Plant Classification Project

Introduction:Aliens have just approached you from an undiscovered planet in the Andromeda galaxy near the star cloud known to us asNCG 206. The aliens are in desperate need of your help. Their atmosphere is changing to become more like Earth's. They have discovered that if they don't begin growing plants within the next few months, as their winter ends, their planet will not be able to replenish the oxygen to which they are now accustomed. Without plants, not only will their oxygen levels in the air begin to drop but they will start to run out of food. The entire food web will disintegrate and all life on their planet will cease to exist. This is the only planet they could find that even comes close what their atmosphere is changing to and after years of studying our planet they know that plants like ours is what their planet needs. The Aliens are depending on your scientific team to give them the knowledge that they need.

Your Task:Your job is to teach the Aliens about plants and the best way to grow plants. You will be creating a brochure for the Aliens to take back to their planet with them. The following items should be included in your journal to the Aliens:
1. Tell the Aliens what plants they need to grow.
2. Explain the uses for plants.
3. Explain how scientists on this planet classify plants.
4. Describe the parts of a plant - include a diagram, labeling each section and its function.
5. Describe pollination - the life cycle of the flower.
6. Describe the four major components of soil.
7. Explain the process of photosynthesis and transpiration.
8. Describe the uses of hydroponics.
9. Design a garden - use six different plants and position them in the most effective areas.

Process:In your team you will research the above tasks. Your team has only this week and next week to complete the brochure for the Aliens because their ship will be ready for the return trip home by then. It's a very complicated process to be able to travel millions of light years and return at the moment they left. It's similar to time travel and they cannot miss their launch date. Your answers must be completed in the above order in your brochure. Your team will only be required to complete one brochure so you must all work together on this. You must have complete sentences and your diagrams should be neat and clearly labeled. Your team will be responsible for spelling, especially when your team directly copies from your resources. Look below at theevaluationfor a clear picture of what this project needs!

Step 1:

Start by completingThe Great Plant Escape! Go on to Step 2 when you are done.

Step 2:

Go toTrees of the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about some common conifers in the Pacific Northwest. Use a dichotomous key to identify a conifer specimen. Discover the identity of a mystery tree! In other words, do the three on the bottom of the webpage.

Step 3:

Go toKid's World - Plant Nutritionand complete all the exercises there.

Step 4:

Download the following documents to the desktop, open them one at a time and copy what's there onto your notebook (draw the leaves the best you can):

Leaf Shapes
Leaf Margins
Groupings
Venation

Step 5:

Now you can start dividing the labor. Each person in your team should be responsible for an equal number of questions fromthe task. Being responsible means that you will be in charge of the mouse and keyboard and researching. If theresourcesaren't enough, meaning you can't find the answer to a question, do a Google search to answer your questions. The rest of the team should support you while you are researching your questions. In other words, you are never to work alone while your teammates do nothing. Write the answers in your notebook (each person writes the answers to his or her own questions while the rest of the team helps by summarizing for you).

Step 6:
When you have answers to all nine questions inthe taskstart Pages and choose a brochure layout. Save it on your desktop. If you do not have pages, you can hand draw the brochure.

Each person should type his or her answers from his or her own questions. Label each section for which you are responsible. If your brochure needs to be longer than the space you are given, feel free start a part 2. Make sure everyone watches to look out for typos and grammar errors. Support each other.

Step 7:
Once you are all done typing your sections you can use Pixlr to make any drawings to help the aliens understand what you are describing and/or explaining.

By going toPixlrand chooseFile,New, you will get the option to start a blank canvas of any size.

Choose500 X 500to get a nice, webpage sized canvas to draw on. Use the tools to draw and use the property inspector to change colors.

You can also drag pictures off the Internet and import them into your Fireworks drawing.

You can then put the Pixlr drawings right into your iPages brochure.

Step 8:
When you are done with your brochureevaluateyourselves and your work.

Resources:

Flower Resources
All About Plants / Growing Information - Hydroponics
My First Garden / Plant Life Cycle
Plant Parts / Plant Classification Quiz

New Resource Flowers, Plants, and Gardening: For Kids!
New Resource:All About Sustainable Gardening
New Resource:A Homeowner's Outdoor Horticulture Guide

Evaluation:

Rubric:Use the following rubrics to score your final product. Here is a research rubric.

Questions / 5 Points / 4 Points / 3 Points / 2 Points / 1 Point
1 / 6 or more factors, sent. are neat & complete. / 4-5 factors, sent. Are neat &complete / 3 factors, sent. Are neat or complete / 2 factors, sent. Are neat or complete / 1 factor, sent. Are neat or complete
2 / 10 or more uses / sent. Are neat &complete / 7-9 factors, sent. Are neat & complete / 4-6 factors, sent. Are neat or complete / 2-3 factors, sent. Are neat or complete / 1 factor, sent. Are neat or complete
3 / Includes the 3 or 4 correct branchings that Botanists use to classify plants. Are neat & complete / The 3 or 4 correct branchings that Botanists use to classify plants are either missing one or one is wrong. Are neat & complete / Only 2 correct branchings that Botanists use to classify plants.Are neat or complete / Only 1 correct branching that Botanists use to classify plants are identified. Are neat or complete / Did not correctly identify how Botanists classify plants.
4 / All 4 parts are labeled and diagrammed, sent. Are neat & complete / All 4 parts are labeled or diagrammed, sent. Are neat & complete / 3 parts are labeled or diagrammed, sent. Are neat or complete / 2 parts are labeled or diagrammed, sent. Are neat or complete / 1 part is labeled or diagrammed, sent. is neat or complete
5 / Complete process is explained - includes hybrid and cross-pollination, sent. Are neat & complete / Complete process is explained, sent. Are neat & complete / Complete process is explained, sent. Are neat or complete / 2 steps of the process are explained, sent. Are neat or complete / 1 step of the process is explained, sent. Is neat or complete
6 / Described 6 parts of soil, included pH level, sent. Are neat & complete / Described 4-5 parts of soil, included pH level sent. Are neat &complete / Described 3-4 parts of soil, sent. Are neat or complete / Described 2-3 parts of soil, sent. Are neat or complete / Described 1 part of soil, sent. Are neat or complete
7 / Explained the process of photosynthesis, Transpiration, sent. Are neat & complete / Explained the process of photosynthesis, Transpiration, sent. Are neat or complete / Explained the process of photosynthesis or transpiration, sent. Are neat and complete / Explained the process of photosynthesis or transpiration, sent. Are neat and complete / Attempted to describe photosynthesis, transpiration - sent. Are neat or complete
8 / Explained and listed the uses of hydroponics, sent. neat & complete / Explained and listed the uses of hydroponics, sent. Neat or complete / Explained or listed the uses of hydroponics, sent. Neat & complete / Explained or listed the uses of hydroponics, sent. Are neat or complete / Attempted to describe hydroponics, sent. Are neat or complete
9 / Designed a garden - used 6 plants/used learned techniques (more than 6 plants will be worth extra credit - not much). / Designed a garden using 5-6 plants/ used learned techniques / Designed a garden using 3-4 plants / used some learned techniques / Designed a garden using 2 plants / used limited learned techniques / Designed a garden using 1 plant, used limited learned techniques