What do you already know about plants?
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Congratulations! You have completed this section. |
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This unit explores how the leaves of a plant produce sugar for growth, flowers, fruits, and seeds. |
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What do plants eat?
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Read "A Plant Story" by using the forward and back arrows below. |
Chapter 1
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Chapter 2
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Chapter 3
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Chapter 4
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Chapter 5
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Chapter 6
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A plant story
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In this activity, you must help a plant through a season of
growth by choosing whether to add roots, leaves, or flowers.
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Engage
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Start with a 0.5 liter bottle, one leaf card, a straw, and three paper clips that act as your root. You also need a teaspoon, a tablespoon, and a cup to measure water. |
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Set up your young "plant" as shown in the diagram. Fill the
water bottle so that one paper clip is completely in water and
the other two are out of water. This is like a newly seeded
plant in the spring, when the soil is soaked with water from
the spring rains.
The tiny plant has already made a short root, represented by the paper clip. Now you will decide how the seedling will grow. But the weather will affect your decisions. Let's get started! |
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Number on the Die | Weather | Making Sugars | Rainfall or Loss of Water Through Leaves |
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chilly,
downpour |
no sugar made | gain 100 ml (use measuring cup) OR 6 tablespoons |
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cool, light rain | make 1 sugar X number of leaves | gain 30 ml (2 tablespoons) |
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very humid, overcast | make 2 sugars X number of leaves | lose 5 ml of water (1 teaspoon) X number of leaves |
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warm, partly cloudy | make 3 sugars X number of leaves | lose 10 ml of water (2 teaspoons) X number of leaves |
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humid, sunny | make 4 sugars X number of leaves | lose 10 ml of water (2 teaspoons) X number of leaves |
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sunny, very dry, hot | make 4 sugars X number of leaves | lose 20 ml of water (4 teaspoons) X number of leaves |
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How the game ends
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Strategy suggestions
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Explore
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These three graphs are made from your entries. |
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Explain
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Elaborate
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Fill in the number of leaves, roots, and flowers at the end of your game in the table below. Divide the number of leaves by the number of roots. This is the leaf/root ratio. Place the ratio into the Leaf/root ratio column of the table. |
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How do plants make food to grow?
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In this activity, students study a model of photosynthesis in a chloroplast inside a leaf. |
Engage
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Explore
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We will use a model of photosynthesis to explore where the matter and energy come from to build a plant. A tree has thousands of leaves, but this model will zoom in on one leaf. The leaf is attached to a branch on a tree. |
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Play a movie
(click
here)
to see how to run the model.
Run the model and observe photosynthesis in action! Run the model for a little bit and then go on. |
This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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Explore
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You can use these sliders in the model to control the amount of sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water available to the plant. You will try them one by one. |
Sunlight
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This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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Water
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This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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Explain
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Elaborate
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How do leaves make food for plants?
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In this activity you will study a model of a leaf showing how plants make food from water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. |
Engage
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Now let's try to understand what is happening inside a leaf. We will use a model of photosynthesis. A tree has thousands of leaves, but this model will zoom in on one leaf. The leaf is attached to a branch on a tree. |
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Explore
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Here is a model that demonstrates photosynthesis. Play a movie
(click
here)
to see how to run the model.
Try the running the model and observe photosynthesis in action! Play with the model for a little bit and then go on. |
This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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Explain
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Elaborate
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This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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This model was created using NetLogo. Go
here
to explore the model on your own.
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What happens inside a leaf?
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In this activity you will investigate the importance of breathing for a living plant. |
Engage
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Explore
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Obtain a small potted plant with broad leaves from your
teacher.
Use one of the leaves to trace a pattern of the leaf on construction paper. |
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Explain
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Elaborate
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Do plants breathe?
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Study actual data of the growth of plants for nine days under different conditions of light and water. |
Engage
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Explore
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Plant number 1:
lots of sun and lots of water.
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The table records each day's observations.
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Plant number 1: lots of sun and lots of water. |
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The line graph displays the length of the vine.
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Plant number 2:
lots of sun and no water.
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The table records each day's observations.
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Plant number 2:
lots of sun and no water.
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The line graph displays the length of the vine.
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Plant number 3:
no sun and lots of water.
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The table records each day's observations.
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Plant number 3:
no sun and lots of water.
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The line graph displays the length of the vine.
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Plant number 4:
no sun and no water.
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The table records each day's observations.
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Plant number 4:
no sun and no water.
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The line graph displays the length of the vine.
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Explain
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Now let's compare all four graphs to determine which plant
grew the most over the six days.
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How fast will a plant grow under different conditions?
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Now it's time to review and summarize what you have learned
about plants. To help, you can show all of your snapshots and
some of your written answers from the activities. They are all
in your lab book.
Review the questions on the following pages. There is a separate page for each activity that you worked on. Be prepared to share your answers with the rest of the class. |
A Plant Story
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Photosynthesis: the big picture
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Photosynthesis: a closer look
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Plant game
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Monitoring a living plant
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Rates of growth
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Summary
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Password: |
Wrapping up
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Click the Submit button when you have finished. |
What have you learned about plants?
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