SC.4.L.16.4

The Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 4th grade level. The Plant Package provides students with an engineering problem in which they are asked to rank different plant packaging designs using recycled materials.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this 4th grade MEA, students will work in groups to develop a procedure to rank which insect would be the best bug to farm for human consumption in the USA. Students will consider factors such as nutritional value, length of insect life cycle, stage of life cycle the insect can be served, notes from chefs, customer tasting notes, level of difficulty to farm, and price. This MEA allows students to apply scientific content, metamorphosis, in a real world application, while developing high-level problem solving skills.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this sequence of observations, students will observe the life cycles of butterflies, darkling beetles, preying mantises, and grasshoppers to compare and contrast complete metamorphosis (butterflies and darkling beetles) and incomplete metamorphosis (preying mantis, grasshoppers, termites).

This sequence is a long-term investigation. The initial cycle requires a 45-60 minute period to introduce and model journal entries, but after that it only requires 5-10 minutes per day to make observations. Research can be done throughout the cycle at a Reading center. At the conclusion of each cycle, another 45 minute session is needed for wrap-up and assessment.

SPECIAL NOTE: To fully implement this benchmark, the teacher should repeat this basic investigation format with plants. Beans and daisies work well as flowering plants and allow the students to proceed through the entire life cycle (seed, seedling, adult, back to the seed stage). This can be done in conjunction with benchmark SC.4.L.16.1: Identify processes of sexual reproduction in flowering plants, including pollination, fertilization (seed dispersal), and germination. For non-flowering, seed-bearing plants (conifers), you can't go through an entire life cycle within the classroom. However, this website has an image that goes through the life cycle of a conifer: 

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore the life cycle of different Florida seed plants: the longleaf pine and the orange tree.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the life cycles of animals including simple, complete metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the complete and incomplete metamorphosis stages.

Type: Text Resource

Florida Division of Forestry – This website provides identifications, descriptions, and biological classifications of Florida trees. The website is presented in field-guide format, providing sketches of elements such as the leaves, fruit, and flowers. Also, the trees included are grouped alphabetically.

Type: Text Resource

In this unit, students learn about various plants, their parts, their life cycles, and the importance of bees in plant reproduction.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence