Saturday SAVY, Day 3 – Plants and Pollen (1st/2nd)
Our Agricultural Engineers were very industrious today. After sharing observations of our seeds made over the week, we reviewed parts of the seed, pollination, and pollinators. We also revisited how Integrated Pest Control uses natural systems to control pests. We completed the story of Mariana Becomes a Butterfly and learned that she solved the problem of her Ohelo plant not producing berries by inventing a hand pollinator.
The students then learned about the Engineering Design Process, and we identified which of the steps Mariana used when building her hand pollinator. Students then followed the Engineering Design Process steps of Ask (Identifying the problem to be solved), Research (Gathering information), Imagine (Brainstorming ideas), Plan (Deciding on a solution and designing it), Create (Building the solution), and Improve when creating their hand pollinators.
We designed hand pollinators for models of four different flowers: the Poppy, Dutchman’s Pipe, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and the Bucket Orchid. Our Agricultural Engineers used a variety of materials to reach and transport pollen and to overcome the different challenges each flower posed for accessing the pollen (we used baking soda).
Students shared what worked with their hand pollinator, explaining which materials they used and why they chose those materials. They also explained the changes they made when they went through the “Improve” step and whether those changes worked.
We discussed how different flowers required different hand pollinator designs. We then reflected on how they used their knowledge of pollination, materials, and their properties, and the Engineering Design Process to design and improve on a hand pollinator for the different flowers.
Students were given a wonderful book, The Secret World of Plants, which they will keep. We hope that the book will inspire them to continue learning about plants.
It was a delight working with our creative and hard-working Agricultural Engineers over the past three Saturdays. Thank you for the opportunity to be inspired by these bright minds.
Questions to ask your Agricultural Engineer about today:
- How did Mariana from the story solve the problem of her Ohelo plant not producing berries?
- What do you remember about the Engineering Design Process?
- Was your hand pollinator able to pick up and drop off pollen?
- What parts of your hand pollinator design worked well? What would you change about your hand pollinator design? Why?
- Do you think that the hand pollinator that you designed would work on a different flower? Why or why not?