BACKGROUND
Just like animals, plants need light, air, water, warmth and nutrients to survive. When a plant does not get even one of these conditions, it will stop growing and may even die. Sometimes these conditions occur naturally, but sometimes plants need help to grow.
Lots of gardeners and farmers use clever techniques
to get the best growth of their plants. They may use glasshouses to control the temperature and light, so the plants have enough to grow. Lots of the food we eat is grown in glasshouses!
They may also control what is in the soil. Fertilisers are added to soil to add minerals and nutrients. The soil may contain harmful chemicals too, which can prevent the seed from being able to sprout and grow.
AIMS
In this experiment, children test whether salt stops cress seeds from germinating and growing
Time needed: 2 hours (1 week or more apart)
TOPICS COVERED
Scientific topics that may be covered include: seeds, conditions needed for growth, fair testing, cells, graphs
LESSON OVERVIEW
Lesson 1
The guidelines, lesson plan, PowerPoint and worksheet can be downloaded here
Lesson 2
The guidelines, lesson plan, PowerPoint and worksheet can be downloaded here
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
You will need table salt, beakers, cress seeds, filter paper, trays, clingfilm, sharpies, pencils and rulers. A full kit and prep list can be downloaded here
METHOD OVERVIEW
- Label 4 pieces of filter paper using a pencil (0, low, medium, high).
- Soak each piece of filter paper in the correct solution (0 salt, low salt, medium salt and high
salt) - Put the filter papers into a tray.
- Count 10 cress seeds onto each filter paper.
- Cover the tray tightly with clingfilm and sticky tape.
- Leave in the dark for 1 week!
Full method is laid out in lesson guidelines attached above
Images on this page by M Youri Alkayyis from Pixabay and OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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