Animal Attachment Seed Dispersal

Overview:

Students will learn about seed dispersal and how animals help disperse seeds. Students will participate in a project that will allow them to visualize how seeds attach to animals and how that process helps seed reproduction.  Students will design seeds and test which seeds can get transported by the felt.

Time: 

30-40 min

Lesson Materials:

*You can use the document in the link below to either: tailor the experiment to your needs or to have a printable version of this lesson plan*

Animal Attachment Seed Dispersal Lesson Plan

The plan is editable and printable. Copy the Google Doc in your own drive and make edits or you can just print.

Animal Attachment Seed Dispersal Lesson Video:

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand how plants disperse their seeds.
  2. Students will be able to name at least two modes of seed dispersal.
  3. Students will create plant seeds that meet certain requirements.

Materials Needed:

  • 1 Felt gloves and/or socks
  • Tape
  • 16 Toothpicks
  • 3-6 Styrofoam balls
  • Real seeds (California flower mix or sweetgum)
  • Glue
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Metal wires
  • Rubber bands
  • Paper clips

Experimental Methods:

  1. Show students example pictures of seeds.
  2. Explain to students that they will design their seeds with felt gloves  just like animals carry seeds away.
  3. Describe why seeds have spiky features and show example pictures.
  4. Describe or show pictures of what they should be seeing.

Science and Society:

Plants need sunlight, water and soil to grow. The parent plant already is taking up space and the seeds need to get transported to areas that have resources. Animals can transport seeds by ingestion, attachment and hiding. Seeds that attach to animals typically are spiky and have hooks at the ends of the spikes. These hooks get stuck in the animal fur. Interestingly, pollen that gets transported by insects is also spikey. Many plants rely on animals to propagate.

Logistics:

STEAM Subjects: 

Science and Art

Science Vocabulary: 

Plant reproduction

References:

Funding:

CSU Internal Funding Sources:

  • IRA (Instructionally Related Activities Fund)
  • Faculty Small Grant

External Funding Sources:

  • Adobe