Plants Unit

Plants is one of the six Carbon TIME units. If you are new to teaching Carbon TIME, read the Carbon TIME FAQ: Which Units Should I Teach.

The Plants Unit supports students in using core disciplinary ideas, science practices, and cross-cutting concepts to develop scientific explanations of how different plants transform matter and energy as they grow, move, and function.

Follow these steps to get ready to teach the Plants Unit.

Lead Editor for 2019 Version

Kirsten D. Edwards, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Principal Authors

Kirsten D. Edwards, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Christie Morrison Thomas, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Elizabeth Tompkins, Michigan State University

Hannah K. Miller, Northern Vermont University

Christa Haverly, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Charles W. “Andy” Anderson, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Contributing Authors

Beth Covitt, Jenny Dauer, Jennifer H. Doherty, Allison Freed, Wendy Johnson, Deborah Jordan, Craig Kohn, Lindsey Mohan, Joyce Parker, Emily Scott, Carly Seeterlin, Alex Walus, Nicholas Verbanic, Pingping Zhao

Illustrations

Craig Douglas, Kendra Mojica

This research is supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation: A Learning Progression-based System for Promoting Understanding of Carbon-transforming Processes (DRL 1020187) and Sustaining Responsive and Rigorous Teaching Based on Carbon TIME (NSF 1440988). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the United States Department of Energy.

This unit is also available online at http://carbontime.bscs.org/. Contact the MSU Environmental Literacy Program for more information: EnvLit@msu.edu.

Download PDF of Unit Overview

The Driving Question

The Plants Unit starts by asking students to express their ideas about the driving question about an anchoring phenomenon: How does a radish plant grow, move, and function?

Carbon is the key! In the unit, students learn to tell the story of how matter and energy are transformed as they move through plant systems. A particularly powerful strategy for explaining how plant systems transform matter and energy involves tracing carbon atoms. For more information about the Next Generation Science Standards disciplinary core ideas included in this unit see the sections on the Matter Movement, Matter Change, and Energy Change Questions below and the Unit Goals.

Research base. This unit is based on learning progression research that describes the resources that students bring to learning about plants and the barriers to understanding that they must overcome. It is organized around an instructional model that engages students in three-dimensional practices.

Students’ Roles and Science Practices

As students learn to answer the driving question by explaining how animal systems transform matter and energy, they play three different roles that encompass all of the Next Generation Science Standards science and engineering practices. (For more details on science and engineering practices, see the Unit Goals.)

Questioners: Students explore the driving question, clarify, and generate more detailed questions
Investigators: Students conduct matter-tracing investigations of radish plants growing; and develop evidence-based arguments about key observations and patterns
Explainers: Students construct model-based explanations of how a potato plant grows and functions.

The roles that students play are embedded in the Carbon TIME instructional model and Discourse Routine. The Discourse Routine guides how classroom discourse aimed first at divergent thinking and then at convergent thinking should be sequenced through the unit.

Good Explanations Answer the Three Questions

Students figure out how to answer the driving question by tracing carbon-containing molecules through a series of movements and chemical changes inside plants. At each stage in these processes they answer Three Questions about what is happening: the Matter Movement Question, the Matter Change Question, and the Energy Change Question. Below, we use the anchoring phenomenon of plant growth as an example of how students learn to answer the Three Questions for different plants

Note that, in Carbon TIME, NGSS crosscutting concepts serve as the “rules of grammar” for producing a scientific performance. With respect to plants growing, high quality explanations should attend to the following rules that are implied by crosscutting concepts. Explanations should attend to…

Scale by explaining events and phenomena at the appropriate scale (see more in the structure and function bullets below).
Systems and system models and energy and matter by following rules for tracing matter and energy through systems and system models. For example, neither energy nor matter should be created or destroyed as it moves into, through, or out of a system.
Structure and function by linking structures and functions in explanations at each scale.
- Macroscopic scale (tracing matter and energy through processes occurring in plants and plants systems)
- Cellular scale (tracing matter and energy into and out of cells as cellular functions are carried out)
- Atomic-molecular scale (tracing matter and energy through chemical processes—cellular respiration and biosynthesis—involving molecules with different structures and properties)

The Matter Movement Question: Tracing Molecules Through Plants

Students learn to tell the following story of how carbon-containing molecules move through plants.

