Outline  

I. Introduction

A. Course Overview

1.Core Life Science Concepts

B.Curriculum Activities

C.Opportunities for Assessment

D.Planting Materials

E.Helpful Hints

II. National Standards

A. National Science Education Standards

B. National Geography Education Standards

C. National Health Education Standards

D. National Standards for History

E. National Standards for English Language Arts

F. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

III. Part One: From Seed to Seed

A. From Seed...

1. Different Types of Life Cycles

a. Annual, Biennial, or Perennial?

2. Characteristics of Seeds

3. Germination

a. Germination Requirements

b. Stages of Germination

B. Plant Cells

1. The Typical Plant Cell

2. Plant versus Animal Cells

C. Plant Growth

1. Cell Division

a. Chromosomes in Sets

b. Types of Cell Division

2. The Miracle of Meristems

a. Types of Meristems

3. Plant Growth Regulators

a. Response to Light

b. Response to Gravity

c. Response to Physical Contact

d. Other Phenomena Regulated by Auxin

D. Photosynthesis

1. Introduction to Leaves

a. Leaf Parts

b. Leaf Terminology

c. Leaves Up Close

2. Photosynthetic Process

a. How Does It Work?

b. Why Is Photosynthesis so Important?

3. Plant Requirements During Photosynthesis

a. Light

b. Water

c. Air

d. Nutrients

E. Transpiration

1. Introduction to Roots

a. Water and Nutrient Uptake

b. Roots as Anchors

c. Food Storage in Roots

2. Introduction to Stems

3. What Is Transpiration?

a. Why Is Transpiration so Important?

F. Respiration

1. Do Plants Really Breathe?

G. Sexual Reproduction

1. Speaking of Flowers

a. Can Plants Tell Time?

2. The Birds and the Bees

a. Formation of Gametes

b. Seeds and Fruit

H. Asexual Reproduction

1. Clones and Cloning

a. Adventitious Roots and Shoots

I. ...to Seed

1. Dispersal Mechanisms

a. Wind

b. Water

c. Animals

d. Fire

e. Other Adaptations for Seed Dispersal

2. Do Plants Hibernate?

a. How Plants Prepare for Winter

b. Hardening Off

c. Chilling Requirements

IV. Part Two: Exploring Plant Topics

A. Diversity: From Mosses to Redwood
1. Systems for Classifying Plant
a. Creating Order from Diversity

b. Terminology: Genus and Species

c. Family Resemblance

d. Conventional Nomenclature: How to Write Botanical Names

e. Families, Orders, Classes, Phylums, and Kingdoms

2. A Survey of the Plant Kingdom

a. The Seedless Plants

b. The Seed-forming Plants

3. The Family Tree in Your Garden

a. Some Familiar Families



4. Theories of Evolution

a. Darwin's Theories

5. Appendix: Latin Words Frequently Used in Species Names


B. Plant Relationships

1. Categorizing Relationships

a. Plant-Microbe Relationships

b. Plant-Insect Relationships

c. Plant-Plant Relationships

d. Plant-Animal Relationships

2. Ecology in the Garden

a. Competition

b. The Food Web

c. The Ever-changing Landscape

C. Plants and People

1. The Cell Wall

a. The Cell Walls Around You: Wood

b. Fiber

2. The Contents of the Cell: Exudates and Extracts

3. Plants with Medicinal Properties

a. Herbal Remedies Throughout History

b. Antibiotics and Aspirin

4. Plant Poisons

5. Plant Parts We Eat

a. Food Categories: The Big Three

b. Plant Parts as Food

D. Invasive Plants

1. What's the Problem?

2. Native or Exotic?

E. Genetics and Genetic Engineering

1. Review of the Reproductive Process

2. Mendel's Famous Peas

a. Inheritance of Seed Color

b. Dominant or Recessive?

c. Charting the Results

3. Gene Distribution During Cell Division

a. The Role of Chance

b. Incomplete Dominance

4. Genetic Diversity Revisited

a. Mutations

5. The Six-Million-Dollar Plant?

a. A History of Plant Breeding

b. Genetic Engineering

V. Conclusion

VI. Curriculum Activities List

VIII. Questions and Answers