Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Lesson 2: Seed Types

Dry Forest
Summary
Concepts Students will learn about seed anatomy and how it affects seed
Seed anatomy and growth. Then they will design their own seed and explain where this
adaptation. seed would grow based on what they have learned in the lesson and
in “Lesson 1: Introduction to the Dry Forest.”
HCPS III Benchmarks
SC6.3.1 Objectives
LA6.6.3 • Students will learn seed anatomy.
LA6.6.4 • Students will identify seed adaptations.
LA6.6.5 • Student will design a seed that will survive in a dry forest.
Duration Materials
2 hours
Activity 1: Group Discussion Series and Seed Dissection
Pictures of Seeds
Source Material
Samples of types of seeds (i.e. beans, avocado seed, peach pit, any
Seeds-Missouri
small seed like poppy seeds or sesame seeds)
Botanical Garden
KWL Worksheets (1 per student)
PRISM
Seed Anatomy Worksheets (1 per student)
Seed Anatomy Notes Worksheets (1 per student)
Vocabulary
legumes
Activity 2: Seed Dissection
adaptations
Large bean seeds, soaked (lima beans, 1 per pair)
dormant
Scalpel or razor blades (1 per pair)
germinate
Hand lenses or digital microscope (1 per pair)
endosperm
Blank Piece of paper (1 per student)
seed coat
embryo
Activity 3: Build a Seed
cotyledons
String
radicle
Balloons
hypocotyl
Beads
hilum
Pipe cleaners
micropyle
Straws
anatomy
Toothpicks
Wax paper
Plastic bags
Markers
Colored pencils
Crayons
Construction Paper
Cardboard
Scissors
Glue
Seed Design Worksheet

Seed Types
1
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Making Connections
Students will apply what they learned from “Lesson 1: Introduction to the Dry Forest” to dry
forest plants and of the special adaptations seeds have They will also learn that seeds are food
and may make connections to growing flowers or plants at home or in the garden..

Teacher Prep for Activity

Get supplies together and organize for students. Make one copy of each worksheet for every
student. Seeds for Activity 2: Seed Dissection need to be soaked before hand, for about 4 hours.
Softening them makes them easier to dissect. The supplies for Activity 3: Seed Design include a
variety of materials. Not all materials need to be supplied, but a variety of different types of
materials will help the students create their seed.

Background
Seeds are the major way plants reproduce. There are many different types of seeds which can
vary in characteristics according to shape, size, and quantity. Some seeds, such as seeds from the
Euphorbia plant family (Euphorbia are the cacti of the Old World), have thick waxy coatings to
help prevent them from drying out. Other seeds can be larger and typically have more energy
stored for the new plant to grow from.

Seeds are made up of several parts including the seed coat, hilum, micropyle, endosperm,
cotyledon, radicle, and hypocotyl. The seed coat protects the seeds from fungal and bacterial
pathogens. The hilum is the part of the seed that attaches to the fruit and holds it in place. The
micropyle is the point on the seed that the pollen entered the seed to begin development. The
endosperm is nutritional storage for seeds to begin their growth into plants. Cotyledons are the
first leaves that come out of the seed. The radicle becomes the first roots of the developing plant
and the hypocotyl becomes the initial stem of the developing plant.

Plants have different strategies for reproduction. Some plants, like Ohia lehua, produce large
numbers of small seeds (hundreds per flower). The parents do not put a lot of energy into each
seed and they have small endosperms, but instead put their energy into creating many seeds.
Other plants invest all of there energy into one seed per flower, such as an avocado, which has a
large endosperm. These differences in seed size are ways some seeds have adapted to be most
successful in their environment.

Some seeds develop adaptations to dry habitats. These seeds can often remain dormant, or
inactive, during extremely dry periods and can become active after rainfall occurs. Many trees in
the Hawaiian dry forests are in the Fabaceae family (beans). The bean pods do not open until
they dry out; when they open, they open with such force that their seeds are scattered around the
plant. These adaptations may also be affected by animals that disperse the seeds.