Carbon atoms enter plants in CO₂ molecules that are absorbed through the leaves, where they become part of glucose (sugar) molecules.
The sugar molecules travel through the stems and roots to all of the plant’s cells.¹
Some of the carbon atoms stay in the cells, as they are incorporated into the large organic molecules that make up cell structures through biosynthesis.
Some of the sugar molecules are oxidized in the process of cellular respiration. They leave the plant in CO₂ that diffuses through plant surfaces.

¹ Sugar molecules travel through the phloem as the disaccharide sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) rather than the monosaccharide glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆). We do not feel that this distinction is important for basic life science courses.

The Matter Change and Energy Change Questions: Explaining How Plants Use Organic Molecules to Grow, Move, and Function

Matter movement is an essential part of the story, but not the whole story. To answer the driving question, students learn to explain chemical changes that occur inside plants:

Photosynthesis. Plants’ leaf cells absorb CO2 and water. They use energy from sunlight to rearrange the atoms into new molecules: glucose and oxygen. Glucose has chemical energy stored in their C-C and C-H bonds.
Biosynthesis and growth. Plants grow when their cells grow and divide through the process of biosynthesis. Plant cells combine glucose with soil minerals to make other small organic molecules. Then they combine small organic molecules to make the large organic molecules needed for cells’ structure and function.
Cellular respiration—energy to move and function. Plant cells get the energy they need to move and function by combining sugars and other small organic molecules with oxygen, releasing energy when high-energy C-C and C-H bonds are replaced by lower-energy bonds in carbon dioxide and water.

How Much Detail?

There are more complicated and more scientifically accurate ways of talking about chemical bonds and about changes in energy; we discuss some of those in detail in our educator resource: Carbon TIME Carbon TIME Content Simplifications. But our learning progression research has shown that there is an important tradeoff here—many students get lost in the details and never learn a basic coherent story that answers the driving question. The Next Generation Science Standards take a clear position on this tradeoff; a coherent story based on principles such as matter and energy conservation is more important than the details. Consult the Unit Sequence tab and the sections on Extending the Learning at the end of each Activity page to decide how much detail is appropriate for your students.

Before beginning the Plants Unit, you need to decide what to teach and importantly, what not to teach! Use this page to choose the unit sequence that’s most appropriate for your students.

Some activities are REPEATING ACTIVITIES (). Omit these activities if students have already completed them in another unit (unless you’d like students to repeat them as review).
Other activities are TWO-TURTLE ACTIVITIES (), which place a higher demand on students. Decide whether the higher demand required by these activities will be useful or distracting for your students. The Carbon TIME Turtle Trails Document document provides further info about choices for making units more or less demanding, depending on your students’ needs.

Unless otherwise noted in the table below, all activities in the unit should be taught.

Here, we present two ways to think about how lessons are sequenced in the Plants Unit. The Instructional Model, immediately below, emphasizes how students take on roles of questioner, investigator, and explainer to learn and apply scientific models they can use to answer the driving question. Further below, the Unit Storyline Chart highlights the central question, activity, and answer that students engage with in each lesson of the Plants Unit.

Instructional Model

Like all Carbon TIME units, this unit follows an instructional model (IM) designed to support teaching that helps students achieve mastery at answering the driving question through use of disciplinary content, science practices, and crosscutting concepts. To learn more about this design, see the Carbon TIME instructional model.

The core of the Carbon TIME IM is the Observation, Patterns, Models (OPM) triangle, which summarizes key aspects to be attended to as the class engages in unit inquiry and explanation. The OPM triangle for the Plants Unit, shown below, articulates the key observations students make during the unit investigation, the key patterns they identify through analyzing their investigation data, and the central scientific model that can be used to answer the unit’s driving question. During the inquiry portion of the unit (Lesson 3), the class moves from making observations to identifying patterns, eventually using these patterns to make evidence-based arguments. During the explanation portion of the unit (Lessons 4, 5, and 6), the class learns the atomic-molecular model, makes connections across scales, and uses the atomic-molecular model to explain how animals grow, move, and function. Across the unit, classroom discourse is a necessary part of 3-dimensional Carbon TIME learning. The Carbon TIME Discourse Routine document provides guidance for scaffolding this discourse in lessons.

