Botanist Robert Morison, whose work helped develop the systematic classification of plants, died in 1683.

Robert Morison was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1620. His skill as a botanist won him the attention of the aristocracy in both France and England. He was appointed to tend the ducal gardens at Blois for the Duke of Orléans, uncle of King Louis XIV of France. While there, he went on numerous expeditions in search of new and rare plants to add to the garden. He also catalogued the plants of the garden according to his own classification structure. In 1660, Morison returned to England to become royal physician to King Charles II and botanist of his royal gardens. He was appointed the first professor of botany at Oxford University in 1669. Earlier that same year, he had published Praeludia Botanica, in which he stressed using the structure of the plant's fruits for classification. His system of classification differed from the accepted system of the time, which focused on the habitat and medicinal properties of the plant. Although his criticism of the earlier systems of botanists such as Jean and Gaspard Bauhin caused some anger among his contemporaries, it also increased the interest in and discussion of plant classification. Later botanists, such as Carolus Linnaeus, adapted Morison's system of plant classification.

Science NetLinks
In a two-part series on classification, students learn about the variety of living organisms, both the familiar and the exotic, and become more precise in identifying similarities and differences among them. In Classification 1: Classification Scheme (3-5), students learn that many kinds of living things can be sorted into groups in many ways by using various features and that classification schemes will vary with purpose. Students begin the lesson by sorting buttons and then move on to a more complicated sorting exercise using animal cards. Students are encouraged to develop their own classification schemes. Classification 2: A Touch of Class (3-5) extends the investigation of living organisms carried out in the first lesson by exposing students to the idea that a variety of plants and animals can be classified into one or more groups based on the various characteristics of a specific group.

For younger students, Look at Those Leaves! (K-2) begins with students observing leaves in a hands-on activity. As they observe attributes, they group the leaves and consider any patterns they see emerge. In the second part of this lesson, students become more familiar with the seasonal changing of leaves.

In It Counts (K-2), students are asked to describe, compare and classify plants. Because plants are so similar, students must rely on very specific information such as number and shape of leaves, height, size relative to other plants, etc. to tell them apart. In this lesson, students use numbers concretely and descriptively to count as they make specific observations about plants.

In another two-part series, middle school students learn about plant reproduction. Plants 1: Plant Parents (6-8) helps students learn about the parts of a flower and plant reproduction that occurs naturally. Plants 2: Plant Propagation (6-8) helps students learn about asexual or forced reproduction of plants. The lesson extends over a period of six to eight weeks as students research propagation, attempt to propagate a plant, keep a journal and write a summary when the project is finished.

Classify That! (6-8) allows students to get acquainted with diverse forms of life by using modern biological classification systems to group animals that are related. Students learn about basic scientific groupings like genus, species, mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles.

Illuminations
For a set of beginning classification activities, Properties Everywhere (Pre-K–2) helps students experiment with ways of representing data. In the lessons, students collect, organize and display data using multiple representations.

ReadWriteThink
Another beginning classification activity is Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books (K-2). In the lesson, students observe details in illustrations and explain similarities of text and subject matter as they work with each other in groups and with a partner to sort books according to different criteria. Students then write about the factors they considered when doing the sorting.