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| During week four,
we watched several films about flowers. One film we watched was "The
Private Life of Plants." It was an interesting film about plant
adaptations. It showed several varieties of plants that had changed
because of their environment. For example, some plants had hair to keep
them warm in the cold, and others would amputate its own branches to
keep water from evaporating from them in the desert. The film
"Sexual Encounters of the Floral Kind helped me improve my aesthetic
awareness, and the plant lab helped me develop my critical thinking
skills. "Sexual Encounters of the Floral Kind" helped me to visually see the process of pollination. It explained that the flowers evolved scents and beautiful colors to attract insects and animals to them. The nectar inside the flower was a reward for the insects that came to the flower. While the insects drank the nectar, they would brush against the anthers covered in pollen. The pollen would stick to the insect, and when the insect moved to other flowers, the pollen would be placed on the plant's stigma completing the process of pollination. There were several examples of plants being pollinated. One example was the bucket orchid and the wasp. As the wasp tried to leave the orchid, it would get stuck and the orchid would place the pollen on the wasp. Then, the orchid would release the wasp, and it would visit other orchids and pollinate them. This film showed me how pollination works. |
After we watched
the film, we did a plant lab. We were given several flowers, and we had
to dissect them. On the projector screen, Professor Gilmore placed a
diagram of all the parts of the flower. We had to look at the diagram
and find the parts on the real flower. Then, we had to count all the
different parts. We counted the petals, sepals, and anthers of the
Peruvian Lilly. This lab allowed me to see the plant parts, and when
questions on the test mentioned the flower parts, I was able to
visualize the plant lab and answer the questions correctly. I was able
to take what I had learned in class and apply it to the plant lab. The films and the plant lab helped me learn about pollination and the parts of flowers. The films gave me a visual picture to help me understand the things we learned in class. Also, the plant lab helped me apply what Professor Gilmore had taught us in class to real flowers. I was able to look at the diagram and connect those ideas to the Peruvian Lilly. These helped me improve my aesthetic awareness and my critical thinking skills. |
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