Unit Storyline Chart

Another way to familiarize yourself with the sequence of lessons in the Plants Unit is with the Unit Storyline Chart depicted below. The Unit Storyline Chart summarizes a unit phenomenon-based driving question associated with each lesson, what classes will do in each lesson to address the question, what conclusions they will come to, and how they will transition to a subsequent lesson.

Download Unit Storyline Chart

The tables below show goals for this unit in two forms. A list of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) addressed by this unit is followed by a table showing specific target performances for each activity.

Next Generation Science Standards

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations that middle and high school students can achieve through completing the Plants Unit are listed below. To read a discussion of how the Carbon TIME project is designed to help students achieve the performances represented in the NGSS, please see Three-dimensional Learning in Carbon TIME.

High School

Chemical Reactions. HS-PS1-4. Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.

Chemical Reactions. HS-PS1-7. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass,are conserved during a chemical reaction.

Structure and Function. HS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. HS-LS1-5. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. HS-LS1-6. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. HS-LS1-7. Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. HS-LS2-5. Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

Middle School

Structure and Properties of Matter. MS-PS1-1. Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Chemical Reactions. MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

Chemical Reactions. MS-PS1-5. Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

Structure, Function, and Information Processing. MS-LS1-3. Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Matter and Energy in Organism and Ecosystems. MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

Matter and Energy in Organism and Ecosystems. MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and non-living parts of an ecosystem.

Target Performances for Each Activity

All Carbon TIME units are organized around a common purpose: assessing and scaffolding students’ three-dimensional engagement with phenomena. Every Carbon TIME activity has its specific expectation for students’ three-dimensional engagement with phenomena, what we call its target performance. Each activity also includes tools and strategies that teachers can use to asses and scaffold the target performance in rigorous and responsive ways.

The target performances for each activity in the Plants unit are listed in the table below.

Download PDF of Unit Target Performances

Materials List

Download Zip File of All Unit Materials

Materials to Purchase PDF

Resources You Provide

Pre-Activity 0.1GL: Keeping Track of Solids in Mixtures

You can do the investigation with students collecting their own data or with data coming from whole class demonstrations. Materials lists for each are below.

For whole-class demonstrations:

Calculators (1 per pair of students)
Dry sponge
Salt (about 100 g)
Dry plant gel crystals (1 packet per class)
Baby carrot
Salt water mixture (about 10 g of salt in 50 ml of water)
Ionic Grow (4 teaspoons, about 17 g; plus an additional 4 teaspoons to make a mixture, see Setup below)
Distilled Water (1 gallon per class)
Glass Petri dishes (3)
Digital Scale
Scissors or knife
Strainer/colander large enough for hydrated gel (1 per class)
Bucket or bowl (>1 gallon) to hydrate gel overnight (1 per class)

For students working in pairs:

Dry sponge (1 per pair of students)
Salt (1t per pair of students)
Dry plant gel crystals (1 packet per class)
Baby carrot (1 per pair of students)
Salt water mixture (about 1 cup of salt in 4 cups of water)
Ionic Grow (1t per pair of students; plus an additional 4 teaspoons to make a mixture, see Setup below)
Distilled Water (1 gallon per class)
Small bowls, preferably transparent (3 per pair of students)
Petri dish (3 per pair of students)
Digital Scale (1 per pair of students)
Calculator (1 per pair of students)
Scissors or knife (1 per pair of students)
Tape and marking pens (enough for container labels)
Strainer/colander large enough for hydrated gel (1 per class)
Bucket or bowl (>1 gallon) to hydrate gel overnight (1 per class)

Pre-Activity 0.2GL: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Large (37mL) test tubes or other clear receptacle (1 per student)
1 packet of gel crystals (hydrated already if completed pre-lesson 1.1) (1 per class)
4 teaspoons of Ionic Grow (1 per class – not necessary if completed pre 1.1)
Gallon of distilled water (1 per class – not necessary if completed pre 1.1)
Bucket or bowl (>1 gallon) to hydrate gel overnight (1 per class – not necessary if completed pre 1.1)
Strainer/colander large enough for hydrated gel (1 per class- not necessary if completed pre 1.1)
Digital scale (to 0.1g) (1 per group)
Grow/Fluorescent Light
Test tube rack
Permanent markers and labels for test tubes
Fresh packets of radish seeds (at least one seed per student or group plus a few more)
Squeeze bottle to water plants

