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  • Plants in the Science Curriculum

Plants in the Science Curriculum

 

This resource supports you to teach current plant science requirements for 14-16 and post-16 classes. We will guide you through accessible, low-budget plant material and their associated teaching topics. Plants are linked with their teaching topics and coded to exam board requirements to support you, and your lab technician, plan investigations that enable students to engage with plant life, while you keep to budget and cover course content. We have chosen plants and plant parts that can be accessed with little effort, are easily propagated, can be purchased from local shops, or found growing in school grounds. If you know what specification topic you are planning to teach and need support with plant material you can access these resources through a topic entry point.

Summaries are provided for each plant followed by individual plant profiles, which include information on teaching with these plants, caring for them (where applicable), costs, suppliers and links to relevant teaching resources.

Growing Further

If you want to build on your plant teaching and use a broader collection of plants, we have created a second section, Plant Stars, to help you go further. These plants are listed at the end of this page.

Images Common name Latin name Key words SAPS and Further Resources
Geranium Pelargonium spp. Photosynthesis
Adaptation
Cells
Stomata
Leaf variation
Plant defences
Pollen tubes
Rooting hormones

Can leaf discs make starch in the dark?

Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs for  photosynthesis

Resource: Pollen Tube Growth

Resource: Measuring stomatal density  

Resource: The response of leaf discs from sun and shade plants to green light

Cauliflower Brassica oleracea Cloning
Tissue culture
Cloning cauliflowers
Mung Bean Vigna radiata Cells
Plant growth
Plant nutrition
Hydroponics

What do plants need to grow?
Video showing mung bean germination

Phosphatase enzymes in plants

Radish Raphanus sativus Plant growth
Plant responses and hormones
Plant nutrition
Enzymes

Investigating seed germination 

Describe an experiment to show that shoots grow towards light

Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs for  photosynthesis

The effects of different levels of minerals on plant growth

Investigating whether plants grow better with fertiliser

Microscale investigations with Catalase

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Plant responses
Gravitropism
Measuring distribution
Sampling
Abundance

Investigating gravitropism with dandelions

Questions about quadrats

Ecology Exercise 1

 

Aspidistra Aspidistra elator Photosynthetic pigments
Chromatography

The response of leaf discs from sun and shade plants to green light

Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs for  photosynthesis

TLC: An investigation into the separation of photosynthetic pigments.

Duckweed Lemna minor Student investigations
Population growth

Investigations with Lemna Minor

Experimental method and biological concepts demonstrated using duckweed

Daisy Bellis perennis Sampling
Quadrats
Habitats
Distribution
Abundance
Transect
Ecology Exercise 1
Ecology Exercise 2
Holly Ilex aquifolium Spines
Leaves
Plant defences
Herbivory
Adaptation
Stomata
Leaf structure

What determines the number of spines on a holly leaf?

Measuring stomatal density

Green algae
Scenedesmus quadricauda Photosynthesis
Eutrophication
Photosynthesis using algae wrapped in jelly balls
Beetroot Beta vulgaris Cell structure
Plasmolysis
Membrane permeability
 
Potato Solanum tuberosum Cell membranes
Osmosis
Asexual reproduction
Carbon cycle (Decay)

Measuring the water potential of a potato cell

Isolating and examining cysts of potato cyst nematodes

Cress
Lepidium sativum Effects of pollution
Plant growth
Plant nutrition

Explore whether cress seedlings grow towards light

Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs

Growing plants to look at root hairs

 

Elodea Elodea canadensis
Photosynthesis  
Spinach Spinacia oleracea Chromatography
Photosynthetic pigments

An investigation into the separation of photosynthetic pigments

Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs for  photosynthesis

Demonstrating the Hill reaction (available for SAPS Associates)

Onion Allium spp. Cell structure
Stomata
DNA
Enzymes

Microscale investigations with Catalase

Stomatal Peel

Extracting DNA

Garlic Allium sativum Mitosis
Fertilisation and cell cycle

Investigating mitosis in allium root tip squash

Growing garlic roots

Broad bean Vicia faba Nutrient cycles
Nitrogen fixation
Mutualism
 
Green Cabomba Cabomba Caroliniana Photosynthesis Using Cabomba to demonstrate oxygen evolution in the process of photosynthesis
Spider plant Chlorophytum comosum variegatum Asexual reproduction
Cuttings
Photosynthesis
Rooting hormones
Stomata

Measuring stomatal density

TLC: An investigation into the separation of photosynthetic pigments.

Investigating plant evolution with the SAPS / NCBE PCR kit

 

 

Plant stars to inspire your students

These plants are a little harder to source and more difficult to keep flourishing in the classroom, but their fascinating adaptations to habitats from around the world make them a valuable teaching tool for the biology lab.

  Plant common name Latin name Key words SAPS and Further Resources
Venus' Fly Trap Dionaea muscipula Adaptation
Interdependence
  Using carnivorous plants in the classroom
Cape Sundew
Drosera capensis Adaptation
Interdependence
Using carnivorous plants in the classroom
Mimosa Mimosa pudica Plant responses   Investigating Thigmotropism
Living Stones Lithops spp Adaptation
Mimicry
Xerophyte
BBC DVD Private Life of Plants: Surviving
Common Horsetail
Equisetum arvense Evolution
‘Living Fossils’
 

 

Evolutionary timeline

 

Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis thaliana Genetics
Variation
Tropisms
Inheritance
Germination
   

This resource was developed by Dawn Sanders of Gardens for Learning.

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