Lesson One: Welcome to Planet Plant!
Objectives: To introduce the module. To explain the rationale for learning about
plant diversity and conservation, and what you hope students will gain from the
lessons. To survey students to find out how much they care about plant diversity.
Introduction to Activity: To help the material in this module be meaningful and
relevant to your students, it is important to provide them with a context for
learning about plant diversity and conservation. This larger context is biodiversity
loss. As you probably know, plants and animals are becoming extinct at an
alarming pace. This topic is of interest and concern to most students. In this
activity, you will introduce students to what they will be learning during this
module and why. They will also consider what they feel about the importance of
plant diversity and conservation, before the module begins.
Materials Needed:
• a copy of the Student Survey for each student
Activity:
Part One: Introduce the unit to your students. You might want to make the
following points:
• Biodiversity loss is a major global problem.
• There have been five great extinctions or mass extinctions in Earth’s long
history. These were times in which most living things became extinct. (See
insert.) Your students may actually be living in a sixth major extinction of
species.
• Extinction is a natural process and has occurred throughout the time life
has been found on Earth. This natural rate of extinction is known as the
“background rate.” Scientists
estimate that the current rate of
extinction is about 1000 times The Five Great Extinctions
greater than the background rate,
Cretaceous (65 million years ago)
and that this rate is increasing.
The current rate also rivals the Triassic (208 million years ago)
rate of extinction that occurred in Permian (245 million years ago)
past mass extinctions. Devonian (360 million years ago)
• The five great extinctions had Ordovician (438 million years ago)
“natural” causes. This current rise
in extinction is different; it is
caused by one species—humans.
• Current estimates are that 12% of all bird species may be extinct by the
end of this century, and that one-third to two-thirds of all plant and animal
species (including 25% of mammals) may be lost during the second half of
this century, particularly those species in the tropics.
Planet Plant Classroom Curriculum (Pilot) – Copyright © 2006 BGCI
• Roughly 1.6 million different organisms have been identified by science
and given a name. There are thought to be 7-10 million species (and
some scientists predict even more) in existence. This means that species
can go extinct before we even know they exist! Does it matter? This will be
an important question the module will address.
• Extinction is permanent. Once species are gone, we cannot get them back.
• For most people, the idea that certain species may no longer exist is
unsettling. This tends to be especially true for large, charismatic mammals
such as pandas, tigers, elephants, and whales. But what about smaller
animals? And what about plants? Do they deserve our attention as well?
Part Two: Student Survey
Pass out a copy of the Student Survey to each student. Give your students a few
minutes to complete it. Then, lead a class discussion about their answers to the
questions. It is likely that most of your students will rate the charismatic mammals
such as gorillas, cheetahs, and whales higher than plants and insects, as well as
fish and reptiles. You can conclude the discussion by pointing out that the
purpose of this module is to concentrate on plants because many people don’t
know much about them and tend not to realize just how important they are to us,
as well as to all life on the planet. In fact, it is plants that provide the habitat that
their favorite larger mammals need to exist.
Then, take a moment to explain to your students what they will be doing during
the curriculum module and what you hope they’ll learn. They will:
• Focus on plants.
• Dissect flowers during a lab.
• Participate in group activities and make a poster.
• Learn how and why plants are vital to all living things and how we humans
truly rely upon them.
• Learn why protecting the diversity of plants is important, and what people
are doing to conserve plants.
• Wrap-up the unit by taking a field trip to a local botanic garden. (If you
have coordinated the field trip with your local botanical garden, you may
be able to say a few things about the focus of the trip.)
Planet Plant Classroom Curriculum (Pilot) – Copyright © 2006 BGCI
Student Survey
Student name: Class/section:
1. On a scale of 1-5, please rate how concerned you would be if the following
species went extinct. (1 = you wouldn’t care at all and 5 = you would be
extremely concerned)
Michigan Monkey Flower _____
African Elephant _____
Whooping Crane _____
American Crocodile _____
Arizona Hedgehog Cactus _____
Giant Panda _____
Bald Eagle _____
Blackburn’s Sphinx Moth _____
Running Buffalo Clover _____
Blue Whale _____
Ivory-billed Woodpecker _____
Gopher Tortoise _____
Hawaiian Gardenia _____
Atlantic Salmon _____
Cheetah _____
Tennessee Yellow-eyed Grass _____
Hungerford’s Crawling Water Beetle _____
Minnesota Dwarf Trout Lily _____
Mountain Gorilla _____
Furbish Lousewort _____
2. Can you explain your rankings? Did you rank some organisms higher than
others? Why?
Planet Plant Classroom Curriculum (Pilot) – Copyright © 2006 BGCI