Pre-Activity 0.2PT: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Small (e.g. 7X10 cm or ramekin) aluminum container (1 per student group)
20 radish seeds (1 per student group)
15 cm of cotton yarn (1 per student group)
Brown paper towel (1 roll or 2-3 sheets each student group) Note: brown, unbleached paper towel is required
Markers/masking tape to label containers (1 per student group)
A balance to measure masses (1 per student group)
Large trays with at least 5 cm sides to put the containers in and hold water.(enough for all containers per class)
Grow lights (highly recommended)
1 L of water (for starting seeds)
4 L of water with dilute nutrients. (E.g. Ionic Grow, Miracle Grow, etc.) for use once seeds have sprouted.

Activity 1.1: Plants Unit Pretest

pencils (1 per student)

Activity 1.2: Expressing Ideas and Questions about How Plants Grow

Sticky notes (1-2 per student)
Time-lapse video of plants growing, such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d26AhcKeEbE

Activity 2.1: Zooming into Plants, Animals, and Decomposers

Activity 2.2: Molecules Cells Are Made of

Activity 2.3: Molecules in Cells Quiz

pencils (1 per student)

Activity 2.4: Questions about Plants

(From previous lesson) 1.2 Expressing Ideas and Questions Tool for Plants Growing

Activity 3.1: Predictions and Planning about Radish Plants Growing

(From previous lesson) Pre-Lesson 0.2GL Plant Growth Investigation Setup Worksheet
(From previous lesson) 1.2 Expressing Ideas and Questions Tool for Plants Growing
Time-lapse video of plants growing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d26AhcKeEbE)

Activity 3.2 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 1

Containers of radish plants from the Pre-Lesson (1 per group)
Digital scale (1 per group)
Small paper bags or envelopes for drying plants (1 per container)
Sunny windowsill or drying oven (domestic ovens work at low settings)
Markers to label plants by student or group (1 per group)

Tubes of radish plants from the Pre-Lesson (1 per student)
Digital scale (1 per group)
Small containers to collect gel from individual tubes to mass.
Small paper bags or envelopes for drying plants (1 per plant)
Sunny windowsill or drying oven (domestic ovens work at low settings)
Markers to label plants by student or group (1 per group)

Activity 3.3: Observing Plants in the Light and Dark

Radish plants (either in tubes (GL) or containers (PT) from the Pre-Lesson. Note: 3-4 tubes or 1-2 containers will be plenty for each experiment replicate.
Dark box, thick black trash bag, or very dark closet (1 per class)
Fluorescent grow light or sunny windowsill (1 per class)
Label (1 per group student group)
Petri dish with blue BTB (1 per container/student group)
Petri dish with yellow BTB (1 per container/student group)
Sealable 6.8 liter (or 29 cup) container (1 per group)
(From previous lesson) 3.1 Predictions and Planning Tool for Plant Investigations with student answers

Activity 3.4 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 2

Students’ dry radish plants (1 envelope or bag per group)
Digital balance (1 per group of four students)
(From previous lesson) Pre-Lesson 0.2PT Plant Growth Investigation Setup Worksheet
(From previous lesson) 3.1 Predictions and Planning Tool for Plant Investigations
(From previous lesson) 3.2PT Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 1 Worksheet

Students’ dry radish plants (1 per student)
Digital balance (1 per group of four students)
Empty container (for measuring the mass of dried plant and optional dried gel) (1 per group of four students)
(From previous lesson) Pre-Lesson 0.2GL Plant Growth Investigation Setup Worksheet
(From previous lesson) 3.1 Predictions and Planning Tool for Plant Investigations
(From previous lesson) 3.2GL Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 1 Worksheet

Activity 3.5: Evidence-Based Arguments about Plants

(From previous lesson) 3.3 Plants in the Light and Dark Class Results 11 x 17 Poster
(From previous lesson) 3.3 Observing Plants in the Light and Dark Worksheet
(From previous lesson) 3.4 Observing Plants Mass Changes, Part 2 Worksheet (GL or PT)
(From previous lesson) 3.4 Plants’ Mass Changes Class Results 11 x 17 Poster (GL or PT)

Activity 4.1: Molecular Models for Potatoes Moving and Functioning: Cellular Respiration