Seed Types
2
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Vocabulary
Legumes: plants in the bean family
Adaptations: changes organisms make to be more successful in an environment
Dormant: the ability to go into a “sleep” and then come out of it, seeds do this during extremely
dry periods
Germinate: when new plants come begin to come out of seeds, the seeds are germnating
Endosperm: nutritional storage
Seed coat: protects the seed
Embryo: precursor of leaves, seeds, and roots
Cotyledons: the first leaves
Radicle: first roots
Hypocotyl: first stems
Hilum: a scar where the seed is attached to the fruit wall
Micropyle: the point where pollen got into the embryo to create the seed
Anatomy: physical structure

Seed Types
3
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Procedure
1. Pass out KWL Worksheets and have the students fill out the first two questions.

Activity 1: Group Discussion Series (worksheets attached, but are optional depending on the
temperament of the class)
1. Topic: The importance of seeds
Question 1: Why are seeds important?

Answer: Seeds are the product of reproduction in plants. Seeds can grow into new
plants if they can find the right habitat. Seeds can also be eaten (peanuts, sunflower
seeds, etc.) Seeds are also used in agriculture to grow food.

Hint: If the students are having trouble answering these questions, ask them what they
know about seeds, what they are used for, etc.

2. Topic: Seed types

Question 1: What are some different types of seeds?

Answer: There are many different types of seeds. They come in a variety of shapes
and sizes. Some seeds are very large, like a coconut, others are very small like Ohia
lehua seeds.

Display the pictures to the class using an overhead or projector.

Question 2: Seeds of Ohia lehua are very small. How many do you think survive?
Avocado seeds are very large, how many do you think survive?

Answer: Very few of the Ohia lehua seeds survive to create a new plant. A higher
percentage of the avocado seeds produce new plants.

3. Give each student the Seed Part worksheet.

4. Go over each seed part and its function on an overhead (the labeled diagram is in the
background information & below)
Endosperm: the nutrient storage for seeds
Seed coat: protects the seed from bacteria and fungus.
Embryo: precursor of leaves, seeds, and roots, an undeveloped plant
Cotyledons: the first leaves that emerge from a seed
Radicle: the first roots that emerge from a seed
Hypocotyl: first stem that emerges from a seed
Hilum: a scar where the seed is attached to the fruit wall
Micropyle: the point where pollen, which is the male donation, got into the embryo to
create the seed.

Seed Types
4
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Activity 2: Seed Dissection

1. Put the students into groups of 2 and hand out a soaked bean seed to each pair. (Be
careful not to over-soak the beans because the seed coat will fall off. Also hand out the
scalpel, some paper towels, a blank sheet of paper, and either hand lenses or have digital
microscope stations set up.

2. Have the students draw the shape of the seed on a blank sheet of paper. Have them find
the hilum, which is like the “belly-button” of the seed. Have the students draw and label
the hilum on their seed drawing. Have them draw a thick line around the outside,
indicating the seed coat and have them label it.

3. After they locate the hilum, have the students cut the bean in half, lengthwise, along the
split that is there naturally. Have the students use hand lenses or digital microscopes to
locate the endosperm, cotyledons, radicle, and hypocotyl. Not all of these parts may be
easily visible, so if the students cannot find them, they may need to refer to their Seed
Parts Worksheets. Have the students draw and label the parts on their drawing.

Group Discussion Series (continued, refer to optional worksheet)

4. Topic: Seed Anatomy

Question 1: Why would some plants have larger endosperms then other plants?

Answer: Some plants have bigger seeds, which means a larger endosperm. The
endosperm is the energy storage for a seed, so a seed with a large endosperm has more
energy to work with.

Question 2: Why don’t all seeds have large endosperms?

Answer: Energy is limited. If seeds have large endosperms then there will be fewer
seeds produced, but if seeds have small endosperms, many more seeds can be produced.

5. Topic: Seed Adaptation

Question 1: What kind of adaptations do you think seeds will have in a dry forest?

