Plants on the move - testing wind-blown seeds

The seed phase of a plant’s life cycle has particular importance as the period of greatest mobility. Seed dispersal allows plants to colonize new areas, geographically expand their populations, and determines where a plant will germinate and grow. Seeds and fruits exhibit an impressive range of variation in structure, and in the dispersal methods by which they accomplish this movement. In order to help elementary students appreciate how the structure of seeds and fruits relates to their function as dispersal agents for plants, I designed an inquiry-based lesson for 5^th-graders. With this lesson, students learn about a variety of ways that plant seeds get to new locations, and they test the performance of several types of wind-dispersed seeds in a guided inquiry. Students observe seeds of several species, predict which will travel best on the wind based on their structure, and then test these predictions in the classroom using a simple “wind station” made from a small electric fan and meter tape. Students practice science as an inquiry process as they make and experimentally test predictions, summarize their data in graphs, and share their conclusions with the class. In class discussions and reflective writing, they consider refinements to the experimental design and propose ways to test other types of seed dispersal. This helped students appreciate the iterative nature of the scientific process, and appreciate that the performance of adaptive traits can be experimentally tested. This project was developed in collaboration with two 5^th grade classes at Hellgate Elementary School in Missoula, as part of the University of Montana’s GK-12 ECOS program.