Week 10 · Growing Up: Environment and Inheritance

Nature Day

Nature Day: Same plant, different spot

// Two kinds of factors shape every living thing

⏱ about 20 min

Nature Day: Same Plant, Different Spot

Saturday morning the crew walks along a street lined with the same kind of tree.

"Look," Raven says. "That one by the wall is half the size of the one on the corner."

Rocket squints. "Same leaves, same bark. Same species. So why so different?"

"What do you notice about where each one stands?" Raven asks.

"Shade from the building. Hardly any soil around the trunk." Rocket counts on his fingers. "Light and space."

Nova hovers above them. "You just explained a tree with this week's science," she says. "Find three more."

Genetic factors and local conditions both affect how an organism grows.
Environmental factors include light, water, space and food.
Genetic factors are inherited instructions, such as the kind of seed.
Seeds need moisture to germinate. Seedlings bend toward light, and without light they grow pale.
A scientific explanation joins a claim, evidence and reasoning.

◇ SAME PLANT, DIFFERENT SPOT

Walk around your neighborhood, a park or a garden. Find two plants of the same kind growing in different places.
Compare them: height, color, number of leaves or flowers. Each person guesses which environmental factor made the difference.
Look for clues: shade, a wall, a path people walk on, a low wet spot, a crowded patch.
Talk it over. Could inheritance explain any difference too? How would you find out?

For a grown-up

This walk is about looking, not collecting. Plants stay in the ground and nothing is picked or tasted.
The examples of environmental and genetic factors come from the Next Generation Science Standards page for MS-LS1-5.
Hands are washed when you get home.

Safety first

Look at plants from where you stand. Never touch an unknown plant or berry.
Stay on paths and sidewalks, and keep away from roads.
Wash your hands when you get home.

THINK IT THROUGH

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Two trees of the same kind differ in size. One grows in a building's shade. Which factor most likely explains it?

A tall grass and a short grass grow side by side in the same soil and sun. Which factor most likely explains it?

Nature Day check	True or false?
Two plants of the same kind can grow differently in different places.	?
Only genes decide how tall a plant grows.	?
Shade from a building is an environmental factor.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEBoth kinds of factors are at work in every plant you pass on the street.

Record the two plants your family compared and the factor you think explains the difference.Write one sentence about a plant difference that might be inherited instead.Sketch or describe the spot each plant grew in: sun or shade, open or crowded, wet or dry.Write one question your family argued about on the walk and how you could test it.Next week is about flowers, seeds and nests. Write one thing you want to find out about how plants make seeds.

Grown-up checked my answers

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