Answer: There is no exact answer. Some seeds will be larger, like beans in wiliwili and
uhiuhi, and small seeds can also be successful. Fountain grass is an extremely successful
invader and has small seeds. They have different reproductive strategies, but both find
success, although fountain grass is much more abundant because it is fire adapted and
regenerates quickly after fires.

Question 2: What kind of adaptations do you think seeds will have in a wet forest?

Answer: Again there is no exact answer. Some seeds are larger, like beans in Koa, but
Ohia lehua has very small seeds and is abundant in wet forests. Both produce large

Seed Types
5
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

numbers of seeds, but Ohia lehua produce many, many more and the seeds are much
smaller.

Activity 3: Build a Seed

1. Hand out the Seed Design worksheets to each student and have them fill them out. The
designed seeds should have all of the parts that were labeled on the worksheet.
2. If the students finish their Seed Design worksheet early, have them write a short
paragraph about how dry forest seeds could have different anatomies than wet forest
seeds. The students should attach their seeds to a sheet of paper and turn it in with their
worksheets. Give the students 45-60 minutes to complete this project.
3. To end this lesson, have the students finish filling out the K-W-L sheet by answering the
third question.

Assessments
Justification of why their seed is well adapted to the dry forest.

Resources
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/digitalflowers/Fruits/index.htm
http://www.cwnp.org/adaptations.html
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/bioplants

Extension Activities
Have students walk around campus looking at plants. Do the plants have seeds and fruits? If
they do, what do they look like? They should be adapted to dry habitats. If they don’t, what
type of seeds and fruits could be expected? Students should record their findings on paper or in
notebooks and include drawings. They should also include why the seeds will or will not be
successful in the dry forest. If they collect the seeds, have them label them and include a
description about them.

Art/Literature Connections
Have the students illustrate the type of tree that their designed seed would come from and/or
write a fictional story about the tree and the seed.

Math Connections
Have the students measure the length and width of a number of different types of seeds. The
students can then calculate averages, medians, and modes for types or seeds and display the size
of different seeds on bar graphs. Median is the middle number of a series of number, 1, 3, 3, 3, 5,
7, 21. The median would be the third 3 because it is the 4th number from both directions. The
mode is the most common number in the series, which would be 3.

Seed Types
6
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Name: ______________ Date: __________

KWL-Seed anatomy

What do you know about seed anatomy?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

What do you want to know about seed anatomy?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

What did you learn about seed anatomy?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Seed Types
7
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Name: ____________ Date: ___________

Seed Anatomy Notes

1. Why are seeds important?

2. What are some different types of seeds?

3. Seeds of Ohia lehua are very small. How many do you think survive? Avocado seeds
are very large, how many do you think survive?

4. Why would some plants have larger endosperms than other plants? Why don’t all seeds
have large endosperms?

5. What kind of adaptations do you think seeds will have in a dry forest?

6. What kind of adaptations do you think seeds will have in a wet forest?

Seed Types
8
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Name: _______________ Date: _________

Seed Anatomy

Directions: label each part of the seed with the following terms

-cotyledons -hypocotyl

-embryo -micropyle

-endosperm -radicle

-hilum -seed coat

Seed Types
9
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Name: __________________ Date: _____________

Build a Seed

1. Before you begin to construct your seed out of the materials, you need to decide how
your seed will be adapted. Your seed will either need to be adapted for a dry forest or a
wet forest.

2. How thick will the seed coat be? How does this benefit your seed?

3. How big will the embryo (cotyledons, radicle, hypocotyl) be? What are the advantages to
these adaptations?

4. What size will the endosperm be? How would a larger endosperm be an advantage? How
would a smaller endosperm be an advantage?

5. How will you make the hilum and micropyle best adapted?

6. When you have finished answering these questions, begin constructing your best-adapted
seed. When finished, attach your seed to a sheet of paper and write a short paragraph
explaining about your seeds adaptations.

Seed Types
10
Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Seed Types
11
 Partnerships for Reform through Investigative Science and Math

Koa Seeds and Pod

Avocado seed

Coconut

Fountain Grass seed head

Seed Types
12