Science Year 9

Biology
Unit 2 – Living things in their environment
Lesson 2.1 – Plant adaptations
Coursebook: Pages 22 and 23
Workbook:

Prepared by: Mrs. Fatme Allawa

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Starter / Key ideas / Learning Objectives/ By the end of the lesson
students will be able to:
 Explain the terms given in Key vocabulary above
 Identify adaptations of plants for life in several different habitats
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 Adaptation
 Habitat
 Arctic
 Rainforest
 Aquatic
 Desert
 Annual plants
 Weeds
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 You could begin the lesson by showing students a plant that grows locally to
the school, and that is clearly adapted to live in a particular habitat.
Starter / Key vocabulary:
 You could begin the lesson by showing students a plant that grows locally to
the school, and that is clearly adapted to live in a particular habitat.
 Ask the class for ideas about how it is adapted.
 Use the discussion to encourage them to describe each adaptation clearly,
and to explain how the adaptation helps the plant to survive.
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 The Coursebook provides three examples of plants adapted to live in very
different habitats:
 The Arctic
 A tropical rainforest
 Around human habitations (as weeds)
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Hoeing: A tool with a flat blade attached approximately at a right angle

to a long handle, used for weeding, cultivating, and gardening
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Activity 2.1
Adaptations for living in water, requires students to observe or research
an aquatic plant.
In most countries, you should be able to provide students with an
example.
Even in very dry countries, there are likely to be artificial water features in
a city, or pet shops that sell pond weed to put in home aquaria.
Students will probably use a mixture of secondary sources (books from
the library, or articles on the internet) and their own observations.
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1 Students may think of:

• spines, which deter thirsty animals from eating it
• reduced leaves, so that less water is lost by evaporation from the
leaves
• swollen stem, which stores water
• deep or spreading roots, which can draw water from a wide area.
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2 Photosynthesis, and therefore growth, is slow in

winter. This is because days are very short (so there is
not much light) and because it is very cold.
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3 The fruits are attractive to animals, which eat

them. The animals may drop partly eaten fruits, or
they may move away from the tree, and the seeds
are deposited in their faeces.
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4 Weeds are plants that are growing where people do not want them.
People destroy weeds – for example, by hoeing or ploughing fields, or
by spraying weedkillers. If a plant can germinate, grow and produce
new seeds before this happens, then the seeds can survive even if the
adult plant cannot. The seed can later germinate to produce a new
plant.
Closure / Key vocabulary:
 Adaptation - the biological mechanism by which organisms adjust to new environments
or to changes in their current environment.
 Habitat – the place where in organism lives.
 Arctic - the northernmost region of Earth.
 Rainforest - an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall.
 Aquatic – living in water
 Desert - an area of land that receives no more than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of
precipitation a year.
 Annual plants – plants that germinate, grow, flower, produce seeds and die in less than
one year.
 Weeds - any plant growing where it is not wanted.
Key points / Summary
Homework:

- Solve the Science Homework