Survive and thrive
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- discuss plant observations and record plant growth.
- explore the parts of a plant.
- investigate where the water/rain goes.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- verbally share observations from the water investigation.
- complete a labelled diagram showing how water is absorbed by plants.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- students’ ideas about how plants absorb water. Are they able to recognise that plants first absorb water through their roots, then the water is transported through the plant via the xylem?
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Teacher demonstration seedlings from previous lesson
3 x celery stalks, 1 x left unchanged and 2 x stalks that have had the ends trimmed and been placed in water coloured with food colouring. It will take several hours for the celery to absorb enough food colouring to make a noticeable difference. The time required will also be dependent on the length of the celery stalks, and the ratio of food colouring to water used. It is best to prepare the celery stalks the night before, and use a lot of food colouring in the water.
After the food colouring has been absorbed, the leaves of the celery should be clearly coloured with the food colouring. One stalk should be left whole and the other cut into thin slices to be distributed to each student.
Demonstration copy of Parts of a plant Resource sheet. This resource sheet includes a sketch and a photograph, both showing the roots, stem, leaves etc. of a plant. Use the version that is most suitable for your students and context.
Access to the school grounds, in particularly to plants growing in the school grounds. Having a variety of surfaces surrounding these plants would be helpful, such as grass, exposed dirt and mulch.
Demonstration copy of the Where does it go? Resource sheet
Magnifying glasses (optional)
Each group
Water source e.g. hose, watering cans, buckets or recycled plastic tubs/bottles
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
A thin slice of celery stalk
Optional: A4 copy of the Where does it go? Resource sheet
Lesson
Re-orient
Discuss again the watering requirements of the seedlings set up during the previous lesson’s investigation.
- Have all of the plants been receiving the same amount of water? (with the exception of the ‘no water’ seedlings?)
- Do both of your seedlings look the same? Are they both growing?
If required, water and measure seedling growth using the agreed upon methods.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkHow do plants use water?
Refer to any questions asked by students in Lesson 1 about plants and water, for example: How do plants use water?
Ask students if they think the plants with no water are going to grow as well as the plants that are being watered, and why they think that.
Pose the question: When we water a plant, where does the water go and how does the plant use it?
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkWater where and why?
Show students the healthy demonstration seedling from Lesson 1 and discuss the plant’s features.
- How do you know it is a plant?
- What parts of the plant can you see?
- How would you describe these parts, for example the leaves?
- Do you think this plant is the healthy seedling we have looked at before?
- Why do you think this is the healthy seedling?
- What do you think the unhealthy seedling might look like?
- Do you think we could make the unhealthy seedling healthy again? How?
Students would have learned about the parts of a plant in Foundation. Revise this by labelling the demonstration copy of the Parts of a plant Resource sheet, or create your own sketch for students to label.
Discuss why we water plants and record student ideas in the class science journal.
- Why does a plant need water?
- Where do we water the plant? On the roots or the leaves? Why or why not?
- Do we need to water plants in the garden on rainy days? Why or why not?
- Do we need to water plants in the garden more or less on hot days? Why or why not?
Explain that students will work in collaborative teams to investigate where water goes once it falls onto the ground around a plant. Take students to a location in the school grounds where there are plants growing. Discuss:
- how to fill a watering can or similar, and how much water they should give their chosen plant.
- Highlight that if a plant is given too much water all at once it might not be healthy for the plant, and it also might impact our investigation results.
- the ground surface that the plant is growing out of. For example, is it in grass, exposed dirt, mulch?
- how students might see where the water has gone once it has been poured on their plant. For example, they might push aside the blades of grass to see if the dirt underneath is wet.
Discuss and record students’ predictions in the class science journal.
Allow time for teams to fill their watering cans, pour the water around the base of a plant, and observe what happens. Compare the damp ground under the plant to the dry ground elsewhere in the garden.
Optional: Take photos or video of teams watering plants and explaining what they think is happening; this can be shared with other students on return to the classroom.
Optional: Move to a location where plants grow from a different sort of ground surface, and water the plants for further opportunity to observe where the water goes.
Roots systems and watering plants
What are the functions of a plant’s root system?
The main functions of a plant’s root system are:
- absorbing water and minerals including nitrogen and phosphorus
- anchoring a plant in place
- storing food reserves
Root systems can be much more extensive than the leaf systems we see above ground. A tree’s root network can stretch out twice as far or deep as its branches. As roots branch out they become very fine, until they are barely visible to the naked eye. If you look carefully you can see ‘root hairs’, which maximise the contact area between roots and the surrounding soil.
Once the roots have absorbed water and nutrients these are distributed to where they are needed (for photosynthesis) via the xylem and veins in a plant's stem and leaves. The xylem are very thin tubes inside the plant's stem, a bit like a straw. They rely on capillary action to ‘pull’ or 'suck' water up stems, but only for relatively short distances. Water rushing into the roots due to an imbalance of salt (osmosis) creates pressure that can also ‘push’ the column of water up the xylem tubes. The combination of these two forces can cause water to rise two to three metres in the stems of plants.
Some students might think that plants absorb all their water through their leaves. Plants rarely absorb water through their leaves. However, some leaves and stems are carefully designed to channel water, including dew, down towards the base of the plant. The water penetrates more deeply into the soil and is therefore more protected against evaporation, ensuring that it remains available to the roots.
Take care not to reinforce the alternative conception that all water that falls on the ground goes into and stays in the soil. Make comparisons between the area that you have just watered and areas that have not had a lot of rain for a long time. Asking where the water has gone is an opportunity to start this area of questioning. In Year 4 students will learn about the water cycle where surface water can be evaporated into the air. Evaporation also occurs from the pores/stomata in a leaf.
