Unit Topic or Theme: Plants
Subject/Course: Life Science
Grade Level: 7
# of Students: 78
Class Duration: 40
minutes
Lesson Topic:Vascular plants
Day 4 of 10
Teacher’s Initials:
Date:
Your Name: Kayla Lengerich
Instructional Goals
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify vascular plants and their
characteristics, including seeds.
Lesson Rationale and/or Summary (as required by instructor)
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Students should be able to understand how seed plants work so that they may know
why plants grow in the places they do, how plants reproduce, and what the major
groups of plants are. Because plants are all around us, students are naturally curious
about their purpose and how they came to be.
During this lesson, students will take notes and discuss the two groups of seed
plants, as well as the importance of seeds. Students will also do a lima bean activity
in which they will take what they know about seeds to sketch what they think a lima
bean will look like on the inside. After sketching, the students will break open a
lima bean and compare the actual results to their prediction.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
 Identify the two types of seed plants and describe their characteristics
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Investigate the great variety of body plans and internal structures found in
multicellular organisms. (Life Sciences, 7.1)
Resources
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Paper
Pencils
PowerPoint presentation
White board
Lima beans
Lima bean activity worksheet
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Life Science. Austin, TX: Holt Science and Technology, 2001.
Procedures (Four Components)
I. Readiness/Motivation for Lesson: Engage
Allotted Time: 10 minutes
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“Today, we will be talking about seed plants. Before we get into taking notes and
having our discussion, we are going to do the first part of a lima bean lab. In this
lab, you are going to predict what the inside of a lima bean will look like. This is the
part that you will do in just a minute. You will draw a picture and then explain your
answer. Then, after we take notes, you will actually break open your lima bean to
look at the structures inside. You’ll draw the inside of the bean and explain whether
or not your prediction was accurate.”
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I will hand out the lab sheets and ask students to answer the first two questions.
When they are done, I will ask them to raise their hands so I can bring them a lima
bean so that they can examine the outside. They will then make their prediction
before setting the lima beans up on the cabinets to wait to be broken open.
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During this time, I will walk around to look at the drawings and to answer any
questions.
II. Lesson Development: Explore, Explain, Extend
Allotted Time: 35 minutes
 We will have a short discussion about the characteristics of seed plants. Students will
write the notes from the Power Point in their notebooks.
 “What do you know about seeds?”
 We will discuss the 3 parts of a seed.
 “What do you think a seed coat does?” I will explain the function of a seed coat as well
as of the stored food.
 I will direct students to the picture on page 279 of a seed with the 3 parts labeled.
 We will then complete the lima bean lab. Students will break open their lima bean and
draw what they see inside. They will fill out the remainder of the activity sheet.
 “Is what you saw in the lima bean similar to the picture on page 279?”
 We will clean up the lab.
III. Lesson Closure: Summarize, Link
Allotted Time: 5 minutes
 “Tomorrow, we will be discussing the two types of seed plants- gymnosperms and
angiosperms. Keep in mind what a seed does for a plant as we discuss it.”
 I will collect the lima bean activities.
 I will collect Section 2 worksheets.
 Students will be given Section 3 worksheets.
IV. Evaluate:
 Students will receive a point for every correct answer on their Section 2
homework.
 Students will receive 10 points for participating in and filling out the lima bean
activity worksheet.
Adaptations/Differentiation: (Optional, as prescribed by instructor)
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Students may receive print-outs of notes.
Students may work with a partner in the lima bean lab.