Download Unit Plans Unit: Classification of Plants Big Ideas Plants can be

Unit Plans
Unit: Classification of Plants
Big Ideas
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Plants can be classified by use or by physiological structures.
Plants are named using their Genus and species in a system called binomial
nomenclature.
Cultivars and variety names indicate differences within a species.
Essential Questions
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What are five common use categories for plants?
What are the stages of taxonomic classification for plants?
How does a plant get named?
How is a dichotomous key used?
What internal structures aid in classifying plants?
What external structures aid in classifying plants?
How are scientific names used?
Unit: Effects of water, temperature and light on plant growth
Big Ideas
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Light, water and temperature quantity and quality affect plant growth.
Producers can improve the quality of their plants by altering exposure to light, water
and temperature.
Essential Questions
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How much water do plants really need?
What happens to plants that get too much or not enough water?
What kind of light do plants need?
What happens to plants that get too much or too little light?
What is the proper temperature for plant growth?
What happens to plants grown outside their optimal temperature range?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 1
Unit Plans
Unit: Germination
Big Ideas
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Specific environmental factors determine where a seed will germinate.
Water, oxygen and temperature levels must be appropriate for the specific seed.
Some seeds require the seed coat to be broken down for germination to occur.
Essential Questions
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What environmental conditions must exist for germination to begin?
How does the plant determine the direction of growth?
When is germination complete?
What is the difference between stratification and scarification?
Unit: Greenhouse Structures
Big Ideas
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There are several different shapes of greenhouses and each is appropriate for different
situations.
Horticulturalists must consider climate, space, cost and purpose when selecting the
framework of a greenhouse.
Bench selection is determined by space and watering options.
A headhouse provides a work and storage space to aid in the running of the
greenhouse.
Essential Questions
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What is the purpose of a greenhouse and what forms do they come in?
What materials are greenhouses made out of?
What are some advantages and disadvantages to those materials?
Why is a headhouse added to a greenhouse?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 2
Unit Plans
Unit: Greenhouse Heating and Cooling Systems
Big Idea
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There are a variety of heating systems including hot water, infra-red, and steam heat
systems can be controlled through analog or computer control systems.
Fan-and-pad, fog, and curtain systems help cool the greenhouse.
Essential Questions
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Why are heating and cooling systems needed in a greenhouse?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the heating and cooling systems
mentioned?
Which systems are more efficient?
Unit: Growing Medium and Its Components
Big Ideas
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The quality of growing media determines the health of the plant.
Media can be soil or soil-less and the quality is determined by organic matter, bulk
density, porosity, aeration, pH and cation exchange capacity.
Medium holds water and nutrients, allows gas change and provides anchorage for the
roots.
Essential Questions
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What are the differences between soil and soil-less media?
What is bulk density and how is it relevant to plant growth?
What is cation exchange?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 3
Unit Plans
Unit: Nutrients and Deficiencies
Big Ideas
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Sixteen nutrients are essential for plant survival.
Nutrient deficiencies and excesses result in plant damage and must be prevented.
Fertilizers can supplement missing or deficient nutrients and the three most common
macronutrients found in fertilizers are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.
Essential Questions
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What are the 16 essential nutrients?
What are common symptoms of nutrient deficiencies?
What are the non-fertilizer nutrients and how are they used by the plant?
Unit: Pests and Integrated Pest Management
Big Ideas
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Pests cause injury to plants by affecting reproduction, making them less productive or
causing their death.
Pests include insects, nematodes, weeds, disease and rodents.
Integrated Pest Management(IPM) uses a variety of methods to control pests including
mechanical, cultural, chemical, biological and genetic control.
IPM is used to reduce dependency on chemical pesticide while keeping pests below a
threshold level.
Essential Questions
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What are the major categories of pests?
How do pests affect plants?
What are the symptoms of pest damage?
What is integrated pest management?
What is an economic injury level?
What are the benefits of using IPM?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 4
Unit Plans
Unit: Photosynthesis
Big Idea
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Photosynthesis is the essential life process that allows autotrophic organisms to
manufacture sugars.
This process is carried out in the leaves of plants when chlorophyll is present in the
chloroplasts
The sugars may be used as energy or stored as starch.
Essential Questions
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What is an autotrophic organism?
What is the purpose of photosynthesis?
What are the inputs necessary for photosynthesis?
What are the products of photosynthesis?
What environmental factors control the rate of photosynthesis?
What plant factors control the rate of photosynthesis?
Unit: Plant Growth Regulators
Big Ideas
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Plant growth regulators are chemicals that affect the plant in many complex ways.
They control such activities as cell division and differentiation, root and shoot growth,
flowering and ripening.
Several hormones are made by the tissues of the plant and cause changes to occur in
the plant.
Essential Questions
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What are hormones?
What are synthetic growth regulators?
How can plant growth regulators be manipulated?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 5
Unit Plans
Unit: Plant Life Cycles
Big Ideas
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Plants will follow one of three distinct plant life cycles.
Annuals germinate, grow and bloom in one year (one growing season)
Perennials will grow for more than two years.
Biennials germinate in the first year and have vegetative growth. In the second year,
biennials will produce flowers and then die.
Essential Questions
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What is the life cycle of an annual, perennial, and biennial?
How do horticulturalists use annuals, perennials, and biennials in landscaping and
plantscaping?
Unit: Plant Morphology
Big Ideas
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The cells of a plant differ from those of an animal and allow the plant to carry out its
essential life processes.
The internal and external structures of a plant work together in systems for the
production of sugars, transportation of nutrients, absorption or water, anchoring the
plant and reproduction.
Essential Questions
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What are the purposes of the leaves?
What are the purposes of the roots?
What are the purposes of the stems?
What are the purposes of the flowers?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 6
Unit Plans
Unit: Propagation from Seeds
Big Ideas
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Plants reproduce sexually through the process of pollination and the production of
seeds.
Sexual reproduction creates plants with a mix of genes from each parent plant.
Pollination is the transportation of sperm from the male part of the plant to the female
part of the plant.
Essential Questions
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What is sexual propagation in plants?
How is sexual propagation essential to the survival of plants?
What are the steps of pollination?
What are the steps of fertilization?
Unit: Respiration
Big Ideas
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Cellular respiration is the process in which chemical energy stored in certain foods is
converted to STP, high-energy compounds.
The process of respiration takes place in complex organelles known as mitochondria.
Essential Questions
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What is cellular respiration?
What are the processes of cellular respiration?
What are the factors that affect cellular respiration?
Plant Science Spring 2010
Page 7
Unit Plans
Unit: Vegetative Propagation
Big Ideas
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Asexual propagation creates clones of the parent plant. This allows horticulturalists to
create a more homogenous crop and to establish that crop more rapidly than by seed.
There are a variety of techniques including stem cuttings, leaf cuttings, grafting,
layering, separation and division.
Propagation methods are chosen based on the species being propagated and the time
of the year.
Essential Questions
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What is asexual propagation?
What does the daughter plant look like?
What is the advantage to asexual propagation?
How are cuttings taken?
Why do horticulturalists use grafting?
What is layering and when is it used?
Why are peat moss and prelate used in propagation?
What is division?
Plant Science Spring 2010
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