Plant life cycle

What this tool shows

Flowering plants go through a cycle from seed to seed. A seed holds a tiny plant and a store of food. With water, warmth and air it germinates: a root grows down and a shoot grows up. The seedling's first leaves start making food by photosynthesis, and it grows into an adult plant. The adult flowers, pollen is carried from anther to stigma, and after fertilization the flower's ovary becomes a fruit full of new seeds. The pictures use a bean plant, whose fruit is the pod. In Explore, tapping a stage tells what happens. Put in order shuffles the stages for the student to place.

Why ordering the stages helps

Children often know that seeds grow into plants but not where new seeds come from. Placing flowering and fruit in the cycle shows that a flower's job is to make seeds. Checking their own order, and fixing it, helps them remember both the sequence and the reasons behind it.

Common misconceptions

• Most seeds do not need light to germinate. They need water, warmth and air, and many sprout in the dark under the soil. The seedling needs light once its leaves open.
• Plants do not get their food from the soil. They make it by photosynthesis; the soil provides water and small amounts of minerals.
• Fruit is not only sweet food. In science, a fruit develops from the ovary and holds seeds, so a bean pod and a tomato are fruits.
• The root always grows down, whichever way up the seed was planted, because roots respond to gravity.

A 10-minute plant activity

• Ask: "Where do seeds come from?" Listen before explaining.
• Go around the circle in Explore, reading each stage together.
• Play Put in order without help, then check.
• Plant a bean in a clear cup against damp paper towel so the root and shoot can be watched over the next week.
• Try the plant growth experiment on this site to test what plants need.

Where this fits in school

• US, grade 3: NGSS 3-LS1-1 asks students to model diverse life cycles that all include birth, growth, reproduction and death.
• US, grade 5: NGSS 5-LS1-1 asks students to argue that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
• England, Year 2: pupils observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.
• England, Year 3: pupils explore the part flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.

Learning more

Science is part of Eurekami's skill map, with lessons that draw science diagrams live and narrate them in English or Spanish. When a question is tricky, the AI tutor asks guiding questions so the student does the reasoning. Parents can follow what their child has practiced in the weekly report.