Capturing Insects And Student Interest: First Graders Learn About Unusual Plants In Their Area In This Multimodal Investigation Of Carnivorous Plants

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Rachel E. Wilson , Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/

Abstract: Most plants are able to obtain all of the nutrients that they need from air, water, and soil; however, this is not true of carnivorous plants. Because they tend to live in boggy soils where there are small amounts of nitrogen, carnivorous plants have developed specialized structures that enable them to lure and capture insects and sometimes other small animals (ICPS 2015). Because Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and sundews are all native to our state and use different structures to capture their prey, we chose those as our focus (see Internet Resources).Studying the natural world can be fascinating for young learners and can provide an opportunity for teachers to incorporate multiple tools for science communication. In this article, we describe an integrated, multimodal unit around the theme of carnivorous plants (CPs) for two first-grade classrooms. For our unit, we focused on plants with three different structures and trapping mechanisms (see Table 1, p. 45). The distinctive structures visible on the plants provided an opportunity to help students understand the link between the structure of a particular plant part and its function in survival, while also providing students the opportunity to engage in the science practices of Analyzing and Interpreting Data, and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information (NGSS Lead States 2013).

Additional Information

Publication
Leslie Bradbury, Rachel Wilson, Nancy Pepper, Mitzi Ledford. Capturing Insects and Student Interest: First Graders Learn about Unusual Plants in Their Area in This Multimodal Investigation of Carnivorous Plants. Science and Children. 2016;53(7):41-47. Publisher version of record available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24721364
Language: English
Date: 2016
Keywords
Plants, Insectivorous plants, Animal traps, Insect traps, Horticultural soils, Pitcher plants, Insect anatomy, Carnivorous plants, Humus, Student interests

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