Colorado Agriscience Curriculum
Section:
Plant & Soil Science
Unit:
Environmental Factors
Lesson Number:
1
Lesson Title: Understanding Environmental Factors of Plant Growth
Colorado Agricultural Education Standards:
Content Standard 11/12.2: The student will gain practical experience in agriscience through
laboratory and field work.
Content Standard 11/12.4:
The student will demonstrate an understanding of physiological
processes in agriculturally important plants.
Content Standard 11/12.5:
The student will demonstrate team skills through problem-solving
activities in agriscience.
Colorado Science Standards:
1. Students understand the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct,
communicate about, and evaluate such investigations.
3. Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure of living
things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their
environment.
5. Students know and understand interrelationships among science, technology, and human
activity and how they can affect the world.
Student Learning Objectives (Enablers)
As a result of this lesson, the student will …
Objective #1 Understand how cultural environment affects plant growth and selection.
Objective #2 Understand environmental factors that affect plant growth.
Time: Instruction time for this lesson: 50 minutes.
Resources:
 Plants & Animals Biology and Production (Lee, Biodo, Hutter, Westrom, Patrick,
authors)
 Biology The Dynamics of Life (Briggs, Gregg, Hagins, Kapicka, Lundgren, Rillero,
National Geographic Society, authors)
 http://www.uswcl.ars.ag.gov/exper/exper.htm
 Plant Science Student Reference (Missouri Agricultural Education, Instructional
Materials Laboratory, University of Missouri-Columbia)
Tools, Equipment, and Supplies
2-L cardboard carton (milk carton)
Sand
Potting soil
Seeds: 5 lima beans (or similar), 30 rye grass (or similar), 10 impatiens
Clear plastic wrap
Scissors
Lamp (light source)
Index cards
Tape (You will require the above for each group, but no less than four sets)
Unit 5 Lesson 1 PowerPoint
Key Terms. The following terms are presented in this lesson and appear in bold italics:
Native plants
Cultural practices
Biomes
Interest Approach
Show picture of cactus and Douglas Fir and sugarcane found on PowerPoint.
Describe the environment where these plants might live. Does anyone know where these plants
are native to? Students will probably explain the climate of the desert; the Douglas Fir is
common in the forests of the West from Canada to California, and sugar cane in grown in warm
highly humid climates. These are the conditions that we could call native to the plants shown
here, what does native mean? Students should explain that native means the conditions where
the plants grown naturally. Why do plants grow better in certain conditions? Knowing this, have
you ever seen a field of corn growing naturally? Probably not! We have, over time been able to
adapt plants to new environments. We have learned that there are certain conditions that we can
control to maximize production of certain plants. What are environmental conditions that affect
plant growth? Light, Water, Air, Temperature, are certain examples. In what situations in
production agriculture are these conditions manipulated? Greenhouse environments, irrigation.
Our goal today is to understand that there are optimal conditions for plant growth. To
demonstrate this fact, we are going to build our own mini-environments or biomes.
Summary of Content and Teaching Strategies
Objective 1. Understand how cultural environment affects plant growth and selection.
Assemble materials for biome project. Have supplies set out in the classroom or lab. You should
briefly lecture on the following questions (also on PowerPoint) and then proceed to the biome
lab.
What is a biome?
The complex of living communities maintained by the climate of a region and
characterized by a distinctive type of vegetation. Examples of biomes in North America
include the tundra, desert, prairie, and the western coniferous forests.
What type of plants would grow best in each biome?
Those which are naturally adapted to the environment, or native plants.
What makes these plants grow best in these environments?
They have the correct amount of water, light, temperature and air that they require. These
factors greatly influence plant growth.
In order to control or mange light, temperature, air, nutrients and water to maximize
agriculture production, agriculturalists utilize cultural practices. These cultural practices
allow us to grow plants in certain environmental conditions that they are not native to.
Follow directions for the biome project as follows. This is best started at the beginning of the
week and monitored throughout the unit.
Building a Biome
Written by:
Kelly Ludwig
16621 Grants Trail
Orland Park IL 60462
(708)460-5022
Lincoln-Way High School
1801 East Lincoln Highway
New Lenox IL 60451
(815)485-7655
Objective:
The main objective in this Mini-teach is to show students how different
plants grow in each biome.
Materials Needed:
See above.
Strategy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
type
6.
7.
8.
The teacher will assign each group one of the following biomes:
desert, grassland, rain forest, or deciduous forest.
Cut the entire front wall from a carton. Poke a few small holes in the
uncut side for drainage. Staple the spout closed.
Fill the carton with soil to within 3 cm of the top. NOTE: If you
have been assigned the desert biome, use sandy soil.
