10 Dec P5 Science Core Topic – Plant Transport System
Plant Transport System
Students are required to recall concepts of how plants transport substances – mainly water and food – to ensure the organism can obtain what it needs to survive. A removal of any part of the transport system usually results in the plant being unable to obtain the necessary substances and will then die.
Eg. The diagram below shows a ring of bark which was cut out from a tree trunk.
A bulge was observed above the ring for a few days. Explain a possible reason why there was a bulge above the ring.
Students need to apply the concept of food being transported by the food carrying tubes, which are on the outer ring. However, one common pitfall here is that while students can recall that food is transported by the food carrying tubes, they are unable to properly express why a growth occurs above the cut section.
Usually, a common answer for the example will look like:
‘The food carrying tube was removed, so the food cannot move down the plant.’✗
As we can see from the above, students have an idea of what is causing the observation, but are unable to use the proper keywords in their answer. Many students will also neglect to include the fact that the leaves make food for the plant, which is unable to be transported past the cut.
The correct answer will be:
‘The food carrying tubes were removed, so food made by the leaves cannot be transported down past the cut. Hence, this causes the food to get stuck above the cut and accumulates, causing a growth.’✓
*The underlined sections are the keywords and ideas that students must include to obtain the marks.
In the MCQ section, one common question used to test the students’ observation skill is as below
Eg. Jerry placed a plant into a beaker containing red-coloured water. After a few hours, he observed that the flowers and leaves started to turn red.
What can he conclude from the above observation?
(A) Water was absorbed by the roots
(B) Water was transported up the stem
(C) Water was transported to the leaves
(D) Water was transported to the flowers
(1) A and B only
(2) C and D only
(3) B, C and D only
(4) All of the above
Students are likely to choose (4) ‘All of the above’ as they neglect to make use of the observation in the set up. However, the correct answer should be (3). While it is correct that roots absorb water in plants, based on the set up given, the plant has had its roots removed. Therefore, it is not possible for students to observe that the roots absorbed water for the plant in the diagram. As a rule of thumb, students must always remember to apply and relate the answers back to the diagram or set up given and not just rely solely on memorizing the scientific concepts.
Einstein’s Takeaway
P5 Science is a significant jump from P4 Science in terms of the difficulty and variation of questions. Most questions (MCQs and structured questions) are application based whereby students need to explain their answers based on the context of the question instead of providing general knowledge based on what they know about the topic. More often than not, the questions will also throw in minor yet crucial details to test the students on their observation skills and analytical skills so that they know which part of the concepts they should leverage on (as well as which concept to omit) when writing down the explanation and linking the concepts readily back to the question. These application and analytical skills are vital to the students’ mastery of P5 Science. At Einstein, our expertise lies in the extensive training of our students’ ability not only to pinpoint the right concept, but also to string the relevant keywords and details from the question together to form a concise answer according to the context of the question. Contact us now to find out how we can train up your child’s core competence skills in Science to ride out P5 successfully!
Plant Transport System
Students are required to recall concepts of how plants transport substances – mainly water and food – to ensure the organism can obtain what it needs to survive. A removal of any part of the transport system usually results in the plant being unable to obtain the necessary substances and will then die.
Eg. The diagram below shows a ring of bark which was cut out from a tree trunk.
A bulge was observed above the ring for a few days. Explain a possible reason why there was a bulge above the ring.
Students need to apply the concept of food being transported by the food carrying tubes, which are on the outer ring. However, one common pitfall here is that while students can recall that food is transported by the food carrying tubes, they are unable to properly express why a growth occurs above the cut section.
Usually, a common answer for the example will look like:
‘The food carrying tube was removed, so the food cannot move down the plant.’✗
As we can see from the above, students have an idea of what is causing the observation, but are unable to use the proper keywords in their answer. Many students will also neglect to include the fact that the leaves make food for the plant, which is unable to be transported past the cut.
The correct answer will be:
‘The food carrying tubes were removed, so food made by the leaves cannot be transported down past the cut. Hence, this causes the food to get stuck above the cut and accumulates, causing a growth.’✓
*The underlined sections are the keywords and ideas that students must include to obtain the marks.
In the MCQ section, one common question used to test the students’ observation skill is as below
Eg. Jerry placed a plant into a beaker containing red-coloured water. After a few hours, he observed that the flowers and leaves started to turn red.
What can he conclude from the above observation?
(A) Water was absorbed by the roots
(B) Water was transported up the stem
(C) Water was transported to the leaves
(D) Water was transported to the flowers
(1) A and B only
(2) C and D only
(3) B, C and D only
(4) All of the above
Students are likely to choose (4) ‘All of the above’ as they neglect to make use of the observation in the set up. However, the correct answer should be (3). While it is correct that roots absorb water in plants, based on the set up given, the plant has had its roots removed. Therefore, it is not possible for students to observe that the roots absorbed water for the plant in the diagram. As a rule of thumb, students must always remember to apply and relate the answers back to the diagram or set up given and not just rely solely on memorizing the scientific concepts.
Einstein’s Takeaway
P5 Science is a significant jump from P4 Science in terms of the difficulty and variation of questions. Most questions (MCQs and structured questions) are application based whereby students need to explain their answers based on the context of the question instead of providing general knowledge based on what they know about the topic. More often than not, the questions will also throw in minor yet crucial details to test the students on their observation skills and analytical skills so that they know which part of the concepts they should leverage on (as well as which concept to omit) when writing down the explanation and linking the concepts readily back to the question. These application and analytical skills are vital to the students’ mastery of P5 Science. At Einstein, our expertise lies in the extensive training of our students’ ability not only to pinpoint the right concept, but also to string the relevant keywords and details from the question together to form a concise answer according to the context of the question. Contact us now to find out how we can train up your child’s core competence skills in Science to ride out P5 successfully!