plant and putting them into another plant. As a teacher, it’s exciting to see how curious and protective of the plants the students become.” Students begin the lab work project in late September, planting the seeds, watching them grow and learning how to care for the plants. Next, they use a pollen wand to take the pollen from one plant’s stamen and put it on the pistil of another: cross-pollination. They do this through three generations, harvesting new seeds from the seed pods and planting them, observing genetics pass from one generation to the next. Along the way, the young scientists record their findings in an online journal – either a Google Site or a Google Doc. How much did the plant grow? Are the leaves yellow green
The lab group Planterz, above, cross-pollinates Wisconsin Fast Plants, aiming to breed the hairiest plant. Below, the Plant Pack takes and records measurements.
Phase 1. Using observational skills, get to know your plants – how to care for them, what makes them thrive, what kills them.
Phase 2. Cross-pollinate plants through three generations to manipulate and observe the patterns of inheritance from generation to generation.
Phase 3. Using artificial selection, race to see who can manipulate a phenotype, or physical trait, the most.
or dark green? How many trichomes (hairs on the surface of a plant) can they count? “Part of the whole project is finding out which gene is dominant,” said Layne Wolfington, who took the course last year. Layne’s group determined that hairy trichomes are recessive. The Planterz tried unsuccessfully to produce the hairiest plant. “It was unsuccessful because they didn’t grow enough generations to finally get it right,” explained Tim Lynch, who teaches two sections of the class. “You keep taking
the hairiest plants and mating them with the hairiest plants to get the hairiest of the hairy.” Learning how to design and conduct a scientific experiment is important, and so is learning how to handle disappointment and unexpected results. “This is how scientists conduct real research,” Lynch said. “Science is really about exercising patience rather than everything working for you the first time. I feel like we’re working with a generation of kids who aren’t persistent; they just want the answer – the
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