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Key Stage 2March

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ManagingInformation

Key Stage 2 Activity 1: Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

Background and Science InformationA fruit is the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.

A vegetable is a plant or part of a plant, such as a cabbage, potato, turnip, or bean, used as food.

A fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems.

Scientific InquiryWhat is a tomato?

Learning IntentionA tomato is a fruit because its seeds are inside.

Resources• A selection of fruit and vegetables – two or three of each type• Large representation of a Venn diagram or sorting hoops• Definition of fruit and vegetables• Pictures of the fruit or vegetable growing, for example attached to the main plant or

still in the ground MethodIntroduction

Put all the fruit and vegetables in a central area. Ask your learners how many they recognise. Talk about seeds and what they look like. Show your learners what the seeds from the fruits you have presented look like. You can do this by cutting open a sample of the fruit or vegetable. Development

1. Set out your Venn diagram or two separate sorting hoops.

2. Round one: Take one of each of the fruits and vegetables. Ask your learners to tell you what it is: a fruit or a vegetable? For any they can’t decide on, look back to the description of a fruit and vegetable to see if this will help. Use the pictures of the fruits and vegetables growing to help them decide.

3. Round two: Give your learners the same fruit and vegetables again and encourage them to sort more independently this time.

4. You could repeat this sorting activity over time through play activities.

Fruit Vegetable

Can’t decide

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Discussion and plenaryEncourage your learners to look at the completed Venn diagram. Which fruits and vegetables did the children find difficult to categorise? Was one of them the tomato? What did they decide in the end? Can any of your learners tell you why? Remind them that the seeds are inside the fruit.

ExtensionBefore starting this activity, you could dissect a tomato and identify the various parts: skin, flesh, seeds and where it connected to the main plant.

ManagingInformation

Growingfor theFuture

Key Stage 2March

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Thinking, Problem-Solving,

and Decision-Making

Key Stage 2 Activity 2: Transporting a Tomato

Background and Science InformationTomatoes originated in the Andes, in what is now Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador, where they grew wild.

In many developing countries, where the farmers are poor and rely on the income from their crops, tomatoes can be grown at the top of sunny hills and mountains. However, getting them to market without damaging them is difficult.

Scientific InquiryHow can we transport tomatoes without damaging them?

Learning IntentionIf we choose packaging with the right properties, we can transport the tomatoes over rough ground without damaging them.

Resources• A selection of different packaging• A selection of containers and packaging materials• Tomatoes• A wheelbarrow and some bumpy ground for testing the packaging MethodIntroduction

With your learners, discuss foods that can be easily damaged. What is the issue with this? People don’t want to buy damaged goods, so the food is wasted.

Look at how our food is packaged in our local supermarket to prevent damage. (This may involve a visit to look for this specific concept.)

Give a group of learners some medium sized tomatoes. Explain that they have to make packaging to prevent the tomatoes getting damaged.

To test how good the packaging is they will have to place their tomatoes in the packaging in a wheelbarrow that will be wheeled over a bumpy area of the school grounds.

Development

1. Set out a range of packaging material such as cardboard, bubble wrap, tissue paper, sponges, foam, cushions, feathers or polystyrene.

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2. As your learners are thinking of possible solutions to the problem, encourage them to think about what happens to the tomatoes that might damage them, for example rolling around bumping into each other. We want the packaging to reduce the movement of the tomatoes.

3. Let your learners come up with three possible solutions to this problem. When they have tested each solution, encourage them to choose which the one think is the best. Encourage competition between the groups.

Discussion and Plenary

1. Is there a best option or are there several solutions that protect the tomatoes?

2. Encourage your learners to consider other factors like cost or how environmentally friendly their packaging product is: how much rubbish would be produced? Can it be reused or recycled?

ExtensionDiscuss food packaging and the problem of plastic and its impact on our wildlife, oceans and climate.

Where do tomatoes grow? Can you find these places on the world map? Are they far away?

Thinking, Problem-Solving,

and Decision-Making