Download Teacher`s guide - PRIMAS project

PLANT DETECTIVE SHERLOCK HOLMES
Teacher's guide
As we all know, Sherlock Holmes had to face many difficult missions. This time he gets the task of
finding plants that have disappeared. Will he succeed? You and your class have destiny in your
hands. Dress up a student and yourself as Sherlock Holmes. Explain that all students in the class will
have to be plant detectives. First, however, they must take part in a detective course called "The art
of using botanical clues".
The course consists of a short training session on plant appearance. Draw the figures showing the
plant appearance on the blackboard and have students draw and write. Select the characteristics
that you think is appropriate for the grade you teach (see examples below). You will find several
botanical terms in a regular school flora (handbook of plants). Do not include too many. After this
training session students are ready to play Sherlock Holmes!
As Sherlock Holmes, students are given some few sheets with clues that describe one specific plant
species (see Botanical clues, examples). They are then supposed to find and pick these species,
either one by one or in pairs. Finally you have to verify if they found the right species or not, for
example as a discussion in plenary. After this, students are supposed to describe a plant, either one
by one or in pairs. Encourage them to use their own words in addition to those they have just
learned. It is requested that students are a bit away from each other when they describe their
plants. When they return, collect their clue notes that are signed with a fictitious signature. Then mix
and give the notes to the students and play Sherlock Holmes again! Their task is, within a limited
area, to find the right plant with the help of the clues they have been given on the note. When the
student or student pair believes they have found the right plant, they pick it and go back to the place
of meeting. When everybody has finished, all students behind the signatures identify themselves
and verify whether Sherlock Holmes has succeeded or not.
Example of plant characteristics:
- How many petals has the flower?
- Which color has the flower? Which scent has the flower?
- How are the clusters of flowers? (inflorescences)
- Which form is it on the leaves?
- How is the stem? (round, square, hairy, hair on one side, sticking)
- How are the leaves placed on the stalk?
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Botanical clues (examples)
(Answers: Species 1= rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), Species 2 = lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea),
Species 3 = moss (division Bryophyta), Species 4 = wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa))
Clues
Find the right species by mean of these clues.
Species 1
 Have seed dispersal by animals
 Flowers have big petals
 May be up to 1.5 m© 2011
 Belonging to the rose family
Species 2
 Leathery thick leaves
 Winter green
 Leafe edges bowed down
 White flowers
Species 3
* Missing roots
* Breeding with spores
* Grow seldom alone, but in large accumulations
Species 4
 Creeping, horizontal, brown rhizomes
 A wreath of 3 leafs with short stem
 Each leaf is divided in three parts
 One flower in the top of the stem
 Missing sepals
 6-8 (12) petals
 Are toxic
Species 5
Now it’s your turn to make clues for a particular species. One of the clues shall be about the species
adaption to its environment. Write the clues on a sheet, including your fictitious signature and give it
to your teacher!
Ragnhild Lyngved, Sør-Trøndelag University College, Norway
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