Also, whilst students do not need to know the term xylem, it is useful for them to have a name to use when describing what they are observing and an analogy by which they might describe the movement of water through a plant.
The main functions of a plant’s root system are:
- absorbing water and minerals including nitrogen and phosphorus
- anchoring a plant in place
- storing food reserves
Root systems can be much more extensive than the leaf systems we see above ground. A tree’s root network can stretch out twice as far or deep as its branches. As roots branch out they become very fine, until they are barely visible to the naked eye. If you look carefully you can see ‘root hairs’, which maximise the contact area between roots and the surrounding soil.
Once the roots have absorbed water and nutrients these are distributed to where they are needed (for photosynthesis) via the xylem and veins in a plant's stem and leaves. The xylem are very thin tubes inside the plant's stem, a bit like a straw. They rely on capillary action to ‘pull’ or 'suck' water up stems, but only for relatively short distances. Water rushing into the roots due to an imbalance of salt (osmosis) creates pressure that can also ‘push’ the column of water up the xylem tubes. The combination of these two forces can cause water to rise two to three metres in the stems of plants.
Some students might think that plants absorb all their water through their leaves. Plants rarely absorb water through their leaves. However, some leaves and stems are carefully designed to channel water, including dew, down towards the base of the plant. The water penetrates more deeply into the soil and is therefore more protected against evaporation, ensuring that it remains available to the roots.
Take care not to reinforce the alternative conception that all water that falls on the ground goes into and stays in the soil. Make comparisons between the area that you have just watered and areas that have not had a lot of rain for a long time. Asking where the water has gone is an opportunity to start this area of questioning. In Year 4 students will learn about the water cycle where surface water can be evaporated into the air. Evaporation also occurs from the pores/stomata in a leaf.
Also, whilst students do not need to know the term xylem, it is useful for them to have a name to use when describing what they are observing and an analogy by which they might describe the movement of water through a plant.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkWhere did the water go?
Form a yarning circle (outside or inside) and ask students to share their observations about what happened to the water.
- Did your observations match your predictions? Why or why not?
- Where did most of the water end up?
- The water soaked into the ground/grass/dirt.
- Did the water stay on the plant? Why do you think that is?
- What do you think happens to the water?
- The water wets the soil/dirt around the plant and goes into the plants’ roots.
Record students’ ideas in the class science journal.
Using Where does it go? Resource sheet, discuss with students how plants can be big like trees or small like seedlings (refer back to the seedling image labelled earlier in the lesson). Explain that big trees can have lots of roots under the ground, spread out over a wide area, whereas smaller plants will have smaller or fewer roots, spread out over a smaller space.
As a class, discuss how rain gets to the roots. Draw lines to show how rain gets to the roots of the tree.
Yarning circles
How can I engage my students using First Nations methods for sharing knowledge?
Yarning circles are an enriching way for students to engage with First Nations methods for sharing knowledge, ideas and points of view. It is a practice that has been an effective teaching method for thousands of years, providing a safe place to be heard and to offer an opinion, as well as naturally building connectedness.
DeadlyScience share 5 tips for a yarning circle in their resource The DeadlyScience Guide to Innovation (2023).
For more information about designing and using a designated space outdoors for a yarning circle, watch the Creating a yarning circle (4:33) video created by Junior Landcare.
Yarning circles are an enriching way for students to engage with First Nations methods for sharing knowledge, ideas and points of view. It is a practice that has been an effective teaching method for thousands of years, providing a safe place to be heard and to offer an opinion, as well as naturally building connectedness.
DeadlyScience share 5 tips for a yarning circle in their resource The DeadlyScience Guide to Innovation (2023).
For more information about designing and using a designated space outdoors for a yarning circle, watch the Creating a yarning circle (4:33) video created by Junior Landcare.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkNow where does it go?
Pose the question: What happens to water once it enters the roots of a plant?
Show students the unchanged celery stalk and ask them to describe it. Next show them the stalk that you put in coloured water earlier and discuss the changes that have occurred.
- What can you see that is different?
- What do you think has happened?
- What do you think the change tells us about how the water gets from the roots to the stems and leaves of plants?
Distribute the slices of food colour-stained celery. Ask students to hold the piece of celery up to the light and observe carefully.
Optional: Students can examine their piece of celery with a magnifying glass.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkHow plants drink
Share students’ observations about their celery slice. Discuss what they think has happened to the celery, and how the food colouring got inside the celery and up to the leaves at the top.
- What did you observe when you looked closely at your celery slice?
- How would you describe it?
- Does it look like what you expected?
- What feature can you see that might be a way for the water to move through the plant?
Look closely again at the whole stalk of celery that has been soaking in food colouring, pointing out how 'lines' of the food colouring can be seen all the way from the bottom of the stalk, to the top, where it spreads out into the leaves.
- How would you describe these lines? What do they remind you of?
- How do you think they help the water move through the celery?
Explain that the small dots on the celery slice are called ‘xylem’, narrow tubes for water and nutrients to move through—much like water moving through a drinking straw. Water moves from the roots, up through the xylem to the leaves. Students might choose to refer to the xylem as ‘tubes’ or ‘straws’ which is acceptable language at this level.
Students draw a labelled diagram to represent the coloured water being absorbed into the celery. Alternatively (or additionally), they might use their own copy of Where does it go? Resource sheet to individually represent the movement of the water from the soil to the root and then into the leaves on the tree.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add to the class word wall (vocabulary, drawings, images) related to plants and their watering needs.
- discuss how students were thinking and working like scientists during the lesson. Focus on making and recording observations.