Digging for Clues

What Is This Video?

Plum sends Clem and Brad out on a mission to take pictures of a Sturt's Desert Pea. It's not easy getting that pic, though, not when most of the Pea lies deep underground. Will Brad ever be able to stop digging? Join in and find out how desert plants get the water they need when months can pass without a single drop of rain.

Conversation Starters

Ask:
  • Do we live in a desert? What information would help you find out if we live in a desert?
  • When it rains in the desert, where does the water go? It evaporates very quickly, but some of it is also absorbed into the ground. This is why the soil in the deep hole Brad dug was wet.
  • When it rains where we live, where does the water go?
  • What makes desert life tough for many plants and animals? Very little rainfall, water quickly evaporates. Temperatures can range from extremely hot to cold.
  • What are some challenges facing plants and animals where we live?
  • What are some ways our neighborhood changes over time? How do you think the plants that live in our neighborhood get all the water they need at different times of the year?

Explore Some More

Noticing Nature

Document changes in your neighborhood throughout the year. For example, on the first day of each month, you might observe some leaves from the same tree–from the earliest buds in the spring to the last remaining leaves in the fall. Draw them in your field notebook, take photographs of them, or press them between the pages of a heavy book. You shouldn't pick leaves or buds–collect items only if they have fallen to the ground. Or you might visit a river, stream, or pond periodically to document how it changes. You could even look for changes in the sky. At what time does the sun rise and set on the first day of each month? Where is the moon on that day, and what shape is it?

Curriculum Topic

adaptation, evaporation

Activity Type

indoor and outdoor

Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Science and Engineering Practices

Crosscutting Concepts