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Lesson · Grade 4 · Science

How Plants Respond to Light, Gravity, Touch and Water

  • Grade 4
  • Science
  • 56 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC4-SC-03

A young plant in a cut-away block of soil is surrounded by the four things it can sense: sunlight, gravity, a stick to touch and a patch of damp soil. Step by step, the plant responds by changing how it grows: its stem bends toward the light, its main root grows down, a tendril wraps around the stick and a side root grows toward the water.

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

Plants cannot walk, so how do they find what they need?

Plants can sense light, gravity, touch and water.

Transcript

What the lesson says

Plants cannot walk, so how do they find what they need?

Plants can sense light, gravity, touch and water.

They respond by changing the way they grow.

Most stems bend and grow toward the light.

This helps the leaves catch light to make food.

Roots sense gravity, so the main root grows down.

Some climbing plants grow thin tendrils.

When a tendril touches something, it wraps around it.

This helps the plant climb up toward the light.

Roots also grow toward damp soil, where there is water.

The roots take in the water that the plant needs.

Plants respond to light, gravity, touch and water by changing how they grow.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 4

Science, Biology: sensing and responding: plantsBC4-SC-03

Previous: Animal senses beyond ours: echolocation, ultraviolet light, heat and magnetismNext: Biomes: Sorted by Temperature and Precipitation

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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