Apple Tree Identification and Biodiversity

First task for students

• Can the students identify the fruit in front of them?
• Do the students know where the fruit comes from?
• Using the tree leaf identification sheet, can the children find any of the trees? You can download the tree leaf identification sheet as a word file and as a pdf file.

Second task for students

• Students discuss the trees in the area, what types are there?
• Are they deciduous or evergreen?
• Do they grow fruit or edibles for animals?
• What do the seeds look like?

Next challenge

• Students look at internet websites and decide which fruit trees to plant in the school grounds.
• To get involved with the local community, students in the UK can contact Woodland Trust to ask for some fruit trees to plant. You can also invite a STEM Ambassador visits to plant fruit trees in school grounds.

Start with a motivation

• Do all apples taste the same?
• Students have a range of apples; grown locally and imported.
• They look at the similarities and differences.
• They begin to learn the names of the different types of apples.
• To get involved with the local community, lesson could be done in collaboration with local apple farms.

Task for students

• The apples are sliced and labelled.
• The students taste the apples individually and complete a chart on a worksheet. There are two versions of the apple tasting worksheet, please choose and adapt for the needs of your students:

1. The first worksheet offers as set of aspects that can be compared between three apple varieties. Find it here as a word and here as a pdf file.
2. The second worksheet leaves space to comment on and to rank a number of different apple varieties. Find it here as a word and here a pdf file.

Task for students

• Develop an advertisement for their preferred apple variety (carbon footprint, local, imported, organic, native species...)

Next challenge

• Competition of advertisement, online voting possible.
• To get involved with the local community, you can let the community vote.
• Then the students are asked to decide which apple varieties they would choose for consumption / which one they would buy in the supermarket.

First task for students

Students have real apples and the apple cards. Download the cards here as a word or here as a pdf file. If it is not possible to use real apples in class, you can use only cards with the main apples available where you live and which highlight:

• size,
• colour,
• taste,
• nutrition,
• country of origin and
• interesting fact.

Second task for students

• Students are asked to sort the apples by producing a branching key. Each question the students produce will have an explicit answer and each ‘branch’ will end with a type of apple.
• A branching key starts with a student question that you can answer yes or no to.
• Students should choose 4 apples and create a yes/no question to sort the apples. The apples should then be in two groups. Students add more questions until each apple is on its own.
• Students could then add a fifth apple and sort it, adding another question. This can be repeated.

• A note for teachers – students will often want to restart their key when they add a new apple, this is not necessary. Teachers can either show this or let the children make the ‘mistake’ as a teaching point.
• At the end of the lesson, students will have created questions that will identify and classify the apples.