Unit 9 — May: Ornamental Plants and Biodiversity
Description
Students explore flowering plants and landscape design. They identify different flower types (complete, incomplete, perfect, imperfect) and design floral arrangements using grown flowers, learning design principles and artistic presentation. A landscape design contest challenges students to plan school landscaping using specified plants within budget constraints, distinguishing between floral, landscape, and houseplants. Students learn plant adaptations for different growing conditions. The unit includes field studies on plant biodiversity using transects to collect and analyze forest data. Students identify plants using field guides and mobile applications like iNaturalist, create plant collections with pressings, and document scientific names.
Essential Questions
- How do we classify and identify plants?
- What design principles create attractive landscapes?
- How do plants adapt to their environments?
- How do we measure and analyze biodiversity?
Learning Objectives
- Identify flower types and structures
- Apply design principles to floral arrangements
- Design landscapes within constraints
- Understand plant adaptations
- Use transects for biodiversity data collection
- Identify plants using multiple resources
- Create and document plant collections
- Analyze biodiversity patterns
Supplemental Resources
- Poster board for presenting landscape designs
- Colored pencils and markers for plant sketches
- Graph paper for transect data recording
- Index cards for plant identification and scientific names
- Lined journals for field observations and reflections
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Science and Engineering Practices
Students engage in reading, writing, speaking, and listening tasks throughout all units. They conduct research on agricultural topics using informational texts, write blog posts and project reports, present findings to peers, and engage in collaborative discussions. Students summarize information from diverse media, quote from sources to support claims, and produce informative and opinion writing aligned to agricultural themes such as food systems, animal science, and natural resource management.
Students apply mathematical concepts across all units. They use measurement and unit conversions when testing water chemistry, calculating feed amounts, and designing chicken coops. Students collect and graph data from macroinvertebrate studies and plant experiments, calculate percentages for hatch rates and cost analysis, use area and volume formulas when designing agricultural structures, and apply operations with fractions and decimals in food science and agribusiness contexts.
Students apply scientific practices throughout the curriculum by conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing data, developing models, and constructing explanations. Topics including plant biology, animal systems, water chemistry, genetics, ecology, and food chemistry directly align with life science and earth science disciplinary core ideas. Students engage in engineering design when creating hydroponics systems and chicken coop structures, and they use crosscutting concepts such as cause and effect, systems and system models, and structure and function.
Students examine the history of agriculture, food production policies across cultures, the impact of natural resource use on communities, and economic principles of agribusiness. They investigate how geographic factors influence agricultural production and distribution, compare food systems across regions and nations, analyze the economic interdependence created by trade in agricultural products, and evaluate how cultural practices shape food identity. The agribusiness unit directly addresses economic concepts including supply and demand, entrepreneurship, and the role of resources in shaping economic opportunity.
Career readiness, financial literacy, and 21st century life skills are embedded throughout all units. Students explore careers in agriculture, food science, natural resource management, veterinary science, and agribusiness. They develop personal and entrepreneurial financial skills through agribusiness simulations, plant sales, and grocery cost analysis. Students use digital tools for research, collaboration, and data visualization, and they practice critical thinking, creativity, and communication in team-based agricultural challenges.
Formative Assessments
- Observations of flower identification and arrangement design
- Journals documenting field study observations
- Discussions on landscape design choices
- Self-evaluations of plant identification accuracy
- Group work on transect data collection
Summative Assessment
Projects including landscape designs and plant collections, portfolio updates with field data, blog posts on biodiversity findings
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of flower types and structures through labeled diagrams, photo identification with teacher support, or verbal descriptions paired with visual aids rather than written responses. Landscape design may be completed using pre-made plant cards, templates, or a simplified digital tool, with teacher guidance on applying design principles and budget constraints.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from visual supports such as labeled diagrams of flower structures and parts to reference during identification activities. For hands-on design and field work, breaking multi-step tasks into numbered sequences and providing a checklist can help students manage complexity and monitor their own progress. Output options such as oral explanations, dictated journal entries, or photo-documented observations allow students to demonstrate understanding of plant adaptations and biodiversity findings without being limited by written expression alone. Teachers should check in frequently during open-ended tasks like arrangement design or transect data collection to provide feedback and keep students on track.
Section 504
Extended time should be provided for plant identification tasks and any written components of the landscape design or plant collection documentation, as these require sustained attention and fine-motor precision. Preferential positioning during outdoor field studies and in-class activities can reduce distraction and help students stay engaged during transect data collection. Access to a printed reference sheet summarizing flower type characteristics and design principles supports independent participation across unit activities.
ELL / MLL
Visual supports such as bilingual picture dictionaries, labeled photographs of flower types and landscape plant categories, and illustrated field guide pages will help students connect new content vocabulary — such as 'complete,' 'incomplete,' 'perfect,' and 'imperfect' flowers, or 'transect' and 'adaptation' — to observable examples. Directions for field activities and design tasks should be given in short, clear steps, with an opportunity for students to restate the task before beginning. Where possible, connecting ornamental and native plants to species familiar in students' home cultures or regions can build meaningful background knowledge and engagement.
At Risk (RTI)
Providing a structured graphic organizer or partially completed template for the landscape design and plant collection documentation gives students a clear entry point without reducing the intellectual challenge of the task. During field studies, pairing students with a supportive peer and assigning a defined role within the transect group helps ensure meaningful participation in biodiversity data collection. Connecting plant adaptation concepts to familiar environments — such as plants students have seen in their own neighborhoods or yards — activates prior knowledge and builds confidence before introducing more technical vocabulary and classification work.
Gifted & Talented
Students who demonstrate early mastery of flower identification and design principles can be challenged to investigate the ecological relationships between specific ornamental or native plants and local pollinators or soil conditions, moving beyond classification into systems thinking. In the landscape design contest, these students may be encouraged to research sustainability criteria — such as water use, native species selection, or habitat value — and incorporate those factors as self-imposed design constraints. For the biodiversity field study, students can extend their analysis by comparing transect data across multiple sites or microhabitats and forming evidence-based arguments about what drives patterns in plant diversity, drawing on resources beyond the field guide.