Structures of Life
Investigation 1: Origin of Seeds
Part 1
Seed Search
Students embark on a seed hunt, delving into an assortment of fresh fruits. They open fruit, locate the seeds, describe seed properties, and count or estimate the number of seeds in the fruit.
3. Lesson set up and Management
1.1.P.1 Use properties to sort natural and manufactured materials and objects.
2.1.5 Record and report observations, explanations, and conclusions using oral, written, and mathematical expression.
Seeds are found in the plant part called a fruit.
Different kinds of fruits have different kinds and numbers of seeds.
Seeds have a variety of properties.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
1. Be sure to get a variety of fruits so each group has at least 3 different types to explore. Wash fruit before using because some students will want to eat after they have dissected their fruits.
2. Try to get fruits donated by the local grocery store.
3. Don't get fruits with immature seeds such as zucchini or eggplant.
4. Be aware of any food allergies.
5. Use newspapers to lay on desks to make clean-up easier.
6. If the students are going to eat the fruit, you may want to purchase separate plastic utensils for this part of the investigation. The utensils that come in the kit have been passed around to many hands and are not guaranteed to be sanitary. I have seen the utensils used to pick up the crayfish in the later investigations.
7. Make student sheet No. 2 into a transparency. Students can then make their own charts in science journals.
Have students cut fruit in half as shown. This will make looking for seeds easier. |
This orange had only a few seeds. Be sure not to purchase seedless fruits. |
Keep cutting fruit until all seeds are found. |
Student Management:
1. Keep all materials at the station at which the students are working. Let the students go to each workstation and explore.
2. Warn children that even though the knives are plastic, they can still hurt someone. Set up a consequence beforehand to let students know what will happen if they use the plastic knives inappropriately.
3. Have students wash their hands before cutting fruit, in case they wish to eat their fruit when they are finished.
4. Keep Moving! If you are constantly moving, it will keep everyone on task.
1. You can lengthen or shorten the time on any lesson.
2. Use pages 2 & 3 to help guide further inquiry at the end of every section.
3. To save copies and to encourage writing, go through the investigations and decide which papers should be in a student ran-off packet and which ones could be made into transparencies. Students can write on their own in their science journals. Use the overhead and transparencies to show students the questions or the drawings needed. Students may also create their own questions.
4. Give students time to discuss their observations with each other.
5. Give journal reflection time.
6. Keep word bank and content inquiry chart up so students can see and have more time to copy later, if needed. It's nice if you can keep them up all the time and just add to the bank as you go.
Writing Support:
1. Have students reflect on the day's lesson in their journal.
2. Start and finish each lesson with a KWLQ chart. ("What do I know?" "What do I want to know?" "What have I learned?" and "Are there any more questions to investigate?")
3. Write about "If you could be any kind of seed in the world, which one would you choose and why?"
4. Have students write all words from the word bank and content inquiry charts in their journals.
Reading Support:
1. Read Seeds are Everywhere either as a read aloud or as partner reading.
2. Check the Resources section of the teacher's guide for more reading suggestions, or the literature link on this site.