Lesson video

<v Waller>Hello and welcome to today's lesson from the unit, Growing Plants.

This lesson is called Plant Health and Growth.

Hi, my name is Mrs. Waller, and by the end of today's lesson, you are going to be able to observe and record different stages of plant growth.

So if you've been growing your plants from seeds and if you've put your plants in different places without light, without warmth and without water, and if you've been growing your plants with everything that they need, then it's going to be really exciting to begin to observe what's been happening and think about how we can record any changes.

Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Plant, unhealthy, wilt, observe, record.

Have a think to yourself.

Do you know what some of these words mean? Or maybe you know what all of these words mean.

Don't worry if you don't.

We're going to be learning about all of these words in the lesson today.

Today's lesson is in two parts.

In the first part, we'll be observing healthy and unhealthy plants.

And then in the second part, we'll be thinking about the best ways to record plant health.

So we're starting the lesson by thinking about healthy and unhealthy plants.

We know that plants that get water and warmth and light are healthy plants.

Take a look at this photograph of a healthy plant.

What do you notice about it that tells us that this is a healthy plant? You might notice that there's lots of bright and colourful and healthy looking flowers.

You might notice that there's a strong stem which stands tall and upright.

You might notice that the leaves are shiny and green.

Do you notice anything else about this plant that tells us that it's a healthy plant? Unfortunately, plants that don't get water and warmth and light can become unhealthy.

Oh dear.

Look at this poor unhealthy plant.

What do you notice about it that tells us that this is not a healthy plant? You might notice that the flowers have dried and become crispy.

You might notice a change in colour.

So here we can see brown leaves, sometimes leaves turn yellow.

Here's another image of an unhealthy plant.

Now it hasn't gone brown this time, but what else do you notice about this plant? You might notice that this plant has gone droopy and scientists would use the word wilt.

We can see the wilting stem of the plant.

It's become floppy.

The stem can no longer stand tall and straight and upright.

We notice that the leaves maybe aren't so healthy looking and shiny, leaves of an unhealthy plant can become dull and dry and crispy.

Now we can't actually see it in the photograph, but sometimes when plants don't get everything that they need, they can grow more slowly.

Sometimes they grow shorter roots, which are often under the ground in soil or hidden away in soil in a plant pot.

Are you ready for me to check your understanding of what we've covered in the lesson so far? Take a look at this image of a plant.

Now, would you say that this plant is healthy or unhealthy? And can you explain why do you think this? Now the answer here that this is an unhealthy plant.

And what were some of the reasons that you were thinking of? I'm noticing that the plant looks like it's changed colour.

It's maybe gone a paler colour or more of a brown colour.

Is it starting to wilt? Maybe.

But I can definitely see that one of the leaves has gone brown.

It's maybe gone crispy and it's dropped off the plant.

Here's a second picture of a plant.

Would you say that this is a healthy or an unhealthy plant? And why do you think this? This is a healthy plant.

What are your reasons why? Would you say that this looks like a nice green, shiny healthy plant? It's got plenty of leaves on it.

The stem is standing tall and straight and I can't see any signs of wilting here.

Can you? Our next question is thinking about what you might observe on a plant that has not had water, warmth and light.

So if it hasn't had those things, would you see shiny green leaves or crispy brown leaves or a strong tall stem? And the answer is, if it hasn't had those things that it needs, it's likely to have crispy brown leaves.

Well done.

We are moving on to our first practise task now and I want you to think about the plants where we've taken away water or warmth or light.

And don't forget about the plants as well that are still growing with everything that they need.

And over the next few weeks, you're going to be observing your plants and you're going to be looking really closely for any changes.

Before you do that, can you make a list of all the things that you need to look for in your plants? So when you observe your plants, what are you looking for that would tell you that it's a healthy plant which means it's growing well or is it an unhealthy plant, which means it's not growing well? You could write a list or you could talk to somebody else about what would your list include.

So here are some things that you maybe could observe when you are looking at your plants.

You could look at the colour of the leaves to see whether they're shiny and green or to see whether they're dull and brown, maybe yellow or paler in colour.

You might look at how shiny the leaves are or whether they've gone dull and crispy.

You might actually look at how tall the plant is growing and you might look to see whether the plant is drooping and flopping.

That means you need to look to see whether the plant is wilting.

Do you have some other ideas? We're moving on to the second part of our lesson now.

We've made our observations and we're going to be moving on to thinking about how best to record plant health.

Now let's think about what it means to record in science.

Scientists are always recording their investigations.

