Power Plants
Get this Guide
Find Training
Plants are crucial components of most ecosystems because they provide the energy that other organisms need to live. In this inquiry-based activity, students design investigations to explore what these “power plants” need to function and grow.
Project Learning Tree’s Energy in Ecosystems curriculum for grades 3-5 won a 2019 Teachers’ Choice Award for the Classroom from Learning Magazine!
Learner Objectives
- List at least three ways plants are important to people.
- Conduct an experiment on the basic needs of plants.
- Measure and graph the growth of plants, comparing a control group to an experimental group.
- Diagram the process of photosynthesis and briefly describe how matter is transported in and out of a plant during photosynthesis.
Login to download supporting materials such as appendices and teaching tips.
LoginYou Might Also Like
Invasive Species
Students research invasive species to determine their impact on ecosystems and what characteristics make them so challenging.
Every Tree for Itself
Through a simulation, students explore the ecosystem components that trees need to live and grow, and learn how organisms in an ecosystem often must compete for their needs.
Web of Life
By conducting research and simulating a food web, students take a close look at a forest ecosystem and discover ways that plants and animals are connected to each other.
A Home for Many
From their leafy branches to their tangled roots, trees provide a habitat for a host of plants and animals. Students inventory the plants and animals that live in, on, and around trees and discover how trees meet their needs for survival.