Biology - Ecosystems Unit: Environmental Impacts on Seed Germination
Research project & experiment
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Students will develop an experiment to investigate how an environmental impact affects seed germination.
Introduction:
With the human population continuing to grow, the demand for more food and/or plant products has grown as well. Hundreds of years ago, much of the land around the world was quite fertile, but today we are finding it more difficult to find usable land. Either areas have been developed, or the land is affected by some sort of environmental impact. Some of the bigger impacts today include salinization (salt pollution), acid rain, waterlogging (flooding), drought, extreme temperatures, soil type, available space, and more. Some of these are more specific to one area of the world, while others are broad, but all are causing issues. You and your partners have been hired to act as a team of consultants by a group of farmers who are concerned about growing crops on their land. Each group of farmers has a different environmental impact that they are dealing with. As a group, you will be designing a controlled experiment to measure the effects of the environmental impact that you are assigned on the germination of seeds. You will then carry out the experiment to collect data and then use that data and additional research to write a final report to the farmers.
General Tasks:
Final Product:
Extreme Weather Events
In the wake of every killer hurricane, devastating wild fire, severe drought, or once-in-a-century flooding event, it has become commonplace for scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens to debate whether or not these severe weather events can be tied directly to climate change and global warming. The scientific consensus generally indicates that we are beginning to see upticks in extreme weather due to warming and the resulting shift in weather patterns.
Plant Sciences
Contains 280 alphabetically arranged entries that provide information about plants and the plant sciences, with biographies; essays on the history of physiology, ecology, taxonomy, and evolution; discussion of evolutionary relationships, genetic control, and biodiversity.
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Explores the biology of seeds and how they develop into plants.
Ninja Plants: Survival and Adaptation in the Plant World
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Thieves, Deceivers, and Killers - Tales of Chemistry in Nature
Studies the various ways chemistry aids much of the communication that occurs within and between various species of organisms. Agosta also chronicles the rapid development of the applied science that makes use of chemical ecology.
Solutions: Develop and test proposed solutions to complex problems with no obvious answer.
Communication: Speak, read, and write to infer, interpret, draw conclusions, and support arguments in science.
Computational Thinking: Utilize mathematics and computational thinking to model, analyze, and interpret scientific data and concepts.
Patterns: Utilize patterns to connect observable or unobservable phenomena between systems, processes, or objects.
LS1. B
1. Plants photosynthesize to grow.
LS2.A
LS2.C
