Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
A new road has been cut through a hillside, and the bare ground beside it is empty. Three plants grow on the old hill: one with fluffy seeds, one with seeds in a husk, and one with sticky burrs. Which one will reach the bare ground first, and how? Your team's job: build a model seed for wind, water or animals, and test it fairly against the others.
Teams of three, with rotating jobs: Dropper (holds the model at the flag or the fan line), Timer (starts and stops the clock and measures), Recorder (writes every result down).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (25–30 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- My model
- Results
- What we kept the same, and what we changed
- What I found out
- Which seed for the river bank?
- Exit ticket
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 / C$25 for all 3 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Matches design to travel
- Tests fairly
- Explains the results
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “How can a seed travel without legs?” take?
60–75 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
25 minutes. Mark a tape flag on a wall or door frame exactly 1.5 m above the floor. Set up four stations: (A) Drop, with a stopwatch and the flag; (B) Fan, with a table fan on its lowest setting aimed along a floor line 1 m away from the drop point, plus a tape measure laid along the floor; (C) Water, with a shallow tray holding about 5 cm of water; (D) Wool, with a wool sock pulled over a bottle and taped to a desk. Roll one pea-sized ball of modelling clay (about 1 cm across, about 1 g) per team to be the seed, and keep a spare. Put out the building materials and cut hook-and-loop tape into 2 cm squares. Dry the water tray and floor between rounds.
What materials do I need?
Modelling clay, a pea-sized ball (about 1 cm, about 1 g); paper (scrap), coffee filters, cotton wool balls; foam packing pieces or small sponge, plastic wrap or foil; hook-and-loop tape (hook side), cut in 2 cm squares, or pipe cleaners with the ends folded in; string 40 cm, clear tape, blunt scissors; stopwatch or phone timer; and 4 more. Cost: about $20 for a class of 30.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): 4-LS1-1 (partly). It also matches England National Curriculum, Year 3 and Cambridge Primary Science, Stages 3 and 5 (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”; “My model”; “Results”; “What we kept the same, and what we changed”; “What I found out”; “Which seed for the river bank?”; “Exit ticket”; “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 (C$25) for all 3 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$79 (C$109) a year.