Intro to plant Biology: It's not easy being green

Essential question: How do the specialized structures of a plant work together to help it gets what it needs to survive?

Student activities:

Construct a plant model that depicts the ways in which individual parts of the plant function to keep it alive.
Labs: Stem cross-section, leaf and flower
Construct an updated plant model that incorporates all of the structures that were examined in the labs.

Students' Funds of Knowledge

Constructing an Initial Class Model

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Students Examine Plant Structures as They Learn How They Function

Vascular Bundles: consist of specialized tissues called xylem and phloem. The xylem transports water and dissolved minerals and gases while the phloem transports sugars.

Students collected local plants from Point Loma, cut cross sections using a razor blade, then dyed the sections using either Methylene Blue, Carbol Rose, Crystal Violet or Toluidine. Then they captured images using a light microscope. These images are 400X magnification.

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Petals

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Bottom of leaf

(stomata)

Top of leaf

(waxy cuticle)

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Stem crossection

(no dye)

Stem trichomes

Revised Plant Models