Do plants need soil to grow?

In this investigation, the pupils are asked to explore whether plants need soil to grow. This activity promotes the children to develop their investigative skills considering a method, predictions and conclusions. Children will learn that seeds do not need soil in order to geminate, but, if the investigation is continued, they will understand that soil is needed in order for most plants to grow into healthy mature plants. This activity supports the teaching of germination and would fit into topics on plants and living things and their habitats.

There are cross-curricular links with literacy. The children can develop their skills: creating and shaping texts; text structure and organisation; sentence structure, punctuation; presentation.