GCSE Biology: Plant hormones

For GCSE Biology, students need to be able to explain how plant hormones are important in the control and coordination of plant growth and development, with reference to the role of auxins in phototropism and gravitropisms. Students should be able to describe some of the effects of plant hormones, relating to auxins, gibberellins and ethane, as well as describing some of the different ways in which people use plant hormones to control plant growth.

Students often find it difficult to understand how auxins can have different effects in roots and shoots, so it is worth spending some time on this when teaching this topic. Students need to use accurate terms in this topic area,so throughout the delivery of this topic it is important to stress this, for example use light not  "the sun", for geotropism use gravity  and not just "ground" or "earth", ensure that when talking about the shoot students say this and not just plant.

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