G
etting kids excited about plants can be a bit of a challenge. Plants don’t move or act quickly when compared to animals – so children can often easily lose interest. So when I had the opportunity to volunteer as a STEM Ambassador I was determined to spread the message that plants are cool!
Rainforest plants vs. Scottish plants – this was my brief from the teacher. Quite a broad topic – the challenge was definitely to engage the children about plants. Rainforest animals are captivating, so how was I going to make plants equally exciting?
Eventually I decided to start with something that everyone can relate to – food!!
Food from the rainforest
I started by getting the pupils to do some work themselves. I gave each table a set of cards with pictures of food typically from the rainforest and food from Scotland, which they had to sort into two groups based on where the foods came from. I worried that this was going to be too simple for them! Foods such as porridge, pineapple and bananas 
were fairly easy for them to categorise. But others such as raspberries and blueberries caused a fair bit of debate! It was interesting to see the groups having a discussion and voting on where the different foods came from. In the end only one of the six groups got the answers spot on. It was great to see them really engaging and thinking about where everyday food comes from.
I was pretty surprised by this but it ties in with recent research about where children think food comes from. Studies have linked this to a general lack of education about where food comes from and in particular a lack of visits to working farms for children and adults (1).
What are plants from the rainforest like?
I then talked about the features of plants in the rainforest – big leaves that can absorb lots of sunlight but still allow water to run off, buttress roots, epiphytes and bromeliads. But by far the topic that caused the most excitement and questions was carnivorous plants! I talked about how the plants catch insects and the different adaptations the plants have evolved to do this. Some of my favourite questions included: Could a pitcher plant digest my finger? What food could they eat (including bread!)? Why are trees so big in the rainforest? How do strangler figs work and should we get rid of them to protect trees in the rainforest?
Their enthusiasm was infectious and I left on a bit of a high! Of course at then end I handed over to the expert of science communication – David Attenborough (via Youtube!).
References
Plants and... 