The natural world is a giant, open-ended learning laboratory. Children are innate scientists and love to experience the sights, scents, sounds, and textures of the outdoors. Nature provides countless opportunities for discovery, creativity and problem-solving.
Interacting with natural environments allows children to learn by doing and experiment with ideas. In nature, children think, question, and make hypotheses — thereby developing inquisitive minds. Whether they’re judging the distance between two rocks before jumping or considering where insects go in the winter, children are constantly thinking when they’re in nature. These experiences offer real, authentic learning like nothing else can. As children take risks, try and fail, and try again, they gain resilience and confidence.
Thus to develop the understanding of the different types of plants (Trees, Herbs and shrubs) and different parts of plants and their functions, an activity was conducted for the students of class 6a wherein the students were given a virtual tour to their own gardens during their online science class. The skill that was developed with this activity was observation of forms, size, their variation and functions of plant parts.
The students went outside and observed all the plants around them in their garden. Some of them did the activity with the potted plants inside. They were excited to see that some plants are small, some very big, while some are just patches of green on the soil. Some have green leaves, while some others have reddish ones. Some have huge red flowers, some have tiny blue ones, while some have none.
We do see a variety of plants existing all around us — near our homes, in the school ground, on the way to the school, in the parks and gardens, isn’t it? Let us get to know the different parts of plant well explained by the students. In their garden they tried to spot various plants and categorise them into trees, herbs and shrubs based on the discussions in the online class. During the nature exploration they were also be introduced to weeds by giving examples.