These activities will be implemented over several weeks with time given at the beginning of class for observations and entire class periods for experiments. Research and readings will be completed outside of class as homework.

All notes, data and other observations will be recorded in a lab book on a daily basis. No pages should ever be removed from the lab book. This will be collected and certain sections graded periodically. The book will again be collected with the final report and a grade assigned for the notebook.

1. Read an introduction about basic requirements for life shared by all living organisms and how plants, in general, reproduce. homework—The Incredible, Edible Plant

2. Use the Internet to learn the specifics about how corn reproduces and compare the reading to both an ear of corn and a dissected corn seed.  classroom activity—Making Corn Babies

3. Germinate some seeds and make baseline observations, like how they look, when they emerge, how much they grow each day, etc. classroom activity—The Saga of the Corn Embryo

4. Discuss plants and what was learned about them in small groups and then in large group. classroom activity

5. Complete a bioassay that will then be used in an experiment designed by the student. classroom activity—Leaf Elongation Bioassay in Zea mays, or Zea mays, Responding to the Environment

6. Discuss results and questions and choose one factor to further investigate. classroom activity

7. Design an experiment to try and answer the chosen question. Discuss possibilities for a design with group members. classroom and homework—The Experiment

8. Complete the experiment. classroom activity

9. Analyze data by finding averages, or using some other appropriate calculation and then making graphs to further analyze the data, etc. Microsoft Excel is an excellent tool for this process. classroom and homework

10. Discuss the results in small group and as a large group. Try to analyze each other’s methods to determine if all variables are being considered, if the control is properly used, and whether the experiment is a valid test of the hypothesis. classroom activity

11. Write a formal lab report. homework

12. Complete Zoom in on a Leaf to observe the mechanism for controlling transpiration rates.

13. a) Make stomatal peels to observe how stomates open and close in response to changing environmental conditions.
    b) Try studying stomatal behavior after placing a fan in front of the plants for 30 minutes or after misting the plants with water.

14. Discuss the results of the stomatal peel experiments.

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