The Plant Game

THE PLANT GAME

Adapted from http://cibt.bio.cornell.edu/labs_and_activities/images/Plant_Game.pdf by Ida Swenson, Palmyra, Virginia.

 

            Plants need water and sunlight to grow.  Their goal in life is to reproduce.   Most plants reproduce with flowers.   The object of this game is to decide how your 'plant' should grow.   The winners are the plants that have the most flowers at the end of the growing season.   When plants have water, sunlight and carbon dioxide, they can make sugar to grow.  As they grow, they make more leaves which make more sugar under the right conditions.   As more energy is changed to sugar, it can be used to make flowers for reproduction.

            Water is absolutely necessary for plants to live and grow.   The tall graduated cylinders represent the ground.  To get water, plants need roots.  Roots are represented by the little paper clips.   We will start the game with 100 ml. of water in each tall graduated cylinder and two paper clip roots.  If the roots can not reach water, the plant can not grow or  change sunlight energy into sugar.   Plants also give off water, especially on very hot days.  This is called transpiration.   When transpiration occurs, you will remove water from the graduated cylinders to show the loss.   If the roots can not reach water, you do not lose any water to transpiration.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

      1.  Be sure you have a graduated cylinder filled to 100 ml. with water.

You need a paper clip unfolded, one leaf and 2 paper clip roots.  You also

need a small graduated cylinder and a pipette.

 

      2.  Choose a team member to record, another to measure the water, another to be 'gopher' and one to coordinate or manage to be sure everyone does their job.

    

     3.   The teacher will roll the dice.  Figure the amount of sugars your plant

will make and the amount of water you gain or lose.

 

DICE  WEATHER                           PHOTOSYNTHESIS                       RAINFALL OR H₂0 LOSS

  1        chilly, downpour                     no photosynthesis                               gain 20  ml. of water

  2        cool, light rain                         make 1 sugar X # of leaves                 gain 5 ml of water

  3        very humid, overcast               make 2 sugars X  # of leaves              lose 1 ml H₂0 x # of leaves

  4        warm, partly cloudy                make 3 sugars X # of leaves               lose 2 ml H₂0  X # of leaves

  5        humid, sunny                          make 4 sugars  X  # of leaves             lose 3 ml H₂0   X # of leaves

  6        sunny, very dry, hot                make 4 sugars  X # of leaves              lose 4 ml  H₂0  X  # of leaves

 

    4.   The team should decide when to buy more plant parts and what to buy.  However, there is a one minute time limit between each roll of the dice, so you should try to plan ahead.  Here are the costs for plant growth:              To make a leaf, the cost is 10 sugar tokens.

                                    To make a root, the cost is 10 sugar tokens.

                                    To make a flower, the cost is 21 sugar tokens. 

 

     5.  The winner is the plant with the most flowers at the end of a growing season.  The teacher will announce what the end of a growing season will be.

 

    6.  When the game is over, write a paragraph describing what you learned from this game.  What do plants need to live and grow?   What do plants try to do with the energies they get? 

THE PLANT GAME

CHANGING LIGHT ENERGY TO CHEMICAL ENERGY

 

DAY   #	ROLL OF DIE	# OF LEAVES	PHOTOSYNTHESIS FACTORS (# OF SUGARS)	SUGAR TOKENS MADE	MAKE LEAF, ROOT OR FLOWER?