Seed Germination 2

intended for grade 5 (to 8)

Introduction

1. Will part of a seed grow?
2. I really don't think that this will work.
   I suspect that it takes a whole seed to survive.
3. (no entry)
4. If the hypothesis is true, then the parts of seeds will not emerge as seedlings.
   The whole seeds will emerge as seedlings.

Materials and Methods

Written just like a recipe, in sufficient detail that anyone should be able to duplicate your experiment.

• Materials:
  • 60 seeds (dried red beans)
  • 12 styrofoam coffee cups
  • enough black dirt to fill the cups
• Methods: what do you do with the supplies?
  • fill cups with soil up to 3/4 inch below rim
  • carefully separate the halves of 15 seeds,
    separate 15 seeds and cut the half in two (1/4 of a seed)
    separate 15 seeds and cut the half in two twice (1/8 of a seed)
    and leave the remaining 15 whole
  • mark 3 cups "1/2" and place 5 half-seeds in each
    mark 3 cups "1/4" and place 5 quarter-seeds in each
    mark 3 cups "1/8" and place 5 eighth-seeds in each
    mark 3 cups "whole" and place 5 whole seeds in each
  • add 1/2 inch soil on top of seeds
  • write "day zero. planted seeds." in notebook
  • water daily to keep soil moist to the touch
    and write "day 1,2,3..." and how many seedlings are up in notebook
• experimental design:
  • experimental group where conditions are met: partial seeds
  • control group where conditions are not met: whole seeds

Data

• Record what actually happened,
  and not what you think should have happened.

Depending on the age of your students, this may include descriptions, drawings, numbers and graphs, ...

Conclusions

• based on data presented:
  • "The hypothesis has been proven to be true."
    or
  • "The hypothesis has been proven to be false."

Works Cited

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© 2004 TwoOldGuys™