Germination

1. Label beaker and pot with group names
2. Crumble a piece of paper towel and place loosely in beaker. Put 2 to 3 seeds between paper and glass at about same depth.
3. Place potting soil into paper cup to about 1cm from top. Place the SAME kind and number of seeds in the soil as you had in the beaker.
4. Add 50 mL of water to both beaker and cup.
5. Place both in tray on cart.
6. Over the next week, keep paper towel and soil moist but not so wet that the seeds are under water.
7. Make observations and drawing of the seedlings, making particular attention to the root structure.

Procedure B:

1. Design a similar activity to compare the effects of different conditions on the germination of seeds. Decide which variables you want to investigate: e.g. different depths of planting, different temperatures, different degrees of moisture, different light conditions.
2. Determine how you will measure and record these differences.
3. As a class, we will set up experiments that will allow for measurement of the different variables.

Analysis :

1. What emerges from a seed first?
2. In Procedure 1 you have 2 manipulated variables. What are they?
3. Did the position of the seed affect its germination in any way? If so, how?
4. Compare germination is soil with germination in a moist paper towel. What difference(s), if any, did you observe?
5. What can you infer about the development of the seeds in moist soil compared with those with moisture but no soil?
6. Research and describe what happens within a seed as it germinates?
7. How could you discover the best combination of conditions for the germination of a particular seed?

• Germination
• Growing anything from seed
• Labelled diagram
• Guide to germination for plant growers
• Different flowers (slow loading PowerPoint, but beautiful pictures)
• Different types of flowering plants
• Large site on different types of plants
• Flower types
• Why do plants have flowers?
• Simple lecture notes with good pictures on flower types and why they are different