Plant Science Upgraded

I teach plant science and my second unit of instruction is plant anatomy and physiology. I did not have a projector at the beginning of this unit so I had to improvise. I drew a plant cell on the board and labelled each organelle and then discussed its function.

After this discussion I split the class into two teams (there are only ten students in this class). I gave them a project rubric, which asked them to create a 3D model of either the plant cell or the animal cell (one group did the plant and the other did the animal cell). I gave them two days in class to construct this model. It had to be labeled and all of the organelles we discussed must be on the model. The second part of the project asked them to create a PowerPoint that included each organelle, its function and a picture. They had to give me the history of the cell and what makes an animal cell different from a plant cell and why. Each group presented both their model and their PowerPoint to the class.

 After we discussed organelles we moved on to the external parts of a plant. I created a Zeega highlighting the basics of the plant. Check it out: Parts of a Plant. We discussed how function correlates to anatomy. To test their understanding on this concept I had them create an edible plant. They had to utilize different candies (which I provided) as parts of a plant. Once they where done they presented to the class and had to explain why they choose that candy for that plant part.