Planternes solfaktor

Introduction

Are you ready to investigate plants’ super shield against sunlight? UV radiation can be harmful to both humans and plants at high doses. But unlike humans, who can use sunscreen and seek shade, plants cannot take such precautions. How do they survive the sun’s rays, on which they are also dependent? And can we develop better sunscreen based on plants’ protective mechanisms, or can we find ways in which plants can utilize UV ​​radiation instead of being harmed? These questions are being investigated by researchers at the University of Copenhagen and in this course, among others.

The visit

When we visit your school, you will be met by two facilitators who will be with your class throughout the course. The course lasts 2 ½ hours. The content of the teaching below may vary slightly, as the level of the course is adapted to the grade level.

After a short introduction, we start with the preparation that the students are very welcome to have done beforehand. This way we can allocate much more time for investigations and experiments.

Students will be divided into small groups and during the activity they will:

1. Working with different research methods in a theme:
   • The theme focuses on the plants’ natural protection against sunlight and how it relates to their climate. Chemical experiments, geographical survey methods and calculation of the sun factor are used, as well as a perspective for humans.
2. Work systematically and collect data and visualize it in a different way.
3. Interpret an answer from the data and put it into perspective as something current.

Before the visit

In order for the class to get the most out of the visit, it is expected that the preparation material has been reviewed in class.

Download Plants’ sun factor_preparation material_schooling

Download the plants’ sun factor_preparation material_intermediate level

It is important that the teachers involved are aware of:

• · That a teacher is present during the entire lesson.
• That the teachers have divided the students into a maximum of 10 groups of 2-3 students in advance.
• That the teachers ensure that the necessary materials are provided or present. In this case, this applies to: projector, projector screen and access to washing facilities.
• IMPORTANT: That there is either a science room, a home economics room or 2 rooms with access to washing and water.
• That teachers are also very welcome to participate actively during group work.

After the visit

We aim for each student to be challenged academically and introduced to some of the core areas of nature and technology. After the visit, we encourage you to review the post-processing material. We also hope that you as a teacher will help students find additional inspiring material if a student shows interest.

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