Student's Pages
Activity 5: Plants and People: Is their Food the Same?
Activity 5 - Teachers Page
How Food for Plants is the Same as Food for People
Both humans and plants need food for the same reason. They need
food because food gives the _________________that they must have to grow and to keep all
their parts working properly. Living things get their ______________ from food. Food also supplies all living
things with materials to use for growth. Both plants and animals need this energy-supplying material.
How Plants Get Food Differently from Humans:
What is funny about this cartoon? What is wrong with this
picture?
Plants cannot get food the way we do. They do not have mouths,
and they cannot go out and buy food from the store! So how do they get food? What kind of food do they use?
Beginning Ideas About the Question:
What is Food for Plants?
1. Write down YOUR ideas about how plants get food (put down the
ideas you have TODAY; we know that your ideas may change). __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Write down YOUR ideas about what kind of food plants use to
live and grow (put down the ideas you have TODAY; we know that your ideas may change).
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. Draw arrows to show how you think food moves in a plant.
Why does it move this way?
_______________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
REFLECT AND CONNECT
What is food for plants?
A Scientific Discussion
What this Unit is About
In this unit, we will explore what food is for plants and how
plants get their food. We will test our hypotheses to find out how plants get food that contains energy that they can
use to live and grow. As we go along, compare what you find out with what you have just written. See how your
ideas change and grow.
Getting Started in Our Inquiry: A Scientific Discussion
Now you are going to get together, just like scientists do, and
talk about your ideas. When scientists talk, they are not interested in WHO has the right answer, they are interested
in working together to come up with the very BEST IDEAS they can. For example, it is not one person who will
discover how to keep cancer or the AIDS virus from killing people. Many scientists are working on this problem at
the same time. They enjoy getting together to compare their findings and to debate different ideas, or theories
about what is causing the disease and how to stop it. They not only enjoy these debates, they NEED these
debates. These discussions give them new ideas that they could not have had by themselves. Together we can
accomplish much more than any individual scientist alone.
In the movies, do they usually show a scientist working by him or
herself in a laboratory? ______ This is our stereotype of scientists, that they work alone.
Have you ever seen a TV show or movie that shows doctors or
scientists sitting down around a table and talking about their differing ideas? _____
This part of doing science -- talking science together -- is just
as important as the experiments in the laboratory. Scientists, just like us, need to help each make sense of the
things they observe in their experiments.
Now you are going to have a discussion among the scientists in
your classroom. Look at the chart on the next page to get some ideas of ways you can be a thoughtful scientist
in this discussion.
REFLECT AND CONNECT:
A GUIDE TO GOOD SCIENCE TALKS
Ways of Being a Scientist
Symbol
You can Say:
•Sharing something you have seen or observed to support your idea.
I have noticed that plants.....
I once saw ....
•Asking a question you are wondering about
I wonder why plants .....
How come plants.....?
•Sharing your ideas or theories so other scientists can think about your ideas
I think that plants get their food by....
•Showing that you are listening to other scientists in your class by asking clarification questions
What do you mean?
Why do you think that?
•Agreeing or disagreeing in respectful ways with another scientist's idea.
I agree with Tanisha because....
I disagree with Antonio because....
•Giving a reason or evidence for an idea.
I think my idea is right because....
Adding onto someone else’s idea
I want to add something to Michael’s idea...
Suggest an experiment or activity to get more evidence
I have an idea of something we could try to
prove....
•Thinking about changing or adding new ideas to your own.
I want to add something to my idea...
I think I want to change my idea,
because....
Name_________________________ Activity Five
REFLECT AND CONNECT:
Having a Scientific Discussion
1. During the discussion about your ideas about food for plants,
did your class come up with a lot of different ideas, or hypotheses, about how plants get their food? ________
How many different hypotheses does your class have? ______
2. During the discussion, did you hear anyone give a reason, or
evidence, for their idea? _____
3. During the discussion, did you hear anyone say “I agree”
or “I disagree” with another person's idea?_____
4. During the discussion, did you hear anyone share a question or
something they are wondering about? _____
5. During the discussion, did you hear someone give an idea that
was different from your own? _______
6. During the discussion, did you hear someone tell about
something they have seen or observed that helped them think about how plants get their food?_______
7. During your science discussion, did you think about changing
any of your ideas about how plants get their food? ______
Check off the ways in which YOU were a thoughtful scientist in
today's discussion:
In today's discussion, I was a thoughtful scientist when:
_____I shared an idea about how plants get their food
_____I shared a question or something I was wondering about how
plants get their food and grow
_____I listened to others' ideas and heard ideas different from
my own
_____I described something I have seen (observed) that helps me
think about how plants get their food
_____I gave a reason, or evidence, or “proof” for my
ideas about how plants get their food.
_____I told how I agreed or disagreed with someone else's ideas
about how plants get their food.
_____ I did a lot of hard thinking and wondering about how plants
get their food.