ABSTRACT
This chapter provides children with opportunities to find, explore and identify seeds across the seasons. It is useful to have done some work on seed dispersal prior to going outside so that children know some of the main methods of dispersal, which might include video clips showing seed dispersal in slow motion. Magnifying lenses are very useful here for children to carry out close observations of the dispersal mechanism to help their sketching. Drop and roll: Horse chestnuts, drop, roll away and the case splits open revealing the seed; oak. Bursting: Seeds are flung away, e.g. peas and Himalayan Balsam. Animals: Blackberries, rose hips and holly berries are shiny and brightly coloured to attract birds; they eat the fruit, but the seed inside passes through the bird in its droppings. This chapter has the potential for a range of areas of the computing curriculum to be applied to support the science.
