Download this complete and coherently designed, middle school level unit to teach fundamental concepts that underpin the theory of evolution. The unit was collaboratively designed by teachers, college faculty & staff, and the Fast Plants Program at UW-Madison to support student-centered inquiry-based learning. The unit's storyline is underpinned by the 5E model. Like three dimensional learning...

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This Immersion Unit provides a coherent series of lessons designed to guide students in developing deep conceptual understanding that is aligned with the standards, key science concepts, and essential features of classroom inquiry (as defined by the National Science Education Standards).  Unit Overarching Concepts Populations of living organisms change or stay the same over time as a...

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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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Page 14 of this newsletter begins the activity called, Is There a Pollution Solution? This is an experimental investigation into the affects of salts on plant growth and development, and it is related to the real affects of irrigation on farm fields.

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The first activity in this newsletter was written to engage students in an investigation related to the Fast Plants that traveled into space in May of 1995. Students explore how plants use guidance systems which sense and respond to gravity (gravitropism) ensuring that roots anchor plants and access water and that shoots emerge into the light. This activity includes substantial background...

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This article provides rich background information about how the three environmental components: !. Physical, 2. Chemical, 3. Biological interact to influence all life processes and systems.

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Procedures for germinating seeds using simple materials to investigate the interactions between the environment and germination.

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Description: This is an investigation describing the procedure for looking at a seed pod from a mature Fast Plant with a dry pod by sandwiching the pod between layers of clear tape, then exploring the sibling seeds. Questions that might be considered: - In how many ways can you describe the pod (the mother)? Are the pods from one plant more like each other than they are like the pods from other...

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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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