You will set up a number of experimental
situations. Place some potting mix into a flower pot or plastic
bag and plant one or two seeds. Add a little water, and stand
or hang the container in a sunny spot.|
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| What do seeds need? | Name: |
Your Task
You are
a botanist. You will make some experiments to determine the conditions
that seeds need in which to grow successfully into strong, healthy
plants.
Resources
You
need some beans (either broad beans or other) or peas or corn
seeds, plastic bags or small flower pots, one ziplock plastic
bag, potting mix, black paper. In addition, you may collect some
cotton wool, sawdust, sand or other materials in which to try
and grow seeds.
Look at books
or online information such as:
http://www.raw-connections.com/garden/planting/sprout.htm
http://web2.iadfw.net/kboyle/Germinat.htm
The Process
You will set up a number of experimental
situations. Place some potting mix into a flower pot or plastic
bag and plant one or two seeds. Add a little water, and stand
or hang the container in a sunny spot.
Set up another container in the same way and put it next to the first, but do not water it. This one will be deprived of water.
Now set up a third container and place it in a cupboard or box. This one can be watered regularly, but deprived of light. Put some potting mix in a ziplock plastic bag and plant one or two seeds. Add a little water, then seal the bag. This one will be deprived of air.
Now set up some containers, each without soil but with another material instead: for example, damp cotton wool or paper towel, gravel, sawdust, styrene beads etc. Place a seed on top, or planted in the material, water, place on a windowsill or similar and observe how the seeds grow.
Make notes about the progress of all your containers. After a few weeks, it should be clear about how each of the plants did in their containers and conditions. Some may do well at first, then not so well, others may not do well at all, and so on. Make recommendations about how to plant seeds.
Presentation
Choices
Your presentation
will include your plants and containers. You may present an illustrated
log or chart about each plant. You could include graphs, photographs
or drawings of your seeds' progress. Your presentation should
end with a definite statement about seeds need in order to germinate
successfully.
Evaluation
How do
you think you went in this project?
Were there things that could be better?
Was your presentation informative and attractive?
Write a few sentences to rate your performance in this project,
sign it and give it to your teacher.