Plants for Primary Pupils

Introduction

This article is adapted from one written by Erica Clark and published by SAPS [1].  We are grateful to Erica for allowing us to reproduce her efforts in this issue of the SSERC Primary Science & Technology Bulletin.

For some years Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS) has been producing, in collaboration with the Field Studies Council (FSC), a series of booklets - Plants for primary pupils.  The final title in the series (Plants in their natural environment) is currently being prepared with publication scheduled for the early part of 2009.

 The booklets have been produced by a Writing group led by Erica Clark.  The Writing group includes primary teachers and others with experience of teaching children in the field or training of teachers. Members of the Writing group have themselves run many workshops, mainly for teachers, using the materials and ideas contained in the booklets. This means that all the activities have been trialled, with children and teachers. The activities are presented in a way that teachers should have enough information to do the activity as well as giving them the confidence to tackle something that may be unfamiliar to them. Some activities draw on the well-tried SAPS film pot, lemonade bottle or other practical techniques - so they are not demanding in terms of resources. Probably the main driving force behind the Writing group responsible for the series is a love of, and interest in, plants and a belief that they can become fascinating to children and provide excellent material for teaching different parts of the curriculum.

All of the booklets are available as free downloads from the SAPS website [2] or purchased from FSC publications [3]. Additional supporting material is given on the website including :-

• full-sized templates of drawings of parts of a plant, of cards for card games

• two PowerPoint presentations, one illustrating pollination, and the second explores some of the stories about plants and their names.  

The aim of this article is to give an overview of the series . . . not just a blow by blow (or booklet by booklet) list of contents, but a bit of an insight into the different threads that have been woven into the different themes that have been tackled - educational and scientific.  This might help you see how you can weave different activities into your teaching programme to:-

• make cross-curricular links with literacy or numeracy,

• find opportunities for developing creativity or role play,

• indulge in a few games that are fun but help to reinforce learning

• create opportunities for ongoing assessment of a child’s achievement.

The titles show some progression of ideas through the series, but there is not necessarily a hierarchy of difficulty level. For example, the Pupil Sheets are simple in early booklets and allow children to develop more independence later. There are increasing opportunities for use of ICT. Some booklets have activities for mixed ages, denoted as ‘younger’ or ‘older’ children. As teachers, you know what is best for your class and how to use the different activities. The Writing team hope the different approaches encourage you to think ‘outside the immediate box’ and that the activities can be adapted to suit your class and their needs. Above all, it is hoped that you and your pupils will understand more about plants and enjoy doing things with plants.

The following pages just give a splash of ideas, all drawn from the booklets.  It is the Writing team’s hope they entice you to delve deeper and enjoy using many of the activities in the booklets.

We hope you all have fun with plants . . . after all, they are rather important!

Plants for Primary Pupils - Games