INVESTIGATING NATIVE PLANTS

Student Resources Teacher Notes

Research Process

Activities

   

Scenario

      A group of students  recently discovered an enormous number of alien plants on the grounds of your school.  After evaluating their environment, they decided to challenge the other classes to create a school garden. You must decide  what type of plants go into your garden and whether they will be native or non-native plants. 
Essential Question: How do non-native plants affect the environment? Are the effects more harmful or beneficial?
 

PREVIEW

 Before you begin use your note chart and write what you  know about native and non-native plants.  Click here

 

 

 

 

Task  

 

Your mission is to research information about the native  and non-native plants; in order to answer your essential question and to select plants for your garden.

                     PLANTS

     NATIVE              N0N-NATIVE

     Before you begin view the following site:

          Invasive/non-invasive plants

bullet You will be working in groups of 4-6 students. Your group will be responsible for  investigating  native plants, non-native plants and other invasive plants. Keep in mind that you must decide what type of plants will be placed in your garden.
bullet Review each of the sites and complete your Graphic organizer.
bullet As a group, design a landscaping plan.
bullet Discuss the effects of native  and non-native plants on the environment.

You will present the results of your research to your class and, as a class, you will reach consensus about what plants should be planted in the garden.

 

Product 

 

 A brochure that includes all of the plant from their garden.
bullet Panel 1- brochure title and name.
bullet Panel 2 - definition of native plants and non-native plants.
bullet Panel 3-  diagram of the garden with plants identified.
bullet Panel 4-  information about each flower

Your teacher may decide to assign an alternate presentation from the list below:

bullet Oral report
bullet Video Quiz Show
bullet PowerPoint
bullet Journal entry

Assessment

Use this checklist to assess your group work.

 

 

 

 

Questions

 

What information do you need to decide how  non-native plants affect the environment? Are the effects more harmful or beneficial?

bullet What is a native plant?
bullet What is a non-native plant?
bullet How are environments affected by non-native and native plants?
bullet Is the alien plant the same as a non-native plant?

 

  

 

 

Gather

 
bullet Use a variety of sources to gather information.
bullet Use Destiny to locate books in the Library.
bullet Use this graphic organizer to record your information.
bullet Use these guide sheets for helpful tips during your research:
Using a Web Browser
Using a Book Index

 

 

 

Organize

 

 Synthesize: Use the information you have gathered on your planning sheet to create a brochure about native and  non-native plants. Be sure to include justification for selecting certain plants.

Evaluate: Review the scoring tool to make sure you have included all the information required.  If you have not answered all the questions, go back and use the resources to find the missing information.

Conclude

 As a class select the brochure that would best fit your school garden.

 

Last update: July, 2004
Created by Julia Hinton-VanHook

BCPS Research Module, Copyright 2004, Baltimore County Public Schools, MD, all rights reserved. This Research Module may be used for educational, non-profit school use only. All other uses, transmissions, and duplications are prohibited unless permission is granted expressly.

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