4. Author’s contribution on the topic
The empirical concept of “plant” is formed gradually, knowledge about plants being continuously resumed and
enriched during the primary education.
The small school children comes to school with different elementary knowledge about plants, acquired at the
kindergarten, concerning the: spring flowers (snowdrop and tulip), autumn flowers (chrysanthemum), spring
vegetables (radish, green onion, eggplant, sweet pepper, lettuce) and autumn vegetables (tomato, sweet pepper,
carrot, eggplant, cabbage), autumn ripening fruits (apples, pears, plums, quince and grapes), fruit and vegetable
preservation, plant transformation due to seasons change (leaves fall off trees in the autumn, blossoming of trees in
the spring) and plant care by humans. Within the integrated activities carried out in the kindergarten, preschool children have learned to denominate and recognize spring and autumn flowers and vegetables based on observation
guided by kindergarten teacher, as well as new words concerning the plants.
School children’s knowledge concerning the plants is corrected, but also are enriching during the preparatory
class. Thus, within the integrated activities entitled “Spring came!”, “Welcome sweet summer” (Burţilă et al. 2013),
school children enrich their vocabulary with the names of some other vegetables, fruits and flowers. Based on the
observation of living biological material or of its substitutes (e.g., sketches with seasons, or mouldings of various
vegetables and fruits) the school children learn to describe the characteristics of observed vegetables, fruits and
flowers, and to include them in the proper group. The school children’s knowledge about plants enrich with
knowledge about component parts of a woody plant, within the lesson “Autumn in the orchard”, in which is
presented the external structure of a fruit tree (apple and pear), and about component parts of a herbaceous plant,
within the lesson “autumn’s harvest”, in which is analyzed the corn. Based on demonstration and explanation of
images from the manual, carried out by teacher, the beginner school children acquire new terms, such as trunk, cob,
and corn cob. The teacher guides observation by the school children of component parts of a plant, succession being
the following: root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. Further on, the school children answer to the questions
addressed by teacher, can distinguish certain particularities of the component parts of the observed plants, such as
shape, color, and their localization. During the preparatory class also, the school children under guidance of the
teacher can realize simple practical works in order to observe modifications of plants over a certain period (a week),
or depending of certain environmental factors. With this occasion, by counting the new elements, leaves and/or
flowers with occurs on stem, the school children acquire elementary knowledge concerning plant growing, and by
observation of the modifications of a plant in the case of lack of water or light, they learn about the importance of
some environment factors which support the plant’s life. The school children’s knowledge concerning the
modifications of plants depending on season are clarified following conversation between teacher and them,
following observations made in the nature or based of certain images.
During the 1st grade, the school children begin to form themselves empirical, concrete concepts of “root”, “stem”
and “leaf”, within the integrated activities with the theme “Plants. Parts of a plant and their role” (Burţilă et al.,
2013, p. 26-27).
By remembering the knowledge acquired during the previous grade about the component parts of a higher plant,
as well as on the basis of observation and analysis of images presented in the manual, small school children will fix
in their memory the correct name of them. By means of conversation or Venn diagram, the school children will be
helped to realize a comparative analysis, establishing the similarities and differences which exist between apple and
pear, between chrysanthemum and tomato, and subsequently between the component parts of a fruit tree and an
herbaceous plant, respectively. In the lesson with the same theme, the school children’s knowledge concerning to
plant are enriched with new information on the role of vegetative organs of a higher plant.
Based on explanations given by the teacher, as well as on the observations made within some simple practical
works (e.g., establishing the conductive function of stem by coloring a white flower in blue, if its stem is kept in
blue colored water), the school children understand and acquire knowledge about the fixation and absorbtion’s role
of root, about the support of other organs (leaves, flowers, etc) and conductive role of stem, and about “food”
producing role of the leaf.
Based on the knowledge acquired during previous grades about the component parts of a higher plant, the school
children from the 2nd grade will realize generalizations concerning the common characteristics of plants. Within the
integrated activities with the theme “The plants. Common characteristics” (Dumitrescu et al. 2013, p. 26-27), the
school children can discover these characteristics by means of heuristical conversation, constituted from the
following questions: Which parts is a plant composed from? Which parts of the plant have the role of its feeding?
But a role in its reproduction? What need a plant for producing its “food”? For whom are the plants important?
During the same grade, the school children’s knowledge enrich by observation, recognizing and characterization of
some plant species met in various environments (e.g., lake/pool, desert, forest, Danube Delta).
Within the lessons “The role of root and stem”, “The role of leaf”, “The role of flower, fruit and seed” (Piţilă et
al. 2005, p. 14-19), in the 3rd grade, the small school children enrich their knowledge about plant with new
information concerning the component parts of a higher plant. Thus, based on observation of living biological
material and/or images from the manual, information transmitted by the teacher through demonstration and
explanation, by conversation, as well as based on observation carried out within the practical works, the school
children acquire knowledge about: types of roots and stems; the mode of realizing transpiration and respiration at the leaf level; role of flower, fruit and seed; types of fruits, and the importance of various organs of a plant for
humans and animals.
Both the observations made within the practical works, and conversations realized by questions as: Why the
plants/seeds need to be watered? Why the leaves of some trees fall down in the autumn? Why the plants need light?
etc., have an important role in understanding by the school children of the causes of biological processes such as
withering, germination, photosynthesis, transpiration, etc.
The concept of plant is completed during the 4th grade by acquiring by the school children of new information
about different environments, within the lessons: “The garden”, “The forest”, “The pool”, “The Danube Delta”
(Piţilă et al., 2006, p. 4-11). On the occasion of studying these themes, based on observation of images from the
manual, school children recognize, identify and describe plant species learned previously, and by means of the
explanations given by the teacher they enrich their knowledge with information concerning to the importance of
different environments for humans and animals, but also with the names of some new species of plants. During the
same grade, the school children form to themselves the abstract concepts of “life cycle”, “growth” and
“development”, by remembering the knowledge acquired during previous years and by comparing the life cycle of a
plant with metamorphosis at silk moth and marsh frog, within the lesson “The life cycle in plants, butterflies and
frogs”. Thus, it can be stated that at the end of 4th grade the school children knows the main elements of the content
of “plant” concept.
The concept of “animal”, as that of “plant”, is a concept o great generality, which begin to form at the school
children during the primary education and continue to form and develop during the gymnasium and high school
studies, thus reaching from the stage of empirical concept to that of scientific concept.
The knowledge about animals acquired by the children at kindergarten, concerning the domesticated and wild
animals, domesticated and migratory birds, constitute for the teacher the starting point in realizing the activities at
preparatory class. Thus, within the integrated activities “What happen?”, and “How animals are preparing
themselves for winter” (Burţilă et al. 2013, p. 5, 22), based on images from the manual, the small school children
identify, name and describe the known animals. By means of conversation, explanation and demonstration carried
out by the teacher, the school children are correcting their mistakes. By using the same methods, the content of
“wild animal” concept is enriched, the school children acquiring both names of other wild animals, and elementary
knowledge about their modes of life.
The school children knowledge about domesticated animals are corrected and enriched within the lesson
“Animals and their puppies. In the grandparent’s courtyard”, in which the school children enumerate and describe
mammals and birds existing in the image from the manual, and enrich their vocabulary with the names of their
puppies. By using within the lesson of a graphical organizer with images in which is presented the animal’s mode of
life, appearance, food, puppies, and its importance for the humans, the school children are stimulated to actively
participate at describing that animal. The content of the concept of animal enrich within the lesson with the same
theme, with ele