(From previous lesson) Students’ unanswered questions they shared in Activity 3.5 Evidence-Based Arguments Tool for Plants
(From previous lesson) 3.5 Evidence-Based Arguments Tool for Plants
molecular model kit (1 per pair of students)
scissors (1 per pair of students)
twist ties (at least 12 per pair of students)
video of a plant moving, such as here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LICDb8nM5rs

Activity 4.2: Explaining How Plants Move and Function: Cellular Respiration

(from previous lesson) 3.5 Evidence-Based Arguments Tool for Plants

Activity 4.3: Molecular Models for Potatoes Making Food: Photosynthesis

Molecular modeling kit (1 per pair of students; includes 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, 18 oxygen atoms, 36 or more bond links)
Twist ties (12 per pair of students)
Scissors (1 per pair of students)

Activity 4.4: Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis

(from previous lesson) 3.5 Evidence-Based Arguments Tool for Plants

Activity 5.1: Tracing the Process of Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Optional Activity 5.2: Molecular Models for Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Activity 5.3: Explaining How Potato Plants Grow: Biosynthesis

Activity 6.1: Explaining Other Examples of Plants Growing, Moving, and Functioning

Activity 6.2: Functions of All Plants

Activity 6.3: Comparing Plants and Animals

Activity 6.4: Plants Unit Posttest

Resources Provided

Pre-Activity 0.1GL: Keeping Track of Solids in Mixtures

Pre-Lesson 0.1GL Measuring the Mass of Solids in Mixtures Worksheet (1 per student)
Pre-Lesson 0.1GL Grading the Measuring the Mass of Solids in Mixtures Worksheet
Pre-Lesson 0.1GL Measuring the Mass of Solids in Mixtures PPT
Pre-Lesson 0.1GL Estimating the Mass of Solids Mixed with Water Handout (1 per student)
(Optional) Measuring Plant Growth Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVTZMLnhrJQ)

Pre-Activity 0.2GL: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Pre-Activity 0.2PT: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Pre-Lesson 0.2PT Plant Growth Investigation Setup Worksheet (1 per student)
Pre-Lesson 0.2PT Grading the Plant Growth Investigation Setup Worksheet
Pre-Lesson 0.2PT Plant Growth Investigation Setup PPT
(Optional) Measuring Plant Growth Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVTZMLnhrJQ)

Activity 1.1: Plants Unit Pretest

1.1 Plants Unit Pretest (1 per student or online)
1.1 Assessing Plants Unit Pretest

Activity 1.2: Expressing Ideas and Questions about How Plants Grow

Activity 2.1: Zooming into Plants, Animals, and Decomposers

2.1 Comparing Plants, Animals, and Decomposers Worksheet (1 per student)
2.1 Assessing the Comparing Plants, Animals, and Decomposers Worksheet
2.1 Zooming Into Plants, Animals, and Decomposers PPT
(Optional) 2.1 Cells: The Building Blocks of Organisms Reading (1 per student)

Activity 2.2: Molecules Cells Are Made of

2.2 Food Labels Worksheet (1 per student)
2.2 Grading the Food Labels Worksheet
2.2 Molecules Cells Are Made of PPT
2.2 Reading Nutrition Labels Handout (1 per pair of students)
2.2 Food Label Cards (1 per pair of students)

Activity 2.3: Molecules in Cells Quiz

2.3 Molecules in Cells Quiz (1 per student)
2.3 Grading the Molecules in Cells Quiz

Activity 2.4: Questions about Plants

2.4 Questions about Plants PPT

Activity 3.1: Predictions and Planning about Radish Plants Growing

Activity 3.2 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 1

Activity 3.3: Observing Plants in the Light and Dark

Activity 3.4 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 2

Activity 3.5: Evidence-Based Arguments about Plants

Activity 4.1: Molecular Models for Potatoes Moving and Functioning: Cellular Respiration

Activity 4.2: Explaining How Plants Move and Function: Cellular Respiration

Activity 4.3: Molecular Models for Potatoes Making Food: Photosynthesis

Activity 4.4: Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis

4.4 Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis PPT
4.4 Explanations Tool for Potato Photosynthesis (1 per student)
4.4 Grading the Explanations Tools for Potato Photosynthesis
4.4 How do Plants Produce Food? Reading (1 per student)

Activity 5.1: Tracing the Process of Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Optional Activity 5.2: Molecular Models for Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Activity 5.3: Explaining How Potato Plants Grow: Biosynthesis

