The Story of the Seed

My team and I have had a very interesting and enlightening experience growing our own plant for The Story of the Seed, so I was very excited to get the chance to talk to Lauren and hear about her own team's experiences. The first topic we discussed was what Lauren learned from growing her broccoli plant. She said that the biggest thing she learned was about all the different variables that must be considered when growing a plant and how the growing process differs depending on what you are trying to grow. For example, if they planted their seeds too close to those of another team, their plant would have some pretty stiff competition for resources such as sunlight, space, and water. Something that amazed Lauren was, during her team's experiment they conducted prior to planting their seeds in the class planter box, how fast the seedlings from her control group grew. Something that both surprised and saddened her was that the seeds being watered with Dr. Pepper didn't grow at ...

Lauren learned several different things while participating in The Story of the Seed Project. She mentioned she had never realized just how many variables affect a plant’s growth until she was part of the project. Lauren was particularly surprised at how fast her controlled plant grew. She and her group had to stop and think logically when it came to the watering schedule. To make a valid experiment, consistency is key in every aspect, like the watering schedule. Coming up with a schedule required some thinking to make sure it was consistent. Laughable moments appeared throughout the project, but Lauren specifically listed Amanda pretending to eat the plant as one of them.

Ellie shared some interesting insights of her seed story. She explained how much she had learned about the different cycles affecting her plant, broccoli. She was especially surprised by the nitrogen cycle, as she hadn't known much about it before. She had a good laugh when her plant never grew, compared to the inches of growth of other teams' plants. She is convinced they were faulty seeds. This made her think a lot about seeds, and about their "expiration date". She asked, "how do seeds go bad? and how long does a seed usually stay viable for?" She found that seeds can be damaged, or dead by the time they are planted. This is more common the older the seeds get. Even though her plant wasn't successful, she still learned a lot about plant cycles and seed germination.

Hailey was the person I interviewed to understand how her experience with TSOTS project went. She had to complete some difficult tasks during this project, but she was also able to have some fun while working. Hailey thought it was hard to grow a plant especially having to determine all the factors and try to control them. Her plant grew a bit faster than she thought it would and was pleasantly surprised. One time she had fun during the experiment was when her team member pretended to eat the plant. The part the had to think about the most was when figuring out how much water to give the plant. They decided that 75 mL every other day was the right amount. It was very interesting to learn about a classmate's experience and think about how it compared to mine.

Biology Name: Abbie, Clare, Hope, and Naomi Peroxidase Enzyme Lab Peroxidase Enzyme Lab Question How do abiotic or biotic factors influence the rates of enzymatic reactions (chemical reactions that are assisted by enzymes)? Background Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by lowering activation energy (that is, the energy needed for a reaction to begin). In every chemical reaction, the starting materials (the substrate(s) in the case of enzymes) can take many different paths to forming products. For each path, there is an intermediate or transitional product between reactants and final products. The energy needed to start a reaction is the energy required to form that transitional product. Enzymes make it easier for substrates to reach that transitional state. The easier it is to reach that state, the less energy the reaction needs. Enzymes are biological catalysts. They are la...

Since seeing it last, our broccoli plant has significantly changed. Quantitatively, it is now 4 ½ inches tall. Not only has the plant grown taller, but also richer in color as it is a deeper shade of green than before. The broccoli plant also has smooth leaves. Our broccoli plant moves water through transpiration. When the moisture from the roots reaches the leaves, the water on the underside of the leaves evaporates into the air, transfering the water. The water that eventually evaporates is also part of photosynthesis. Since our plant is growing, it’s safe to say it has participated in photosynthesis. Our plant takes part in the carbon cycle through photosynthesis as well. During this process, our plant absorbs the carbon in the air, and eventually releases it back into the air. Instead of carbon, oxygen is released as a byproduct. Plants take part in the carbon cycle when they die, too. Dead plants are broken down by decomposers, releasing carbon into the air. I know my pl...

Since seeing it last, our broccoli plant has significantly changed. Quantitatively, it is now 4 ½ inches tall. Not only has the plant grown taller, but also richer in color as it is a deeper shade of green than before. The broccoli plant also has smooth leaves. Our broccoli plant moves water through transpiration. When the moisture from the roots reaches the leaves, the water on the underside of the leaves evaporates into the air, transfering the water. The water that eventually evaporates is also part of photosynthesis. Since our plant is growing, it’s safe to say it has participated in photosynthesis. Our plant takes part in the carbon cycle through photosynthesis as well. During this process, our plant absorbs the carbon in the air, and eventually releases it back into the air. Instead of carbon, oxygen is released as a byproduct. Plants take part in the carbon cycle when they die, too. Dead plants are broken down by decomposers, releasing carbon into the air. I know my plant...