon dioxide and hydrogen ions to
combine to form glucose, and this part is the dark reaction.
Light reaction: light energy  chemical energy  ATP and NADPH
Dark reaction: carbon dioxide and energy  glucose
This is also known as the Calvin Cycle.
We are now going to look at a couple of videos about photosynthesis.
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8e76ed6808d9ee828e
7e
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.stru.photosynth/
http://www.5min.com/Video/Plants-Photosynthesis-1354330
Teacher then hands out worksheet.
Appendix B
Name:
Photosynthesis Worksheet – Year 8 Science
Key terms that may be useful: growth, root, stem, leaf, stomata, carbon dioxide,
oxygen, chemical energy, light energy, chlorophyll, chloroplast, glucose, enzymes,
photosynthesis, sunlight, water, energy.
1. Name the 3 major parts in the structure of a plant.
2. Why is photosynthesis essential for all living things?
3. What part of a plant does photosynthesis occur in? Root, stem or leaf?
Where are the photosynthetic parts located more specifically?
4. What are the two reactants in photosynthesis?
5. What else is needed for photosynthesis to occur?
6. What are the two products of photosynthesis?
7. Green plants carry a pigment called ___________________ which
helps convert ___________________ energy into
___________________ energy. Chlorophyll is located inside structures
called chloroplasts that are inside the cells of leaves and stems.
8. Complete the chemical and word equations for photosynthesis:
+ Sun….. +
6H2O + 6CO2
c……….

____________ +
6O2
_____
water
____________
glucose
__________
____________
____
9. Match the word to the action in the following table. Put the
corresponding letter for the action beside the word it matches.
Word
Action
water
A
produced in chloroplasts
carbon
B
taken up by roots
sunlight
C
released to atmosphere
glucose
D
absorbed by chloroplasts in
dioxide
leaves
oxygen
E
taken in by leaves
10. Use this word list to help complete the next sections.
canopy, deep water, grow, lower canopy, photosynthesise, shallow,
shallow water, sunlight, sunlight
The tallest plants in the upper ___________________ of a forest can do more
/ less photosynthesis because they get more ___________________ than
plants at the bottom or ___________________ ___________________ of the
rainforest.
11. Choose the best answer.
Plants need to have the following things in order to photosynthesise:
a) glucose, oxygen and moonlight
b) sunlight, carbon dioxide and water
c) CO2, H2O and solar energy
d) both B and C