1. Activity 2.4: Questions about Plants
Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy
Environmental Literacy Project Michigan State University
Activity 2.4: Questions about Plants

2. Plants Unit Map You are here (down the triangle) Application
Lesson 2: Foundations: Zooming into Organisms
Lessons 4 & 5: Explaining How Plants Make Food, Move, Function, and Grow
Lesson 3: Investigating Plants
Lesson 1: Pretest and Expressing Ideas
Lesson 1: Pretest and Initial Ideas
Lesson 6: Explaining Other Examples of Plant Growth and Functioning
Observations
Patterns
Models
Data from mass of plants growing from seed.
Data from plants in the light and dark with BTB.
Plants gain mass (more).
Soil loses mass (less).
Plants take in CO2 in the light.
Plants release CO2 in the dark.
Photosynthesis
Biosynthesis
Cellular Respiration
Pre Lesson: Investigation Set-Up
(up the triangle)
Inquiry
Evidence-Based Arguments
Model
(down the triangle)
Application
Observe
Coach
Discuss where the class is on the unit storyline.
The students have studied or reviewed ideas about plant structure.
They will soon be using their growing radish plants for an investigation of plant function.
In this activity they will be reviewing what they know and discussing questions that they still have to answer.
Pre Lesson
Pretest
Establish the Problem
Found-ational
Knowl-edge and Practice
Predict & Express Ideas
Fade
Post test
Maintain
Next Unit

3. Observing Radish Plants
Review the observations you have made of your growing radish plants
Optional: Watch videos of plants growing and moving
Radish plants—seed to harvest in 33 days:
Plants following light:
What have you noticed?
What would you like to investigate further?
As you show Slide 3:
Have students record observations of their growing radish plants and share what they are noticing.
Show students either or both of the videos and discuss what they notice.
Discuss questions based on these observations that the students would like to investigate further.

4. Reviewing some ways that radishes are like other plants
Slides 4-8 review what the students have learned about the structure of plants at different scales.
Slide 4 introduces the review slides
Slide 5 reminds students that, like all living organisms, plants contain systems at different scales:
Macroscopic scale plants are made of
Microscopic scale cells, which are made of
Atomic-molecular scale molecules, which are made of
Atoms (especially CHON for organic molecules)
Slide 6 reminds students of the many different kinds of macroscopic-scale plants
Slide 7 reminds students that all plants include different kinds of cells, including leaf cells, stem cells, root cells, and other specialized cells
Slide 8 organizes facts students know about plants in terms of system characteristics—structure and function.

5. Plants are made of cells
Plant cells are made of molecules
Plant molecules are made of atoms
Benchmark Scale
Power of Ten
Decimal Style
Large scale
Larger
Larger 100,000 10,000 1,000
Macroscopic
meter
Microscopic
Atomic-molecular
Smaller
Smaller
Image Credit: Craig Douglas, Michigan State University
Slides 4-8 review what the students have learned about the structure of plants at different scales.
Slide 4 introduces the review slides
Slide 5 reminds students that, like all living organisms, plants contain systems at different scales:
Macroscopic scale plants are made of
Microscopic scale cells, which are made of
Atomic-molecular scale molecules, which are made of
Atoms (especially CHON for organic molecules)
Slide 6 reminds students of the many different kinds of macroscopic-scale plants
Slide 7 reminds students that all plants include different kinds of cells, including leaf cells, stem cells, root cells, and other specialized cells
Slide 8 organizes facts students know about plants in terms of system characteristics—structure and function.
Scale: 10-8 meters = meters
Scale: 10-9 meters = meters
Scale: 10-7 meters = meters
Scale: 10-5 meters = meters
Scale: 10-1 meters = 0.1 meters
Scale: 100 meters = 1 meters
Scale: 10-2 meters = 0.01 meters
Scale: 10-3 meters = meters
Scale: 10-4 meters = meters
Scale: 10-6 meters = meters

6. Plants come in all shapes and sizes
Image Credit: Craig Douglas, Michigan State University
Slides 4-8 review what the students have learned about the structure of plants at different scales.
Slide 4 introduces the review slides
Slide 5 reminds students that, like all living organisms, plants contain systems at different scales:
Macroscopic scale plants are made of
Microscopic scale cells, which are made of
Atomic-molecular scale molecules, which are made of
Atoms (especially CHON for organic molecules)
Slide 6 reminds students of the many different kinds of macroscopic-scale plants
Slide 7 reminds students that all plants include different kinds of cells, including leaf cells, stem cells, root cells, and other specialized cells
Slide 8 organizes facts students know about plants in terms of system characteristics—structure and function.

