Unit 12 — Growth and Living Systems - Plants and Growth
Description
Students explore how plants grow and what they need by planting beans and observing growth over time. Students design tools to help with gardening using the engineering design process. They measure plant height, graph growth data, and evaluate what conditions affect growth. Students observe structure and function in plants and create digital stories about their plant growth journey. The unit integrates life science, data collection, and digital literacy. Students understand how organisms meet their needs and connect observation to data representation. By year's end, students recognize patterns in growth and can make predictions based on data.
Essential Questions
- What do plants need to grow?
- How do we measure and track growth over time?
- How can we design tools to help plants grow?
- What does data tell us about plant growth?
Learning Objectives
- Understand plant structure and function
- Observe and measure plant growth over time
- Design gardening tools using engineering process
- Collect and graph growth data
- Analyze data to draw conclusions about growth conditions
- Create digital stories using photos and text
- Connect observations to scientific concepts
- Understand life cycles and growth patterns
Supplemental Resources
- Rulers for measuring plant height
- Graph paper for plotting growth data
- Markers and colored pencils for design sketches
- Soil and cups for planting
- Clipboards for recording daily observations
Life Sciences
Algorithms and Programming
Data and Analysis
Engineering Design
Digital Literacy
Measurement
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Students write informative texts to explain engineering design processes and create digital stories about investigations. Students engage in collaborative discussions during design challenges and present findings about prototypes and solutions.
Students measure lengths of objects using appropriate tools and units, create bar graphs and picture graphs to represent data, and use addition and subtraction to solve word problems involving measurements and comparisons.
Formative Assessments
- Planting and daily observation of beans
- Measurement and recording of plant height
- Design of gardening tools
- Sketches and descriptions of growth observations
Summative Assessment
Digital story with pictures and written descriptions documenting plant growth over the month, including data graphs and analysis
Benchmark Assessment
A mid-unit observation task where students measure their bean plant height using a ruler or non-standard tool, record the measurement, and answer 2-3 guided questions about what the plant needs to grow. This checks foundational measurement skills and understanding of plant growth conditions covered in the first half of the unit.
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through verbal descriptions of plant needs and growth stages recorded by a teacher or peer, with picture supports or actual plant specimens to reference. Plant height may be measured using alternative tools such as blocks or string instead of standard rulers, with results communicated through pointing, arranging objects, or one-word responses.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from visual supports such as labeled diagrams of plant parts and simplified observation recording sheets with picture prompts to support data collection during plant growth activities. Oral responses or dictation can be accepted in place of written descriptions when documenting observations, and teachers may allow students to use photos they have taken as the primary evidence in their digital story rather than relying heavily on written text. Breaking the multi-step engineering design process into smaller, numbered stages with a visual checklist can help students manage the sequence of tasks across the unit. Measurement activities may be scaffolded with pre-marked rulers or number lines taped to the workspace to reduce cognitive load while maintaining participation in data collection.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time to complete observation recordings and graphing tasks, particularly during sessions that require fine motor precision such as measuring and plotting data points. Preferential seating near the class plants and during digital story creation sessions can minimize distractions and support focus during longer observation or work periods. Providing a print copy of any directions displayed on the board ensures students can reference instructions independently throughout each activity.
ELL / MLL
Teachers should use visual cues such as picture-supported vocabulary cards for key science terms like roots, stem, leaves, seeds, and growth to build content language throughout the unit. Directions for planting, measuring, and recording observations should be given in short, simple steps, and teachers should ask students to retell the steps in their own words before beginning. Students' home language strengths can be leveraged by allowing them to label diagrams or record observations in their home language first, then transition to English with teacher support, helping them connect new vocabulary to concepts they already understand.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional entry points can be connected to the unit by beginning with concrete, hands-on experiences such as touching and sorting plant parts before moving into observation recording or graphing tasks. Observation sheets with sentence frames and picture boxes allow students to participate in documentation without being blocked by writing demands, keeping the focus on scientific thinking. Teachers can build on what students already know about plants from everyday life, such as food or outdoor experiences, to activate prior knowledge and create a meaningful bridge to new science concepts.
Gifted & Talented
Students who demonstrate early mastery of plant structure and basic growth concepts can be invited to investigate how specific variables such as light, water amount, or soil type affect growth rate, forming their own testable questions and collecting comparative data. Encouraging students to analyze patterns across their data graphs and write or narrate evidence-based explanations in their digital story — moving beyond description toward scientific argument — offers meaningful depth within the same unit context. Students may also explore how engineers design tools for large-scale agriculture or hydroponics, connecting the gardening design challenge to real-world systems and extending the engineering design process in a more complex direction.