RHS Education and Learning, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB schoolswisley@rhs.org.uk 01483 212432 Charity No: 222879/SCO38262

Spring and Summer – Flowers everywhere! KS3 RHS Wisley lesson plan 2016

National Curriculum: Reproduction in plants, flower structure, wind and insect pollination, fertilisation

Learning Objectives Structure Plenary

Students should learn

Most flowers have both male and female structures

Flowers are for sexual reproduction to produce seeds

Flower structure including petals, nectaries, stamens (anther, filament) and carpel (stigma, style, ovary, ovule, egg cell)

Pollen contains the male nucleus

Egg cell contains the female nucleus

Pollen needs to be carried to stigma. This is pollination

Pollen can be carried by wind and insects

Pollen carried by wind is smaller and may have ‘wings’ and is produced in large quantities – grasses and many trees

Pollen carried by insects is larger, produced in

Introduction Welcome and Health& Safety talk (See Risk Assessments).Pollen allergies

Establish that plants have flowers to make seeds. What does a gardener do if he/she wants to grow lettuces? Demo packets of seeds. Where do the seeds come from? – bought or collected from plants. How do plants make seeds? Flowers are needed to make seeds. (photograph of lettuce flowers/tomato) How do you grow an oak tree? Oak trees must have flowers. (photo of oak flowers) Role of insects and wind in transferring pollen Why do some flowers have brightly coloured petals? - to attract bees. What do the bees get from the flowers? – nectar (not honey!!) and some pollen. What do the flowers get in return? – pollen carried from one flower to the next so that they can make seeds. Oak trees do not have big flowers .How does the pollen get carried from one oak flower to the next? – wind Demo oak / hazel flowers ( may need to have pictures) Why is pollen so important? Introduce the idea that pollen carries the male nucleus to fertilise the female nucleus to make an embryo (baby) plant in a seed.

Activities Collect some flowers from the garden (with permission from the curatorial staff). Note the location where found. Use key to identify how pollinated. Return Clore Learning Centre Use mini digital microscopes to examine and dissect flower and stick on paper strip – sepal, petals, stamens, carpel. Using the scientists’ microscope and good laptop at the front examine some examples of pollen. What does it tell us about how the plant is pollinated? Reinforce the differences between wind and insect pollinated pollen.

Why are flowers so important to plants?

How are plant flowers adapted for insect and wind pollination?

If a scientist was looking at pollen from ancient mud samples under a microscope, how would they know if the plants living at that time were pollinated by insects or wind?

RHS Education and Learning, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB schoolswisley@rhs.org.uk 01483 212432 Charity No: 222879/SCO38262

smaller quantities and has a spiky surface to help it ‘grip’ onto insects.

To make a seed the male nucleus and female nucleus need to fuse. This is fertilisation

Example of pollen tube growing – permission to use YouTube example Demo flower to show pollen tube and reinforce idea that the male nucleus i and female nucleus need to fuse before an embryo plant within a seed can form

Resources: Lap top and projector Scientist microscope Slides, cover slips, dropping pipette Mini digital microscopes Strips with double sided tape Demo: Packets of seeds e.g. lettuce/tomato wind pollinated flower e.g. hazel/grass Primula Flower model Clip board, pencil, paper White tray/tub for flowers collected Key wind/insect pollinated flower

Links to IT:

Key Vocabulary: Flower parts: petal, nectary, stamen (anther and filament), carpel (stigma, style, ovary, ovule, egg cell) Pollen, pollination, insect and wind pollination, pollen tube Fertilisation, male nucleus, female nucleus, embryo plant Seed, embryo plant, food store, seed coat, seed dispersal.

RHS Education and Learning, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB schoolswisley@rhs.org.uk 01483 212432 Charity No: 222879/SCO38262

Assessment Questions

Diagram of seed showing embryo plant food store and seed coat. Can you name the parts and say what their function is?

What is pollination? Why is pollination needed?

To make an embryo plant fertilisation has to take place. Describe fertilisation

How are flowers adapted for insect and wind pollination?

How does the pollen in insect and wind pollinated flowers differ and why?

Differentiation: By outcome and questioning All Students can name petal, stigma, ovary, anther, pollen. Define pollination and fertilisation. Know the different structures of a seed – seed coat, food store, embryo plant. List some differences between insect pollinated and wind pollinated flowers and some differences between pollen carried by insects and pollen carried by wind. Most students can name and identify petal, carpel stigma and ovary; stamen and anther. Define and explain pollination. Describe how wind and insect pollinated flowers differ and explain why. Describe the differences between pollen from insect and wind pollinated flowers and give some reasons why they differ. Describe how fertilisation occurs in plants. Know that the zygote forms the embryo plant and the fertilised ovary forms the fruit or pod. Some students can name and identify carpel (stigma, style and ovary); stamen (anther, filament). Define and explain self pollination and cross pollination. Explain how insect and wind pollinated flowers are adapted to their method of pollination. Describe in detail how the pollen from insect and wind pollinated flowers differ and explain why. Define and describe fertilisation in plants. Explain what happens to each part of the flower after fertilisation. Describe the structure of a seed. Have an awareness of that the offspring from sexual reproduction show variation. Explain why tomato plants grown from a packet of seeds may not be exactly the same.