Unit Plan 12 (Grade 2 Science): Seed Dispersal Models

Focus: Develop simple models that mimic how animals move seeds, showing how seed dispersal helps plants grow in new places.

Grade Level: 2

Subject Area: Science (Life Science • Science & Engineering Practices)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students explore how seeds travel from one place to another with the help of animals. They learn that animals can move seeds by carrying them on their fur, dropping them in new places after eating fruit, or burying and forgetting them. Using stories, pictures, and real or model seeds, students discover that this movement—called seed dispersal—helps plants spread and survive.

Students then become model-makers, designing and testing simple seed dispersal models that mimic how animals move seeds. By the end of the week, they can explain that their models show how an animal helps move seeds, directly addressing 2-LS2-2.

Essential Questions

• How do seeds move from one place to another in nature?
• In what ways do animals help move seeds to new places?
• What is a model, and how can it show how an animal disperses seeds?
• Why is seed dispersal important for plants and for the places where they grow?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Observe and describe different seeds and how their shapes or coverings might help them move.
2. Identify at least two ways that animals move seeds (e.g., on fur, in droppings, by burying and forgetting).
3. Explain that a model is something that represents or imitates how something works in the real world.
4. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal dispersing seeds (2-LS2-2).
5. Test their model in a simple classroom “environment” (e.g., cloth “fur,” paper “ground”) and describe how well it mimics seed movement.
6. Use drawings and simple writing to explain how their model works and how it is like an animal helping seeds move.

Standards Alignment — 2nd Grade (NGSS-Aligned)

• 2-LS2-2 — Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
  • In this unit, students focus on seed dispersal (animal movement of seeds), with pollination reserved for a separate unit.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can describe how some animals move seeds (on fur, in droppings, by burying them, etc.).
• I can explain that a model shows how something in nature works.
• I can build a simple model that shows an animal moving seeds from one place to another.
• I can test my model and tell how well it matches what the real animal does.
• I can explain with a drawing and words how my model helps seeds get to new places.