Activity 6.1: Explaining Other Examples of Plants Growing, Moving, and Functioning

Activity 6.2: Functions of All Plants

Activity 6.3: Comparing Plants and Animals

Activity 6.4: Plants Unit Posttest

Recurring Resources

Pre-Activity 0.1GL: Keeping Track of Solids in Mixtures

Pre-Activity 0.2GL: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Pre-Activity 0.2PT: Plant Growth Investigation Setup

Activity 1.1: Plants Unit Pretest

Activity 1.2: Expressing Ideas and Questions about How Plants Grow

Questions, Connections, Questions Student Reading Strategy
Learning Tracking Tool for Plants (1 per student)
Assessing the Learning Tracking Tool for Plants
(Optional) Big Idea Probe: Houseplant for a Busy Family (1 per student)
(Optional) Assessing the Big Idea Probe: Houseplant for a Busy Family

Activity 2.1: Zooming into Plants, Animals, and Decomposers

Activity 2.2: Molecules Cells Are Made of

(Optional for more demanding classes) Posters about large organic molecules:

Digestion and Biosynthesis of Carbohydrates (1 per class)
Digestion and Biosynthesis of Fat (1 per class)
Digestion and Biosynthesis of Protein (1 per class)

Molecule Diagram 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)
Metabolic Pathways 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)

Activity 2.3: Molecules in Cells Quiz

Activity 2.4: Questions about Plants

Learning Tracking Tool for Plants (1 per student)
Assessing the Learning Tracking Tool for Plants

Activity 3.1: Predictions and Planning about Radish Plants Growing

(Optional) BTB Color Handout (1 per group)
Three Questions 11x17 Poster (1 per class)
Three Questions Handout (Color Version) (1 per student)
Three Questions Handout (BW Version) (1 per student)
(Optional) Investigation Planning Tool

Activity 3.2 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 1

Activity 3.3: Observing Plants in the Light and Dark

BTB Color Handout

Activity 3.4 (PT or GL): Observing Plants’ Mass Changes, Part 2

Activity 3.5: Evidence-Based Arguments about Plants

Three Questions Handout (Color Version) (1 per student)
Three Questions Handout (BW Version) (1 per student)
Learning Tracking Tool for Plants
Assessing the Learning Tracking Tool for Plants

Activity 4.1: Molecular Models for Potatoes Moving and Functioning: Cellular Respiration

Activity 4.2: Explaining How Plants Move and Function: Cellular Respiration

Three Questions 11x17 Poster (1 per class)
Three Questions Handout (Color Version) (1 per student)
Three Questions Handout (BW Version) (1 per student)
Questions, Connections, Questions Student Reading Strategy
Plants Matter Tracing Tool
Assessing the Plants Matter Tracing Tool
(Optional) Example Plant Explanations Handout (1 per student or per group)

Activity 4.3: Molecular Models for Potatoes Making Food: Photosynthesis

Forms of Energy Cards (1 set per pair of students)
Molecular Models 11 x 17 Placemat (1 per pair of students)

Activity 4.4: Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis

4.4 Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis PPT
4.4 Explanations Tool for Potato Photosynthesis (1 per student)
4.4 Grading the Explanations Tools for Potato Photosynthesis
4.4 How do Plants Produce Food? Reading (1 per student)

Recurring Resources

Three Questions 11x17 Poster (1 per class)
Three Questions Handout (Color Version) (1 per student)
Three Questions Handout (BW Version) (1 per student)
Questions, Connections, Questions Student Reading Strategy
Learning Tracking Tool for Plants
Assessing the Learning Tracking Tool for Plants
Plants Matter Tracing Tool
Assessing the Plants Matter Tracing Tool
(Optional) Example Plant Explanations Handout

Activity 5.1: Tracing the Process of Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Optional Activity 5.2: Molecular Models for Potatoes Growing: Biosynthesis

Activity 5.3: Explaining How Potato Plants Grow: Biosynthesis

Activity 6.1: Explaining Other Examples of Plants Growing, Moving, and Functioning

Activity 6.2: Functions of All Plants

Activity 6.3: Comparing Plants and Animals

Activity 6.4: Plants Unit Posttest

Unit Menu

Lead Editor for 2019 Version

Principal Authors

Contributing Authors

Illustrations

Materials List

Recurring Resources

Plants Unit