What does that mean and why do they do that? Well, when scientists investigate, they keep a record of what they've observed or what they found out.

We've got this picture of our plant scientist, our botanist, who's keeping a record by writing down the things that he's noticing, the things that he's observed.

It helps scientists to remember exactly what they did.

It also helps scientists to remember exactly what happened.

So what were the results of their investigation.

Another reason why scientists record is so that they can look back at their records and they can show other people what they've investigated and what they found out.

The great thing about that is then other scientists can maybe try the same investigation for themselves and they could try and find out even more.

Think about your own science lessons when you are investigating and when you are observing.

How do you record what you've done and what you've found out? Scientists can record in lots of different ways.

Here are a few examples.

You might write about what you've done and what you've found out.

You might use a table or a chart to record the results of your investigation.

You might draw a picture, you could draw it with a pencil or some crayons or you might do a drawing on a computer or on a tablet.

Think about how you record in science lessons.

Are there other ways to record? It's time for me to check your understanding now.

So we've been thinking about what scientists do when they investigate and why it's important for them to keep a record.

Which of the following options would you say is the reason why scientists keep a record when they investigate? Is it to remember what they did? Is it to show other people what they found out? Is it to help other scientists to investigate the same thing? Or would you say that it's all of these reasons? And the answer is D.

Yes, all of these reasons.

Lots of different reasons why scientists record.

They record to remember.

They record to show other people, and they also record so that other scientists can investigate the same thing and maybe find out even more.

My next question now.

So think about if you were to record something very quickly, something that was changing quickly or something that was happening quickly in your science lesson.

Which of these would you use to record something happening quickly? Would you paint a picture of it? Would you take a photo of it or would you write about it? Which one do you think? Yes, that's right, for something happening really quickly, you wouldn't have time to paint a picture and you definitely wouldn't have time to write a detailed description of it.

Get your camera or your tablet and you take a photo of it and there you've got it captured and you've got it recorded permanently as quickly as you can.

So we're moving on to our practise tasks now, and I want you to think about what's the best way that you could record your plant observations.

So you've observed your plants growing without water, without warmth, without light.

And don't forget your plants with everything that they need.

We've made our observations, but now it's time to move on and to record that.

In a couple of weeks time, you might forget what those plants look like today, so it's brilliant to have a record of them.

You might want to show other people what's happening with your plants, or you might want to show it to a real scientist, so they could have a go at the same investigation.

It would be great if you could share your ideas with somebody else and then choose one way of recording that you think will work best.

Here are some ideas for you to think about.

You might want to take a photograph of your plants every week so you can show them changing, whether they're becoming unhealthy or whether they're staying just as healthy as they are now.

You might want to write a short description about your plants each week so that you could describe what's happening to them.

Here's a different idea.

You might want to take a ruler or a tape measure, and you might want to measure how tall the plants are growing.

That would show whether their stems are still healthy and strong and upright.

It would be interesting to note as well whether your plants were wilting or not.

Do you have any other ideas for recording your plant observations? This is how I'm going to record the observations that I'm going to be making about my plants.

So I'm going to use some charts.

I'm going to show you what my charts are going to look like.

So I'm going to have a few different charts.

This is my chart to show what my plant will look like that's had no water, and also I can compare it to the plant that's had everything that it needs.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to add in the photographs that I took last week when I was first setting up my investigation and that's showing what my plans looked like at the very start.

Now, I haven't recorded my observations yet after after one week.

So I've got some empty plant pots there to show that that hasn't happened yet.

And also I haven't finished the investigation yet.

So I've got my empty plant pots showing that I haven't made those observations, but that's something that will be coming in the following weeks.

So my next chart is very similar, if not the same.

The only difference is that this is where I'm going to record what's happening to my plant that we've taken away warmth.

So I'm going to add in my start photographs that I took last week and I haven't made my observations this week yet.

So I've got my empty plant pots ready for me to record what's happened.

And also I've got my empty plant pots in a few weeks time where I can record my final observations.

I think you are probably going to know what my final chart is going to look like.

So yes, it's pretty much the same, but this time if you look at the headings, it says no light and everything.

So I'm adding in the observations that I made last week.

Here's my photographs from last week and that was the very start of the investigation.

And I haven't made today's observations yet.

Well, I haven't recorded them.

So I've got my empty plant pots there and I'm getting ready to record again at the very end of the investigation.

Remember that there's lots of different ways of recording things happening in science.

You might want to use the same idea as this or you might have some different ideas of your own.

Here's another idea.

So I have a different idea.