At one end of the carton, plant 10 impatiens seeds. In the middle of
the carton, plant 5 lima beans. Scatter 30 rye seeds on the soil surface
at the other end of the carton.
On your index card, write the names of your group, the seeds, and the
of biome. Tape the card to the carton.
Water the seeds well. Cover the open part of the carton with plastic
wrap.
Put the carton in a warm place where it will remain undisturbed. Observe
the carton every day until seeds sprout.
After the seeds have sprouted, and depending upon which biome your
group has, give it the following amounts of light and water.
Desert:
little water, 5-6 hours of light
Grassland:
medium water, 5-6 hours of light
Deciduous forest: medium water, 1-2 hours of light
Rain forest:
much water, no direct light
"much water":
"medium water":
"little water":
keep soil surface wet
let surface dry, and then add water
let soil dry to a depth of 2.5 cm, then water
9.
Observe the development of the plants in your biome and in the biomes
of the other groups. Record your observations.
Performance Assessment:
At the conclusion of the Mini-teach, students will be able to answer
the following questions:
1. In which biome did most of the seeds grow best?
2. Where did grass seeds grow best? The beans? The impatiens?
3. Which plants grew well in more than one biome?
4. How do beans react to too little light?
5. Explain why plants grew differently in each biome.
6. Why did the seeds need water when they were planted?
7. What was the variable in the experiment?
8. Predict how the impatiens, lima beans, and rye seeds would grow in the
tundra and coniferous forest biomes.
Conclusion:
Students will understand how different plants grow in each biome.
Objective 2. Understand how environmental factors affect plant growth.
See PowerPoint
Plant growth is affected by the environment. Factors that affect plant growth are light, water,
nutrients and temperature. Each factor affects specific processes or a combination of processes
within the plant that directly relates to plant growth and development.
A. Light
Light is essential for plant growth. Normal plant growth requires the full range of visible
spectrum of sunlight. Plants react to light through the processes of photosynthesis,
phototropism (where hormones stimulate longitudinal growth of the plants stem towards
the light source) and photoperiodism (the growth of plants according to the number of
light and dark hours; or “day length”).
B. Water
Water is considered an essential element in plant growth, and the moisture content of
plants can vary from 15 to 95 percent of the plants “fresh” weight. Although all plants
require water, the amount of water required differs with each plant species.
C. Nutrients
Plants also have nutritional needs in order to grow and properly develop. Plants require
larger amounts of certain nutrients (macronutrients) and smaller amounts of other
nutrients (micronutrients). Plant growth depends on the availability of the essential
nutrients to be available to the plant. Absorption and osmosis are the processes in which
nutrients are taken up by the plant.
D. Temperature
Temperature can influence plant growth positively or negatively. Because plants have a
large surface area, it is difficult for plants to regulate their own temperature.
Temperatures above or below the optimum growing temperature of 68 to 95 degrees will
reduce carbon fixation within the plant, reducing the growth rate of plants.
Review/Summary.
Review content in this lesson by using “Eyewitness Moment.” Have one student ask
questions in the manner of a TV News reporter, and another student answer questions as
the expert, or eyewitness to the environmental factors affecting plant growth.
Students pair up. You will each be given 2 minutes to interview each other in the manner
of a famous CNN news reporter. Decide who the reporter is. Good! The other person is
the expert. Take 30 seconds to think of questions to ask the expert regarding the material
you learned today. Ready, pick up your microphones (pencil or pen) and test
one…two…three. Go! Give students two minutes to interview the other person. Then
switch roles and repeat the summary activity.
Application
Extended classroom activity:
Go to
http://www.saskschools.ca/~pvsd/vsfprojects/foodforlife/foodforlife/www.simplydivinecat
ering.com/my_experiment.htm and repeat experiment on plant growth utilizing eight
different liquids (tap water, filtered water, antibacterial soap, green tea, orange juice,
Coca-Cola, coffee and chemical fertilizer) fed to alfalfa sprouts, produce more energy to
help the plants grow bigger than normal.
FFA activity:
Expand and develop mini-lab experiments into a local agriscience fair, following
guidelines for agriscience projects found on the Local Program Success CD.
SAE activity:
Ask students to review how these important environmental conditions affect (or could
affect) their SAEP's. How can they effectively manage around these conditions? How
does adverse conditions change the goals on the efficiencies developed within their
SAEP’s?
Evaluation.
Have students turn in lab reports from Biome experiment, making sure to relate the
experiment to each environmental factor of light, water, temperature, and nutrient
availability. Evaluate these reports on accuracy and understanding of the environmental
factors and detailed reporting of data from experiment.