Mississippi Science BOT.6.3
The Standard
- BOT.6
- Students will ask questions, plan, and conduct field investigations on local plant communities.
Enrichment: Use an engineering design process to define a problem, design, construct, evaluate, and improve a societal concern with the aid of plants (e.g., irrigation, water conservation, urban shading, green-space development, food deserts, or other local needs or issues). *
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Local Plant Investigations
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify a local problem plants could help solve, such as a hot school bench. They choose plants that fit the site's light, water, and space. They build a model, test it against a measurable goal, and revise it.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain why a plant fits the site and set a target, such as shading half the bench at lunch. They use test results to find a weakness and show how their revision improves the design.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume any tree will grow beside a paved bench, regardless of water or root space. They may treat a sketch as a finished design or say it worked without measuring shade.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A school bench gets full sun at lunch. Sketch a plant-based shade solution, name one site limit, and explain how you would measure shade and revise the design.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Use leafy twigs, clay, and grid paper to model shade for a bench; count shaded squares under a lamp, then move twigs and recount.
Give pairs two tree cards with crown width and water needs; ask them to choose one for a dry sidewalk and explain why.
Match hot bench, flooded corner, and dry bed cards to shade tree, rain garden, and native grass cards; explain one trade-off.
At lunch, photograph a sunny school bench and note nearby pavement; sketch a tree location that shades the seat without blocking the path.
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Printable BOT.6.3 Worksheet
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