Science.K.13.C

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The student is expected to

identify and record the changes from seed, seedling, plant, flower, and fruit in a simple plant life cycle; and

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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and undergo processes that help them interact and survive within their environments.

The following is an example of how to assess proficiency of this student expectation (SE) or a portion of the SE.

For this student expectation, students should be given opportunities to observe plants that go through a straightforward life cycle. Provide students with images of the stages of a plant life cycle. Ask students to find the seed and glue it at the top of a page in their notebook. Next, ask students to identify the seedling picture and glue it beneath the seed picture. Continue the process until all pictures are glued in. 

Have students describe how the pictures change. They should be able to explain that if they plant a bell pepper seed, the seed will grow into a seedling (baby plant), then into an adult plant. They should then observe flowers on the adult plant which later turn into the fruit. Have students share their observations of changes with the class and record observations between each stage on a class chart.

Not all plants have a simple plant life cycle. Mosses and ferns reproduce by spores, not by flowers and fruit. The life cycles for all flowering plants are similar. Examples of seeds include rice, corn, beans, watermelon seeds, dandelion fluff, acorns, and the centers of avocadoes and peaches. 

Butterfly Weed Seed Sunflower Seeds Bean Seeds
Several seeds from a butterfly weed plant showing both the hard brown part and the soft white part of the seed
VershaKGupta, Butterfly Weed Seed, CC BY-SA 4.0
A pile of sunflower seeds on a light blue background
McLeod, Sunflower seeds, CC BY-SA 3.0
Several types of small bean seeds including white, brown, red, and speckled seeds on a green background
Agricultural Research Service, Phaseolus vulgaris seed, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons

A seedling is an immature plant that first sprouts and begins to grow from the seed. The plant is fully functioning and mature, able to reproduce under the right conditions. 

Buckwheat seedling with first flower buds
Buckwheat seedling with first flower buds
V.Boldychev, 1-month-old buckwheat seedling 02, CC BY-SA 4.0

The flower on a mature plant can be tiny, like grass flowers, huge, like a hibiscus, or in between. The flower shape, color, and scent help determine to how it is pollinated. 

Grass Flowers Hibiscus Flowers
A close-up of blades of grass with small white grass flowers shown
Ferdous, Grass flowers - 8, CC BY-SA 3.0
Top view of a hibiscus plant in a pot with pink hibiscus flowers and green leaves showing
Gpkp, Hibiscus flower (1), CC BY-SA 4.0

The fruit of a plant is the part that contains the seeds such as apple, blueberry, squash, or tomato (insert pictures). The type of fruit produced help determine how the seeds are spread - by wind, water, or animals. Boundary: At this grade level, students are not expected to discuss seed dispersal. 

Apple fruit with seeds Avocado fruit with seed Tomato fruit with seeds
Two halves of an apple showing the seeds
DesClics, Coupes de Berlepsch, CC BY-SA 4.0
Person holding an avocado cut in half with the seed showing
Judgefloro, 2625Avocados of the Philippines fruits and seeds 08, CC0 1.0
A tomato cut in half on a blue background
Lee Ann Ratledge, Half of a sliced tomato on a blue background, CC BY 4.0

 

the circumstances, objects, or conditions that surround an organism including abiotic (climate and soil) and biotic (living organisms) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival

an individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life

process of plant development which includes germinating, sprouting into seedlings, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying

a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result; a continuing natural or biological activity or function

something arranged in a definite pattern of organization; the arrangement of particles or parts in a substance or body; the aggregate of elements of an entity in their relationships to each other

Research

Schussler, Elisabeth, and Jeff Winslow. 2007. “Drawing on Students’ Knowledge.” Science and Children: Primary Foundations 44, no. 5 (January 2007): 40–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43172930. Accessed November 17, 2022.

Summary: Science concepts like plant life cycles are often beyond a student's personal experiences. The article outlines a pre and post-assessment completed by elementary students when learning about plant life cycles. Students start by showing what they know or think about plant life cycles by drawing a picture of the cycle. Teachers can use these drawings as pre-assessments to look for students' misconceptions about the life cycle. Students may believe that the process ends with a dead plant. Students can then observe the life cycle of a plant and record observations and changes in their journals. A post-assessment should be given, having students draw what they have learned about plant life cycles.

Research

National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13165.

Summary: In this chapter, it is explained that all living organisms change in ways that can be predicted. Plants, like animals, are produced by sexual reproduction in which two single cells join and then divide through the process of mitosis. From this point, seeds are produced in the fruiting bodies of the plant, which germinate and turn into a seedling, which grows into a mature plant that then reproduces. Early elementary school students are expected to understand that plants and animals have characteristics at each stage of development that can be predicted.