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opportunity to talk and collaborate around a central activity. Lastly, due to my concern regarding
the lack of science exposure in the classroom (indeed, there has been no science lesson
instruction to date), I knew that whatever lesson I planned I wanted students to be doing most of
the work. That is, I wanted students to be driving their own learning and be doing science
rather then having me show or do science in front of the students. Indeed, when I asked students
about what type of science activity they would be interested in doing, many gave me answers
that required hands-on work, such as dissecting a frog or making a volcano explosion! For
this reason, I choose to have my students perform fruit dissections and then make their own
observations, predictions, and synthesized analysis pertaining to the various fruit samples. By
allowing the students to take the lead I hope that my students can experience science content as
active do-ers, while I am to take the back seat and merely facilitate discussion, never
facilitating critical thinking.
Lesson Plan
Goals/Objective
Students will be able to identify and describe different types of fruit seeds. Students will be able
to create a bar graph documenting fruit seed dissection findings. Students will collaborate with
peers and discuss the lesson content following established discussion and collaboration norms.
Standards (and Assessment Anchors if applicable)
PA Core Standard
- CC.3.5.6-8.C: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out
experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
K-12 Science Education Framework
- Cross-cutting concepts
o Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
o Structure and Function
o Patterns
- Practices
o Graphing
o Making predictions
o Developing and using models
o Planning and carrying out investigations
- Core Ideas:
o Life Sciences
Growth and development of organisms
Materials and preparation
- Book; A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards
- White board and marker
- Fruit samples (1 per pair of students)
o Apple
o Kiwi
o Strawberry
o Green Pea
o Cherry
o Grapes
Plastic Knives
Paper plates
Paper towels and hand sanitizer
Graphic Organizer handouts (1 per student)
Pencils
Magnifying Glass (1 per pair)
Ruler (1 per pair)
Plan
Hook (5minutes)
Group Discussion: What do we know about fruit?
Teacher creates a group graphic organizer web map on the white board
- From this activity web hopefully the concepts of seeds comes up. This will be the
launching point for the rest of the lesson.
Body (25/30 minutes)
Seed Investigation and Dissection
- Provide instructions: Today we will be seed investigators. Using graphic organizer we
will make predictions, provide descriptions, and record observations regarding
different types of fruit and their seeds.
- Model the dissecting and observation process with Grapes. Record findings on the
white board for students to refer to.
o Make sure to take note of the size (ruler), shape, color, texture, and quantity.
- Pass out each type of fruit, one by one. Each pair should receive a piece of fruit.
Encourage students to share the dissection duties. Five types of fruit: apple, kiwi,
strawberry, green peas, cherries.
- Working in pairs, students will complete the graphic organizer
b) If the graphing component of the activity is too difficult for more than one student I
will have the group come back together and create the graph on the board with the
students.
c) If a pair of students finishes before another group I will give them some of my grapes
to dissect and investigate, or I will ask them to create a list of other types of fruits or
seeds that they can think of.