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Educational Resources -- Investigations with Fast Plants

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View Resource The Seed Challenge - `How many seeds can you get from a single seed?

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...

Seed Challenge
https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/seed_challenge.pdf
View Resource Growth, Development and Reproduction -- Exploring and explaining germination, growth and development

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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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/WFP_growth-develop...
View Resource Bioassays with Fast Plants

Instructional materials for experimenting to learn what will happen to your Fast Plant if you subject it to a 10% liquid detergent solution? Experiment to determine the effects of substances in the environment on living organisms.

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/bioassays.pdf
View Resource From Above and Below

Instructions for conducting an experiment using a growing system made from plastic soda bottles to find out what effect salt has on Fast Plants.

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/fromaboveandbelow....
View Resource The Big Idea: "Is More Food Better?"

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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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/fpnotes_2000.pdf
View Resource Exploring Photosynthesis with Fast Plants

This activity for middle, high school or post-secondary students is an engaging laboratory investigation, which can be used to explore and gather evidence for the products of photosynthesis (and cellular respiration). Students experiment with rates of photosynthesis and/or cellular respiration by cutting disks from seed leaves (cotyledons) and using a procedure with a syringe to explore the rate...

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/exploring_photosyn...
View Resource Investigating Mendelian Genetics

The genetics investigations in this 15-page booklet were designed for students to develop understanding of the following biological concepts and skills: Mendel’s law of segregation and law of independent assortment Inheritance of 2 traits How genotypes influence phenotypes Scientific inquiry, including interpretation of evidence  

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/WFPgenetics-06web....
View Resource Who's the Father? Monohybrid

In this investigation, students will gather their own evidence to explain how inheritance works. As they observe three generations of Wisconsin Fast Plants, students will unravel a mystery of paternity: What is the father’s phenotype? Is it the same as the mother’s phenotype or the offspring’s phenotype? Or is it something entirely different? As the generations of plants grow, students will...

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/WTF_mono.pdf
View Resource Who's the Father? Dihybrid

Download the complete instructions for a high school level inheritance inquiry, using Wisconsin Fast Plants. In this investigation, students gather their own evidence to explain how inheritance works. As they observe three generations of Wisconsin Fast Plants, students unravel a paternity mystery: What was the father’s phenotype? Was it the same as the mother’s phenotype or the offspring’s...

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/WTF_di.pdf
View Resource Life in Balance: Exploring the Tandem Life Cycles of Brassica Butterflies and Wisconsin Fast Plants

Download this complete unit of instructions to conduct an ecosystem inquiry. In this investigation, students have the opportunity to witness first-hand the dynamic relationship between Brassica butterflies and Wisconsin Fast Plants. Students are responsible for tending the butterflies and plants throughout the entire life cycles, while they explore and explain the changes that each organism goes...

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https://www.fastplants.org/pdf/activities/Life_in_Balance.pd...
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