I'm still going to record my results, but I'm going to record them in a table and I'm going to use green crayons and I'm going to look at what colour the leaves of my plant are and I'm going to colour in my table each week to show the colour of the leaves.

So right at the very start of the investigation, the no water, the no warmth, the no light, and the plants that had everything, all their leaves were the same colour green.

But it would be very interesting, wouldn't it be? To colour in after one week.

Have they gone paler? Have they gone darker? Has any plants started to turn yellow or brown? So instead of photographing your plants, you might want to record in a different way and you might want to colour in the colour of the leaves.

And then we can compare what's happening with the different plants and we can see which plants are changing, which plants are staying nice and healthy.

And if any plants are slowly becoming unhealthy.

Before we actually take a look and find out what has happened to the plants, since we took things away from them last week.

Have a think about it.

What do you think will have happened to your plants after just one week? So the plant that's had no water for a week, what do you think will have happened to that? The plant that's been growing without warmth, do you think there'll be any changes? What do you think? The plant that's been growing in the dark with no light, do you think that will be different? Will it have become unhealthy? What do you think? What about those plants that have been growing with everything, the water, the warmth, and the light? Do you think they'll be exactly the same or do you think they will have changed at all? There's a lot to think about here.

So take some time and gather your thoughts.

Now it's time for us to take a look.

Off we go, observe the plants.

Have a look at those plants that have been growing without water, without warmth and without light and make a really good close, detailed observation of the plants that have been growing with everything that they need.

Were you right in what you thought was going to happen? And the final part of your practise task is to record.

So remember, you've already decided how you're going to do it.

Are you taking photographs? Are you drawing pictures? Are you writing a description? Are you colouring with a green crayon the colour of the leaf? This is your opportunity to record in the way in which you've chosen.

Or don't forget, you might want to use the same charts that I'm using.

So I'm going to share with you what my charts look like because I've now made my observations after one week and I've recorded what the plants look like.

So my first chart, I'd already added in what the plants looked like a week ago, starting to grow mice and healthy and green and strong.

And after one week, the plants that had no water, can you see any changes in this plant? It looks like it's grown taller, doesn't it? Does it still look just as healthy and strong? Now what about the plant that's had everything? Hmm, looks pretty similar, doesn't it? Can you see any differences between the plant that's had no water in the plant that has had water? Now don't forget, this is not the end of the investigation.

We're gonna keep these plants growing for a few more weeks.

So I've got in my empty plant pots because I haven't made those observations yet.

Now what about our plant that's had no warmth? So remember, I put in the photographs last week before I took the warmth away and this week I've made my observations and here is our plant after one week of growing in the cold.

It looks pretty healthy to me.

Does it you? It looks like it's grown a bit taller.

Can you see any other changes? And what about our plant that's been growing with everything? Yes, it's growing nice and strong now, isn't it? It's getting taller.

Do you think it's got maybe a few more leaves? They're nice and green.

We haven't finished the investigation yet, have we? We've got a few more weeks to go.

So I've put my empty plant pots to remind us that there's still more observations to make.

Let's have a look at the plants that's been growing with no light.

I put in my start photographs from last week and I'm having a look now after one week at my plant that's been growing in the dark.

Hmm, looks a little bit different, doesn't it? You can see it against the cardboard box that it's been growing in.

What differences can you see? I think the leaves look to be a little bit paler in colour, not as green or not as dark green as the other plants.

Do you notice how the stems are starting to bend over in one direction? I wonder if they're trying to grow towards some light.

And here's our healthy plant that's had everything that it needs.

You know, it's not the end of the investigation yet to have got a few more weeks to make some observations.

So there's my empty plant pots to remind me to make another observation in a few weeks time.

So to finish off the lesson, let's have a think about what we've learned today.

We know that plants that get water, warmth, and light are healthy.

And here's our image of our healthy plants.

What else have we learned today? What about plants that don't get water, warmth and light? Yes, you are right.

Plants that did not have everything can become unhealthy.

And I've put a photograph in of an unhealthy plant.

You can see that it is starting to change colour, isn't it? Some of those leaves are turning paler, maybe a bit yellow, a bit lighter in colour, and I can definitely see some parts of that plant beginning to wilt.

Is there anything else that we've learned in the lesson today? Don't forget, we've learned about recording and we've learned that scientists observe changes in plants and they can record what is happening in different ways.

Just like you've been doing today, recording your plant growth.

To complete this lesson, don't forget to have a go at the exit quiz.

Think like a scientist.

Remember everything that you've learned today and I really look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.