Contextualized Lesson Planning Guide

Title: Photosynthesis / Time Required: 1:30
Lesson Submitted By: Michelle Weiner, WPCC

Lesson Contextualized Toward: ☒Career Pathway: Horticulture
Content Standards Benchmarks Taught:
R.3.3.4 Evaluate information from simple graphic materials such as charts, pictures, maps, signs, diagrams, tables, or graphs.
R.3.3.3 Locate pertinent information in print materials and apply it to answer a question. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
SC.2.7.1 Analyze photosynthesis and cellular respiration in terms of how energy is stored, released, and transferred within and between these systems.
SC.4.1.5 Explain how incoming solar energy makes life possible on Earth.
Objectives/Learning Goals:
  1. Review vocabulary relevant to plant growth.
  2. Understand meaning and use of vocabulary associated with photosynthesis.
  3. Explain how the process of photosynthesis works.
  4. Illustrate the importance of the photosynthesis process to humans and plants.
  5. Contextualize the processes demonstrated in horticulture classes associated with the horticulture pathway.
Rationale:
This cohort of students is comprised of ELA and OCS. Both groups often lack prior knowledge necessary for successful completion of certificate-bearing horticulture classes. Learning the vocabulary and terms while experiencing tangible concepts reinforces the information learned in other classrooms.
Materials/Resources Needed: Individual Bingo Cards, Photosynthesis Worksheet, Voc List, Computer, Projector, Bingo Prizes, Calcium Hydroxide, Glass bottles or jars, Leafs, andStraws
Procedure/Instructional Outline:
  1. (I do)
Handout the classroom bingo boards. Generated at
  1. Explain that during the class period students will mark on their bingo boards the words as they are being said. First to get Bingo, wins.
  1. (We do)
Model and do the bottling portion of the CO2experiment; it must sit in the sun for 45 minutes.
  1. Directions for completing the experiment are attached. Will complete in teams of 2. Explain to the students that we haven’t studied the theories behind the experiment. We’ll get to that at the end of the class.
  1. (We do)
Review, as a group, the voc words from the last class.
  1. Word list included.
  1. (I do)
Show Photosynthesis video:
Discuss the process demonstrated on the video.
  1. (You do)
Complete the photosynthesis worksheet.
  1. Worksheet included.
  1. (We Do)
Finish and evaluate the CO2 experiment.
  1. (Still in pairs) Write three-to-five sentences describing what you learned from the experiment.
Contextualization Guide
Relate:
  1. Have you heard of talking to your plants?
  2. What do people breath in? Out?
Experience:
  1. CO2Experiment offers hands on/active learning
  2. Vocabulary is Landscape/Nursery related
  3. Video demonstrates the process of photosynthesis
Apply:
  1. CO2Experiment demonstrates the release of CO2.
  2. The video explains the necessary process for human respiration.
Cooperate:
  1. Experiment conducted in teams of two.
  2. Writing assignment completed in teams of two.
Transfer:
  1. Vocabulary is Landscape/Nursery related
  2. Video demonstrates how plants in Landscape/Nursery uses sunlight to make food.
CO2 Experiment

  1. Take a glass bottle, blow air in it with a straw for 30 secs. Close the lid.
  2. Take the other bottle, blow air in it for 10 secs. Close the lid.
  3. Put leaves in it.
  4. Blow again for 30 secs. Close the lid.
  5. Put both bottles in sunlight.
  6. After collecting, put 15ml of lime water in the bottle without leaves. Shake well.
  7. Now put same amount in bottle with leaves. Shake well.
  8. Pour the lime water out of each bottle into its own cup. Observe the color difference.
Lesson Vocabulary
Biennial - A plant that completes its life cycle in two years.
Annual - A plant that completes its life cycle in one year.
Genus - A group of species of plants that are closely related.
Germinate - The beginning of growth in a seed; to sprout.
Horticulture - The art and science of cultivating plants.
Flower-The part of the plant that bears seeds and also has reproductive organs.
Compost- A mixture of decaying, organic materials (such as kitchen scraps) used for soil amending, fertilizing, and mulching.
Root-The part of the plant usually located by the ground that conveys nourishment.
Seed-The plant part that allows the rest of the plant to grow.
Stem-The supporting part of the plant that is usually above the ground.
Herbicide-A substance that destroys plants or inhibits growth.
New Words:
Photosynthesis-The method in which green plants and other organisms use sunlight to process nourishment from water and carbon dioxide.
Chloroplast-The area where photosynthesis takes place that contains chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll Green- Coloring matter essential to the production of carbohydrates by photosynthesis.
Glossary of Gardening Terms