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IGCSE - Bio - Lesson Plan 12 - Chemical Coordination in Plants

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205 views2 pages

IGCSE - Bio - Lesson Plan 12 - Chemical Coordination in Plants

Uploaded by

Hisokagen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 12: Chemical Coordination in Plants

Textbook pages
168–173

Chapter overview
This chapter covers chemical coordination in plants including phototropism, geotropism and the role
of auxin.

What to expect
Specification areas covered:

2.83 understand that plants respond to stimuli

2.84 describe the geotropic and phototropic responses of roots and stems

2.85 understand the role of auxin in the phototropic response of stems.

This is quite a straightforward chapter and will take three or four lessons. There are several
practicals that can be carried out to help demonstrate the growth movements of plants. Homework
tasks could include completing worksheets and completing experimental write-ups. The topic can
either be taught along with other plant physiology topics or after the topics on human coordination.

Teaching notes
 The growth responses of plants can be illustrated by showing time-lapse video clips (there
are many available on the Internet). If available, Venus fly traps and Mimosa pudica could be
demonstrated (there are also video clips of these available).
 Phototropism can be introduced by setting up a practical investigation using cress and / or
oat coleoptiles (see practicals). Students can also be given a series of results from historical
experiments and asked to explain what the results show (for example, placing foil caps over
the tips and / or a mica crystal through the tip).
 Students could draw a large diagram of a coleoptile and draw on it the zones of elongation
and direction of auxin movement.
 A clinostat can be used to demonstrate geotropism. This is shown on page 172 of the
textbook.

Possible misunderstandings
 Some students think that auxin moves down the side facing the light. A large diagram of the
coleoptile with arrows showing the direction of movement will help the students
understand.

Differentiation
 For extension, students could test the function of auxin by placing lanolin with auxin on
coleoptile tips and comparing their lengths with coleoptiles with lanolin and no auxin.
Students could also research other plant growth regulators such as ethylene, which ripens
fruits (this could be presented as an investigation into whether bananas should be placed in
a fruit bowl with other fruits).

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is
not copyright free.
 Some students will find it difficult to understand why elongation on one side of a shoot
causes it to bend in the opposite direction. Heating a bimetallic strip can help them to
understand this.

Practicals
Practi cals listed in the textbook

There are no practicals in this chapter.

Additi onal practi cals

 Cress seeds can be grown in Petri dishes in (a) fully illuminated areas, (b) the dark, (c) a box
with a hole cut in one side to provide unidirectional light.
 Cress seedlings with their tips removed and intact cress seedlings can be placed into a box
with unilateral light and their responses observed.
 Oat seedlings can be grown in Petri dishes on blotting paper or cotton wool. Foil caps can be
placed using forceps onto the tips of half of them. The lengths of all the seedlings are
measured and the mean length of those with a foil cap and those without a foil cap are
calculated. All the seedlings are placed into a box with unilateral light for several days. The
direction of growth and mean lengths of the seedlings with and without foil caps are then
determined.

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is
not copyright free.

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