Investigating Plants Needs with Wisconsin Fast Plants
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Download this comprehensive, 60-page elementary unit that was co-developed by the Fast Plants Program and Emily Miller (ELA/science elementary science education specialist) who helped author the Next Generation Science Standards) as an exemplar for supporting three-dimensional learning. Developed in 2014, the lessons in this unit that fall during the time when Fast Plants are flowering and being pollinated are the same lessons that were extracted as a stand-alone Bee-ing an Engineer unit, also used as an NGSS-aligned exemplar.
Subject
Species
Phenotypic Trait
Media Format
Materials Development Era
Resource Type
Language
Typical Learning Time
4 weeks
Audience
Education Level
Contributor
Publisher
Source
The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program
Rights
This work by Wisconsin Fast Plants Program is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Date Issued
2014
Email Address
info@fastplants.org
Classification
NGSS Standard
- NGSS.1.LS1.1 Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of human problems that can be solved by mimicking plant or animal solutions could include designing clothing or equipment to protect bicyclists by mimicking turtle shells, acorn shells, and animal scales; stabilizing structures by mimicking animal tails and roots on plants; keeping out intruders by mimicking thorns on branches and animal quills; and, detecting intruders by mimicking eyes and ears.]
- NGSS.2.LS2.1 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow. [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to testing one variable at a time.]
- NGSS.2.LS2.2 Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.*
- NGSS.4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. [Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to macroscopic structures within plant and animal systems.]
- NGSS.5.LS1.1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that plant matter comes mostly from air and water, not from the soil.]
- NGSS.K.LS1.1 Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and, that all living things need water.]
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