***LOGIN REQUIRED*** This lesson is part 2 in a 6 part unit on Biotechnology use in agriculture. It sets the foundation for the culminating project by teaching students about germination and the factors that effect germination. Students will be introduced to the factors that effect germination and then perform an experiment that allows them to evaluate germination rates. 

***LOGIN REQUIRED*** During this lesson students will be exposed the requirements of plants for growth. Students will have the opportunity to become familiar with each requirement for plant growth, and what effect that requirement has on the plant.

This activity is a field investigation where students identify native MN plants and record the common name, scientific name, and important information about each.

Students gain an understanding of the parts of a plant, plant types and how they produce their own food from sunlight through photosynthesis. They also learn about transpiration, the process by which plants release moisture to the atmosphere. With this understanding, students test the effects of photosynthesis and transpiration by growing a plant from seed. They learn how plants play an important part in maintaining a balanced environment in which the living organisms of the Earth survive. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their evolving understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

The topic of photosynthesis is a fundamental concept in biology, chemistry, and earth science. Educational studies have found that despite classroom presentations, most students retain their naive idea that a plant's mass is mostly derived from the soil, and not from the air. To call students' attention to this misconception, at the beginning of this lesson we will provide a surprising experimental result so that students will confront their mental mistake. Next, we will help students better envision photosynthesis by modeling where the atoms come from in this important process that produces food for the planet. This lesson can be completed in 50-60 minutes, with the students working on in-class activities during 20-25 minutes of the lesson. As a prerequisite, students need an introductory lesson on photosynthesis, something that includes the overall chemical equation. If students have already studied the intracellular photosynthetic process in detail, this video can still be very helpful because students often miss the big picture about photosynthesis. Materials needed include red, white and black LEGO bricks (described in downloadable hand-out) or strips of red, white and black paper plus paper clips (directions provided in downloadable hand-out). In addition to class discussions, the major in-class activity of this video involves the students' modeling with LEGO bricks or colored paper where the atoms come from in photosynthesis.

This activity is a field-based investigation involving identifying and investigating common trees on the schoolyard and creating a field guide containing pressed leaves.

This activity is a year long project observing the changes in a specific tree. It includes using all the senses in the observation and making two different booklets to record what we observe. It also includes several picture story books that enhance the lesson.

***LOGIN REQUIRED*** This lesson will cover the basics of seed anatomy, types of seeds (monocots & dicots) and the process of seed germination.

During this project, students will be working to cooperatively create a field guide to trees in the neighborhood near the school. In doing so they will be making observations, introduced to tree and plant anatomy and physiology, and will learn how to make and use dichotomous keys.

The students will observe a maple tree throughout the year and recognize changes in weather and phenology using their 5 senses.

This activity is a tree leaf collection, identification, and display of dried and pressed leaves. It teaches students about distinguishing leaf characteristics as well as a way to display and label their collection.

This is a field and classroom activity in which students will observe tulip growth and identify and describe the parts of the tulip flower.

The teacher leads a discussion in which students identify the physical needs of animals, and then speculate on the needs of plants. With guidance from the teacher, the students then help design an experiment that can take place in the classroom to test whether or not plants need light and water in order to grow. Sunflower seeds are planted in plastic cups, and once germinated, are exposed to different conditions. In particular, within the classroom setting it is easy to test for the effects of light versus darkness, and watered versus non-watered conditions. During exposure of the plants to these different conditions, students measure growth of the seedlings every few days using non-standard measurement. After a few weeks, they compare the growth of plants exposed to the different conditions, and make pictorial bar graphs that demonstrate these comparisons.

This activity is a field investigation where students gather leaves and make observation about the leaves and based on their data determine which leaves are the most common where they live.