Session 1 · VOICE: Observe
Flower detectives and pea counters
- 5 minSafety and care: gloves on for lily pollen, knives stay on the board, wash hands after.
- 20 minDissect a large flower: lay out sepals, petals, stamens (anther and filament) and pistil (stigma, style, ovary). Tape each part to a card and label it.
- 10 minTap pollen onto a slide and look under the microscope. Draw two grains.
- 15 minPea counters: open pods and sort peas by colour and wrinkliness. Tally the class results.
Session 2 · VOICE: Investigate
How do lungs fill?
- 15 minBuild a bottle lung model with balloons and a rubber-glove diaphragm. Pull down: what happens to the balloons? Explain using space and pressure.
- 20 minMeasure lung volume by breathing out into an upside-down bottle in a tub of water. Everyone uses their own clean mouthpiece. Record anonymously.
- 10 minLabel a lung diagram: trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, diaphragm, ribs.
- 5 minExit card: the difference between breathing and respiration in one sentence each.
Getting started
Use the flower-part card with outlines to tape each part onto, and the lung model instruction sheet with photos.
Stretch
Calculate how much air you breathe in an hour at rest using your breaths per minute and an estimate of breath volume.
Checkpoint
Every student has a labelled flower card, a pollen drawing and a working lung model explanation.
Activities for this week
- Bottle lung model: How does the diaphragm make air move into your lungs?
- How big are your lungs?: How much air can you breathe out in one big breath?
- Flower detectives: Which parts of a flower make seeds happen?
Useful this week
- Pollination ↗ Flower parts and how bees, birds and wind move pollen, with NZ examples.
- Obtaining oxygen ↗ A clear diagram of how oxygen gets from the air to your cells.
- The human digestive system ↗ Each organ and its job, to check your digestion model against.
- Fruit enzyme uses ↗ Why kiwifruit and pineapple stop jelly setting, and how enzymes are used in food.
- Seed dispersal ↗ Wind, water, animals and explosions: how seeds travel, including native ones.