Did you know that plants have circadian rhythms?
In the classroom with your students, try to 'program' plants to behave out of sync. Change when they are exposed to light, getting your students to investigate whether this changes their behaviour such as movement of flowers, opening and closing stomata.
This is a great interactive exercise for engaging students with plant biology.
Catherine Russell, Head of Biology at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, shared this idea after hearing Dr James Hartwell, University of Liverpool, speak on the topic of photosynthesis at our recent Plant Power! CPD day.
Schools Programme members can download the resources from the event in the PTI Staffroom.
Discover more inspiring subject knowledge at our upcoming events for Science teachers, including these CPD days Exploring radioactivity and Developing a new approach to genetics and epigenetics and our Science Enrichment Residential.
Find more knowledge nuggets here!
Image: Circadian rhythm, via Wikimedia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jungpflanze_des_Seidenbaums_(Schlafbaum)_plus_1_Jahr.jpg) licensed via https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en