Activity overview

Run the activity

1.Begin to discuss the question Who Is..? by introducing Bethan Stagg as a scientist and asking children what they think she does. Working in a small group or pair, can they look for clues about her in the photographs. These prompts may help you:
·    Do you think she does her work now or did she live and work in the past?
·    Is there anything in the photographs which gives you a clue about the type of science she is involved in?
·    Bethan thinks that people notice animals more than plants. Which parts of a plant do you think she looks at closely to help her name them? 
2. Share your ideas with the class. Did everyone agree?
3. Read the Background Science (you could do this as a class) to find out more about her life.

Background science

Dr Bethan Stagg studies plants and animals in their natural habitats. She has always been interested in plants and remembers, as a child, learning how to grow plants from fruit pips and stones instead of putting them in the kitchen compost and creating a cacti collection for her room. When she grew up, she studied Biology at university and learned even more about plants and animals.

One of the things Bethan finds interested is understanding ‘plant blindness’. This is the idea that some people do not notice plants as much as they notice animals. Bethan knows about amazing plants from around the world - both wild plants and those grown in gardens. She explains that weeds are just wild plants that are growing somewhere that we don’t want them to grow. Weeds are very good at growing in urban habitats and can be found growing in cracks in the pavement, in gutters or along fences and walls. She says we should learn to notice some of these amazing plants that can even be found on our doorsteps!

When Bethan looks closely at plants, she notices their parts. All flowering plants have these parts:

• Leaves where plants can make their own food from carbon dioxide in the air, sunlight and water.
• Roots which anchor the plant to prevent it falling over and absorb water and minerals from the soil.
• Stems (trunk and branches of trees) which hold the plant up and carry water from the roots to the rest of the plant.

Depending on the time of year, flowering plants will also have flowers, fruit or seeds which are needed to make new plants.

Watch out for... Children often think trees are not plants so make sure to include trees whenever you discuss plants.

Take it further

Watch

Bethan introduces us to four common wild plants and notices what makes them special here. 

Watch Bethan’s short film showing children playing with some of these common wild plants.

Learn about parts of a plant with this BBC bitesize film or this funny BBC Class Clip.

Activities

Working with a partner, can children discuss what they would say to answer the question, Who is Bethan Stagg?   

Test out Bethan’s theory that people notice animals more than plants. Collect a class list of all the animals they know about and compare it to all the plants they know about. Add to the list as children learn to identify new plants.

Take children on a walk outside and see how many different types of plants they find. They could see whether they can find any weeds in the cracks of pavements or other unexpected places. When looking at wild flowers, WWT’s Plant ID sheet and this RHS Flowering weed spotter are both useful. There is a range of spotter sheets from the Woodland Trust and the RHS. To practise naming different plants (including trees), you could play ‘I spy…’ or ‘Point to a…’ with a plants theme.

As the children look closely at different plants, they can rehearse the names of the different parts. They could photograph or draw their favourite plants and label the different parts. Thinking about all the plants they have seen, what do they notice is the same and what is different about each plant?

The Botanical Society run a New Year Plant Hunt which families could easily join.

Children could try growing wild plants in pots in the classroom. For example, children could collect dandelion seedheads from plants growing locally and plant them in pots of compost. If you plant the seeds in transparent containers, the children will be able to see the roots growing. When watered regularly, the seeds typically take about eight weeks to grow and develop flowers. The seedheads ripen 9-12 days after the flower. Having the plants inside the classroom will make it easier for the children to observe them regularly over time. Alternative, children could grow seeds from fruit like Bethan did. Planting a slice of tomato works well.

Cross-curricular