Agriculture and farming

Primary Booklet: Reproduction and Life Cycles - Part 2

This booklet and its accompanying resources have been updated to support the new Primary Curriculum.

Plants for Primary Pupils - Safety and Copyright

Safety notes for the 'Plants for Primary Pupils' booklet collection.

This series of activities gives pupils an opportunity to explore different aspects of fruits and seeds and to understand how (and why) they are dispersed.

Finding out about the number of flower parts

This activity is useful to help develop numeracy skills, as the children have opportunities for work on numbers and then link the pattern of numbers or parts in different flowers.

The Colour of Flowers

Linked to developing an understanding of pollination, this activity scores frequency of different flower colours as graphs

Plants & Literacy - Games with cards 2

Activities that help establish vocabulary (root, stem, leaf, flower) - useful as “starters” or “plenaries” and identifying children’s misconceptions

Plants & Literacy - Do plants need soil to grow?

A Pupil Sheet encourages the children to write about their investigation - what they need, what they will do, what they predict will happen, what did happen and what they found out

Create a Flower

Suggestions as to how to make a flower using a variety of materials . . . see the ideas listed and let the children be creative (and an opportunity to develop cross-curricular links)

Having Fun Growing Plants

This activity gives children a chance to bring their own ideas and materials and have real fun trying to grow some plants. Some ‘seeds’ are likely to be more successful than others, but a little exploring and watching what happens can bring its own surprises and excitement. The children may need to be patient as some things they bring in could take quite a long time before they germinate – perhaps a term or more.

Improving Food Production with Agricultural Technology and Plant Biotechnology

This free online course, hosted on FutureLearn, is aimed at 16- to 19-year-old students considering studying science at university. Designed to extend beyond curricula, it takes students on a journey through the plant-based food production system, from growing to harvesting to food processing. Through video case studies, interviews with experts, discussion boards and an interactive game, students will discover how science and technology are innovating food production to solve some of the biggest challenges in global food security.

Interviews with scientists - feeding sub-Saharan Africa

This 5-minute video interview with Professor Giles Oldroyd offers a thought-provoking take on the topic of fertilisers and nitrogen fixation. In the west, we’ve spent 50 years relying on increasing food yields by adding nitrogen-based fertilisers to the soils. But it’s not an approach that seems to be working for the millions of smallholder farmers across western and central Africa.

Interviews with scientists - Dr Cristobal Uauy on wheat genomics and yield

This 5-minute video interview with Dr Cristobal Uauy of the John Innes Centre introduces post-16 students to contemporary genomics and food security. The accompanying notes include a teachers' summary, plus student questions and answers.

Video clip - How commercial growers increase crop yield

This video clip from the BBC (from the TV series Botany: A Blooming History) looks at how commercial growers manipulate the limiting factors of photosynthesis to increase crop yield. A lesson 'starter' when discussing limiting factors.

Video clip - Norman Borlaug and selective breeding of wheat

This video clip from the BBC (from the TV series Botany: A Blooming History) introduces the American scientist Norman Borlaug, the man behind the 'green revolution' credited with saving over a billion people from starvation.

Video clip - Vavilov and the establishment of the first seed banks

This video clip from the BBC (from the TV series Botany: A Blooming History) introduces Russian scientist Nikolai Vavilov, and how his aim to cross different varieties of plants led him to establish the first seed bank. This method of storing genetic material is now internationally important. This video can be used to introduce the ideas of conservation of genetic resources, especially in the context of changes in climate and the damaging effects of human activity.

Video clip - The case for genetically modified crop plants

This video clip from the BBC (from the TV series Botany: A Blooming History) looks at the case for genetic modification of crop plants, and could be used for a useful stimulus for a class discussion.

Using Cress in the Lab

Cress seeds are cheap and easy to grow, and offer a useful way to look at the germination process.

Using Broad Beans in the Lab

Broad beans are quick and reliable to germinate in the lab, and an excellent example for topics including nutrient cycles, nitrogen fixation and mutualism.

Using Mung Beans in the Lab

Mung beans are cheap, reliable and easy to germinate, and offer a useful way to look at topics including plant growth, cells, plant nutrition and hydroponics.

The SAPS ELISA kit for Botrytis

The SAPS ELISA kit for Botrytis has been developed as a low cost way to bring practical immunology into the classroom, including equipment, the necessary antibodies, the substrate and a Botrytis culture

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