Plants and Fruits Lesson Plan

The purpose of this lesson is to show that flowering plants produce seeds encased in fruit. Three kinds of
fruits are berries, drupes, and pomes. Oranges, grapes, and tomatoes are berries. Their seeds are embedded in the flesh of the fruit. Peaches and plums are drupes. Drupes have one seed enclosed in a hard case surrounded by flesh. Apples and pears are pomes. Pomes have several seeds enclosed in a core surrounded by flesh.

Materials you'll need for this include oranges, tomatoes, peaches, plums, pears, apples, sturdy plastic knives, pieces of plastic

Activities include:

• A simple demonstration whereby you show your students a one-half piece of each of the
  fruits. Help them observe and identify the placement of the seeds in
  each piece of fruit. Then have students group the fruits according to
  how the seeds are enclosed. You may wish to introduce the words berry,
  drupe, and pome to your students. If so, explain that many fruits
  commonly called berries are not berries according to the scientific
  definition.
• A hands on Activity where you give each group three pieces of fruit (one berry, one
  drupe, and one pome), a plastic knife, and a piece of plastic. It may
  be helpful to precut the fruit for your students. Have students cut
  their fruit apart on the plastic, count the number of seeds in each
  piece, and record their observations on a worksheet.

Links

The Full Lesson can be found at: The Educator's Reference Desk