Plant Scientists

Put on your scientific hats! It's time to investigate the amazing world of plants.

Child holding seed whilst on school excursion
Stage

Stage 2

Subject

Science and Technology

Duration

2 hours

Location

Rathborne Lodge, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

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Cost

Minimum charges apply. Discounts apply for full day programs!

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Come on a journey through the Garden to discover the amazing world of plants.

Get hands-on with different types of seeds to determine their dispersal mechanisms and plant seeds to take back to school to conduct a life cycle investigation.

Students will

  • Explore plant life cycles on a guided walk through the Garden and discover how scientists classify plants.
  • Investigate seed dispersal in a hands-on experiment comparing different types of seeds and how they disperse.
  • ​Make predictions and conduct a scientific investigation into whether specific Australian plants need fire and smoke to complete their lifecycles, including planting seeds to take back to school to complete the investigation.

Key content

  • Identifying patterns in plants and grouping them according to their external features.
  • Comparing the similarities and differences between the life cycles of different plants.
  • Exploring pollination and seed dispersal as examples of interdependence between living things.
  • ​Planning and conducting a scientific investigation with guidance, e.g. planting and measuring the life cycle of a marigold plant.
  • Making accurate observations using labelled drawings of plants.

Links to New South Wales curriculum

Focus Syllabus Outcomes

Science - Living World

  • Compares features and characteristics of living and non-living things (ST2-4LW-S)
Supported Syllabus Outcomes

Science - Working Scientifically

  • Questions, plans and conducts scientific investigations, collects and summarises data and communicates using scientific representations (ST2-1WS-S)
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Make predictions and conduct a scientific investigation into whether specific Australian plants need fire and smoke to complete their lifecycles.