Lesson Plan: Commercial Uses of Plants Biology
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe how hormones are used to promote commercial plant growth and how conditions can be changed for optimal plant growth.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- explain why we use auxins to delay fruit ripening and ethylene to artificially ripen fruit,
- describe how auxins can be used as weed killers,
- elaborate how auxins are used as rooting powders and how they are used for promoting growth in tissue cultures,
- elaborate the use of gibberellins in producing seedless fruits and increasing fruit sizes,
- discuss the commercial use of gibberellins to end seed dormancy, flower formation, and fruit formation.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the fact that hormones are chemical messengers found in living organisms,
- the role of auxins in cell elongation and, therefore, plant growth,
- the role of gibberellins in seed germination and stem elongation,
- the role of ethene in controlling cell division and the ripening of fruits.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- ethical issues around excessive productivism like the impact on biodiversity and producers’ health.