ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: Literacy Standards (6-12) (6 - 8), or Science (7)
Title: Dressed for Success: How Do Specialized Plant Structures Increase the Probability of Successful Reproduction?
Description: At the beginning of the lesson, students will view an engaging video of time-lapse photographs of flowers blooming, and students will create a T-chart listing the similarities and differences among the appearances of each flower. To formatively assess students' current knowledge of specialized plant structures, the students will sort key vocabulary words related to plants' structures into categories. Then, students will read an informational article on flowering plants and re-sort the key vocabulary words into the correct categories to demonstrate their knowledge of plants' specialized reproductive structures. Next, students will complete a lab activity in which they will carefully dissect a flower and observe the various specialized structures, collect specimens to view under the microscope and create and label scientific sketches of the flower's specialized structures. Lastly, students will design a unique flower that will have a high probability of reproductive success and provide a written response in a claim-evidence-reasoning format. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.