Lesson 4 – Seattle

The Effects of Plants

The details of this lesson can be found in the manual. There is also a teacher training video showing the investigation portion of the lesson.

Worksheets:

• L04_Worksheet – Observing Effects of Plants – 1 for each student

Display Materials:

• Just-In-Time Instruction: Roots – graphic
• Effects of Plants on Erosion Procedure – for display or your could print a copy for each group.

Additional Resources:

• Video showing a similar experiment with plants and soil: “Erosion and Soil” – Start at 5:00 for a good root zoom-in and explanation.
• Quick explanation of potholes creation (30 seconds): “How do potholes form?“
• Bill Nye the Science Guy video on erosion (25 minutes):  “S05E14 Erosion“