Age 9-10: Darwin's Investigators
Introducing Darwin's Investigators
In these activities the 'Investigators' (9-10 year-olds) will investigate seed dispersal and do a germination experiment. They will also be able to collect, prepare and send seed to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.
Investigators quick start
- Darwin's Investigators learning outcomes PDF Word
- Darwin's Investigators curriculum links (all regions) PDF Word
- Darwin's Investigators Teachers Booklet PDF Word
- Darwin Doodle Book PDF Word
- Darwin's Investigators postcard from Masego PDF Word
- Darwin's Investigators video download .wmv (67MB) .mov (176MB)
- Darwin's Investigators video Video
To celebrate 200 years since Charles Darwin's birth, The Great Plant Hunt has been developed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, commissioned and funded by the Wellcome Trust.
What's this?
Teachers need to sign up for a school account - even if you've already registered to get our newsletter.
When you sign up, we'll send you a username and password for your classes to log in with and share photos and data from their Great Plant Hunt activities.
Please use a school email address if you have one - other email addresses will take a little longer to process.
You must log in to:
- Change your details or year group
- Send us your photos
- Moderate photos
- Add experiment data
- Register sending seeds to the Millenium Seed Bank
- Send in tips and tricks
- Assign teachers to year groups
New visitor? Register here
Photos
Every week, we'll award one stunning image the prestigious 'Photo of the Week' grand title! Winning photos will appear on The Great Plant Hunt home page in the treehouses and in the photo album.
Send us your photos!Sign up for an account to get your school's children uploading photos and entering the competition.
Tips and Tricks
Run an Investigators assembly
Kick off the Investigators work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Investigator chapter from the storybook and show the Investigators video of Masego - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footsteps frenzy
Download and print out as many Investigators footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
A fun approach to the daisy count
Our Investigators got a piece of string long enough to make a circle big enough for all the class to stand round. We placed it on the grass and counted each week how many daisies were growing in that circle. This week Brooke made us a tally chart showing how many daisies and how many dandelions (74 daisies and 19 dandelions.) The first week we did it there were only 24 daisies and no dandelions!
More tips & tricksInvestigators activities
Investigators Activity 1: Daisy observation
In Activity 1, the Investigators locate a patch of grass and cordon it off to protect daisy plants from interference. They will visit the same patch over a period of weeks, collect and process daisy seed and send it to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.
Why not download these images of fruiting daisies at different stages to help you.
A Daisy head which is just right to collect. You should be looking for heads at this stage and should aim to collect at least 100 heads to make a useful collection, basically the more the better!
A Daisy head which is too late to collect (because nearly all of the seeds have gone!).
- Duration: 2 lessons and observation time.
Investigators Activity 1 Resources
- Darwin's Investigators Activity 1 PDF Word
- Darwin Doodle Book PDF Word
- Sending daisy seed to the MSB PDF Word
- Daisy observation and collection PPT
- Seed banking and collecting PDF Word Images
- About Kew's Millenium Seed Bank
PDF
Word
PPT - Daisy Identikit page PDF
- Daisy: Teachers Species guide PDF Images
Investigators Activity 2: Shaking, flying, sticking!
In Activity 2, the Investigators will think about ways seeds can be spread about and replicate some of the seed dispersal techniques using models.
- Duration: 2 lessons.
Activity 2 Resources
Investigators activities, stickers and games
Investigators Activity 3: Time for seeds
Share and compare the Investigator year's germination data with schools across the country! Enter sunflower seed germination times that your school recorded in their experiments and then see how this compares to 10, 100 or all the other schools.
In Activity 3, the Investigators will plan an experiment to see how long it takes for seed to germinate using the sunflower seed from the Treasure Chest, and will enter and compare their germination data with other schools on the website.
- Duration: 3 lessons.
Activity 3 Resources
Sunflower bar charts
Share and compare the Investigator year's germination data with schools across the country! Enter sunflower seed germination times that your school recorded in their experiments and then see how this compares to other schools.
The fun stuff!
Stickers, a game and an extra fun outdoor activity to do or take home.
- Sunflower Survival game
Download The Great Plant Hunt games
You can download the individual games to your computer by clicking on the links below - make sure you choose the correct type of file depending on whether you use a PC or Mac. When the download has completed, you will need to unzip the folder to a suitable place on your computer then, follow the simple instructions included in the folder.
PC users Mac usersPlan and run a Darwin’s Investigators assembly
Planning the Investigators assembly
Read the Darwin the Investigator chapter from the storybook to set the scene, then show the children the Darwin's Investigators postcard and video from Masego to get them going on the classroom and outdoor activities. Other useful downloads include a poster of Darwin (A3 or A4), and more footsteps to add to the school poster.
Investigators assembly resources
- Storybook Chapter 6: Darwin the Investigator PDF Word
- Charles Darwin poster - A3 PDF
- Charles Darwin poster - A4 PDF
- Darwin's Investigators postcard from Masego PDF Word
- Darwin's Investigators video from Masego Video
- Darwin's Investigators name graphic PDF
- Darwin's Investigators footsteps (A3) PDF
- Darwin's Investigators footsteps (A4) PDF
- Darwin's Investors colour certificate PDF
- Darwin's Investors black and white certificate PDF