SCIENCE TEACHER

Reproduction
Reproduction in plants: Observing fruit
development LP-BIO-INT-0014

Objectives of the lesson

To pollinate a flower and observe fruit development over a period of several weeks.
Teaching methods
Student activity with potential for teacher-led class discussion as a follow-up lesson.
Expected outcomes
Students understand the process of fertilisation and can explain why some plants produce fruit and
seeds.
Student pre-knowledge required for this lesson
Flowering plants can reproduce sexually. Pollination is the step before fertilisation, and involves a
pollen grain landing on a stigma.
Materials & resources required
Student Worksheet SW-BIO-INT-0014.
Time required
40 minutes, with an optional follow-up 10-minute session when fruit has ripened.
Equipment list
A locally growing fruit-bearing flowering plant such as a mango, pawpaw, Crotalaria, Tecoma;
tweezers.
Safety
Be careful of sharp points when using tweezers.

Teaching the lesson

Introduction
Explain to the class that fertilisation occurs after pollination. Fertilisation is the formation of a
zygote or seed, which is a pollen grain fused with an ovule.
1 Begin by asking students why some plants produce fruit (to protect seeds and to help their
dispersal). Ask them to suggest why seeds might be advantageous to a plant (they can survive harsh
environments; they can be dispersed easily by animals, or by wind and water).

2 Take them to a flowering, fruit-bearing plant in the school grounds and allow them to work
through worksheet SW-BIO-INT-0014. Depending on the abundance of the plant you choose,
students may have to share or work in groups. As students observe the development of their
fertilised flower, some flowers may not develop — in these cases, explain to students that this is
chance, not their technique, and ensure that each student is in a group observing a successfully
fertilised flower.

3 When students have answered all the questions on the worksheet (this will be after the plant has
produced fruit), you may like to lead a class discussion using the questions on the worksheet as a
basis.

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4 Additional exercise for more able students:

Discuss the mechanism of fertilisation. When a pollen grain lands on a stigma, it absorbs water and
nutrients, causing it to swell up. The wall of the pollen grain ruptures, and a pollen tube grows
through the stigma and style towards the ovary. On reaching the ovule, the pollen tube enters the
embryo sac and fuses with the ovum. The ovary develops into the fruit, with the ovary wall forming
the pericarp (fruit wall). The pericarp may become fleshy (as in mango) or dry (as in Tecoma).

Pollen grain
Stigma

Pollen tube Style

Female egg Embryo sac

nucleus
Ovary wall
Male nuclei
Micropyle
Pollen tube
nucleus

Ask students to copy the diagram above, and to use it as a basis for describing the fertilisation process in
their own words.

Conclusions and summary

Fruit develops from the ovary and is the ‘packaging’ for seeds, which are fertilised ova. Pollination
and fertilisation are different processes: pollination happens when a pollen grain touches the
stigma; fertilisation is the fusion of the nuclei of a pollen grain and an ovum.

Assessment
Formal, by marking the answers to questions on the worksheet; or informal, by observing participation
in class discussions.
Answers to questions
1 Pollination
2 The pollen will enter the ovary and fuse with the ovum; this is fertilisation.
3 The (calyx) corolla, stamens and style have withered and died. The ovary has started to develop into a
fruit. (Note: in some plants the calyx remains as the fruit grows.)
4 When it was fertilised by the pollen grain, the ovum became a seed.

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 SCIENCE TEACHER

5 If the seed is planted, a new plant will grow.

6 Seeds can endure harsh environments such as drought, cold and fire, which a plant could not. They can
also be moved easily so that new plants can grow in less harsh conditions. These features enable species
to survive environments that they might not be able to survive without seeds.
7 Producing fruit is a selective advantage; plants and animals that eat the fruit are unable to digest the
seeds, which are egested; this helps the dispersal of seeds to new areas so the plant species can spread
to new places and/or environments.

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008