A 23-page PDF file (644 KB) with a complete set of activities for elementary students (also effective in middle school) to learn about the life cycle of flowering plants with a focus on reproduction. Students predict how many seeds their Fast Plant will produce and engage in planting, growing, observing doing supporting learning activities to understand the life cycle. Carolina Biological sells a...

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A 32-page booklet, containing complete instructions for activities at each life cycle stage. The booklet also includes important background information about plant physiology and how to grow Fast Plants. A Growth, Development and Reproduction kit is available. You can also conduct all the investigations explained in the booklet using seeds from a packet of Standard Wisconsin Fast Plants seeds (or...

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This experiment takes advantage of the ease of growth and short life cycle (seed to seed in 35 days) in Fast Plants--an organism suitable for many kinds of home and classroom scientific investigations. Fast Plants are particularly interesting because, like humans, they exhibit considerable variation in many observable characteristics. Fast Plants® are useful for experiments investigating the...

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An article written for children, this reading explains the role of plants as producers. It is written at a grade 4-5 reading level, and it is a good supplement to the evidence that students can observe and record through experimentation with photosynthesis.

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This is an article explaining about variation in a population in general, using height as a specific example. The article is designed to help students and teachers think about the nature of various determinants underlying biological variation. Variation in height is easily observed and measured by learners, and quantifying height observations over time is a rich context for all ages to make key...

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This Farming Fast Plants activity introduces a classroom investigation that is easily adaptable for all grade levels and designed to engage teachers and students as investigators. The activity has the practical outcome of producing an abundant supply of Fast Plants seed for future classroom use and for sharing with other teachers. The central question of the activity is "How many seeds can your...

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Description: In this activity students become acquainted with the anatomy and biology of seeds. They will use lenses and scales and make drawings to scale. Students will measure and calculate magnifications and they will begin to understand relationships among these. They will organize and summarize their data and, as they do so, they will be developing the understanding and skills needed to...

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This document is a complete science notebook that was designed by teachers working with elementary and middle level students who were learning with Fast Plants. The notebook includes color illustrations by our Fast Plant artist, Amy Kelley. It includes a graphic organizer to support predicting what the answer will be to a question being investigated, pages with prompts for recording observations...

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This document is the step-by-step instructions for planting Fast Plants in a deli-container growing system like is used in Reading Green. The instructions include measurements that are then integrated into mathematics problems that are on the flip side of the planting instructions. The instructions are illustrated by our Fast Plants artist, Amy, to help all learners understand the steps.

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This document is the step-by-step instructions for planting Fast Plants in a quad growing system like is sold by Carolina Biological Supply Company. The instructions are illustrated by our Fast Plants artist, Amy, to help all learners understand the steps.

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