Note for teachers
This activity offers a lot of flexibility depending on your resources and student readiness.
You may choose to base this activity on a single environment explored in the web resource – i.e. testing whether your chosen plant species are adapted to the rainforest, arid zone, or cold climates.
Alternatively, you might combine all environments in a single experiment. You may test one plant species in various environmental conditions, or multiple plant species in various conditions. You may choose to allocate different treatments to different student groups – e.g. Group 1 will test plants growing under different light levels, Group 2 will plants growing in different temperatures, Group 3 will test plants growing with different water availabilities, etc. Students with greater levels of readiness can conduct more tests – e.g. use two plant species expose to multiple environmental conditions.
Preparation
Obtain seedlings of a plant species. You may choose one species for the whole class, or multiple for comparison (e.g. a succulent, herb, etc).
Consider how many different conditions you will expose your plant to – e.g. room temperature, extreme cold, extreme heat, dark, light, low water availability, high water availability; and ensure you have one seedling of each plant species per treatment.
Brainstorm
Before you plan your experiment, brainstorm the following questions with the class:
- Observe the structural features of your chosen plant(s). What conditions do you think your plant has adapted to?
- How will you expose your plant to different environmental conditions?
- Will there be a control?
- What will you measure in this experiment?
- How will you know if the plant is adapted to the conditions you have exposed it to?
- How long will your experiment run for?
- Will you be watering your plants throughout your experiment?
- What variables must you keep the same in your experiment for a fair test?
Complete the report template below for your experiment
Aim
What are you testing? |
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| Variables |
Independent
What are you changing in this experiment? |
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Dependent
What are you measuring in this experiment? |
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Controlled
What are you keeping constant in this experiment? |
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Hypothesis
What do the structural features of your plant indicate about its natural habitat? How can this inform your predictions? |
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Materials
Record the materials used in your experiment |
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Method
Draw a scientific diagram showing your experimental set up OR insert labelled photos of your experimental set up |
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Results
Tabulate and graph your results. |
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Discussion
What did your results show?
Assess the accuracy, validity and reliability of your results. |
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Conclusion
Did your experiment address the aim? |
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