7. All plants have many different kinds of cells
Leaf cells
Stem cells
Image Credit: Craig Douglas, Michigan State University
Slides 4-8 review what the students have learned about the structure of plants at different scales.
Slide 4 introduces the review slides
Slide 5 reminds students that, like all living organisms, plants contain systems at different scales:
Macroscopic scale plants are made of
Microscopic scale cells, which are made of
Atomic-molecular scale molecules, which are made of
Atoms (especially CHON for organic molecules)
Slide 6 reminds students of the many different kinds of macroscopic-scale plants
Slide 7 reminds students that all plants include different kinds of cells, including leaf cells, stem cells, root cells, and other specialized cells
Slide 8 organizes facts students know about plants in terms of system characteristics—structure and function.
Potato cells
Root cells

8. Some ways that all plants are alike
Their structures: What they are made of
Their functions: What they do
All plants have systems, such as roots, stems, and leaves
All plants are made of cells
All cells are made of molecules
All molecules are made of atoms
All plants grow.
All plants use energy to move and function.
Slides 4-8 review what the students have learned about the structure of plants at different scales.
Slide 4 introduces the review slides
Slide 5 reminds students that, like all living organisms, plants contain systems at different scales:
Macroscopic scale plants are made of
Microscopic scale cells, which are made of
Atomic-molecular scale molecules, which are made of
Atoms (especially CHON for organic molecules)
Slide 6 reminds students of the many different kinds of macroscopic-scale plants
Slide 7 reminds students that all plants include different kinds of cells, including leaf cells, stem cells, root cells, and other specialized cells
Slide 8 organizes facts students know about plants in terms of system characteristics—structure and function.

9. Comparing Ionic Grow and Radishes
How are the molecules alike and different?
Plant nutrients in Ionic Grow:
Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2)
Potassium nitrate (KNO3; K = potassium)
Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3)
Nitric acid (HNO3)
Phosphoric acid (H3PO4)
Potassium sulfate (K2SO4)
Nutrition label for radishes
As you show Slide 9:
Ask students to read the names of the molecules in Ionic Grow and the radish food label.
Ask students to discuss how the molecules are alike and different.
If necessary remind students of the two basic kinds of molecules that they learned about in Systems and Scale: organic and inorganic.
Student should notice that:
The plant nutrient molecules are all inorganic and do not contain carbon atoms
Besides water, the main molecules in radishes are all organic and contain carbon atoms

10. What else do we know about matter and energy in plants?
What are rules about matter should we follow when investigating and explaining how plants grow, move, and function?
What are rules about energy should we follow when investigation how plants grow, move, and function?
Review the Three Questions and Rules to Follow.
Show slide 10 of the PPT. Discuss with students how the rules about matter and energy also apply to radish plants.
Show slide 11 with the Three Questions. Remind students that when explaining plants, they will be answering the Three Questions which describe movements and changes in matter and energy
Review the rules to follow with students. Have students discuss how the rules to follow can apply to plants.

11. Good answers to questions about plant cells
Answer each of the questions (numbered 1-4) below to explain how matter and energy move and change in a system. Note that matter movement is addressed at both the beginning (1) and end (4) of your explanation.
Question
Where are molecules moving?
How do molecules move to the location of the chemical change?
How do molecules move away from the location of the chemical change?
Evidence We Can Observe
Moving solids, liquids, and gases are made of moving molecules.
A change in mass shows that molecules are moving.
Rules to Follow
All materials (solids, liquids, and gases) are made of atoms that are bonded together in molecules.
Scale: The matter movement question can be answered at the atomic- molecular, cellular, or macroscopic scale.
Question
How are atoms in molecules being rearranged into different molecules?
What molecules are carbon atoms in before and after the chemical change?
What other molecules are involved?
Evidence We Can Observe
BTB can indicate CO2 in the air.
Organic materials are made up of molecules containing carbon atoms:
• fuels • foods
• living and dead plants and animals
decomposers
Rules to Follow
Atoms last forever in combustion and living systems.
Atoms can be rearranged to make new molecules, but not created or destroyed.
Carbon atoms are bound to other atoms in molecules.
Scale: The matter change question is always answered at the atomic- molecular scale.
Review the Three Questions and Rules to Follow.
Show slide 10 of the PPT. Discuss with students how the rules about matter and energy also apply to radish plants.
Show slide 11 with the Three Questions. Remind students that when explaining plants, they will be answering the Three Questions which describe movements and changes in matter and energy
Review the rules to follow with students. Have students discuss how the rules to follow can apply to plants.
Evidence We Can Observe
We can observe indicators of different forms of energy before and after chemical changes:
• light energy • heat energy
• chemical energy stored in organic materials
• motion energy
Question
What is happening to energy?
What forms of energy are involved?
What energy transformations take place during the chemical change?
Rules to Follow
Energy lasts forever in combustion and living systems.
Energy can be transformed, but not created or destroyed.
C-C and C-H bonds have more stored chemical energy than C-O and H-O bonds.
Scale: The energy change question can be answered at the atomic- molecular, cellular, or macroscopic scales.

12. Looking back at Expressing Ideas
Do the ideas on your Expressing Ideas Tool match with what you now know about plant structure and function?
Do the ideas follow the rules about matter and energy?
Has your thinking changed about what happens to things that plants need inside plants:
Water?
Soil nutrients?
Air?
Sunlight?
Don’t erase your previous ideas, but instead make changes and additions in a new color.
Look back at the Expressing Ideas Tool.
Show slide 12 of the PPT. Have students look back at their 1.2 Expressing Ideas Tool for Plants Growing. Students should consider their ideas in light of what they have learned in Lesson 2. Students can add to or change their ideas in a different color pen or pencil.

13. Questions about Radish Plants
What questions do you have about how radish plants grow, move, and function?
Allow students to share new questions.
Show slide 13 of the PPT. Have students share out any new questions they have about how radish plants grow, move, and function.