Over the course of this school year we have been discussing WANTS and NEEDS in relation to ourselves. We discussed that while you may WANT something that there are actually a few basic NEEDS that are necessary for survival. For human beings these are: air, water, food, shelter (including clothing), and we added in ‘love’ (families).
Students have also been learning about what a plant NEEDS to survive. In this experiment we wondered if all of the seeds that a plant produces will grow successfully into a new plant. Ziplock baggies were prepared with dampened paper towels and bean seeds. These were placed on the windows to ensure that they received a fair bit of sunlight. Students followed the progress of their individual baggie by charting the changes.
Each baggie had four bean seeds in it. A fair number of these seeds developed with a natural progression: roots came out of the seed and went down to the bottom of the baggie; the shoot pushed upwards; leaves developed; and then flowers appeared.
While some seeds followed this development students noticed that the majority of the seeds did not follow this growth cycle. Many turned black with mold; while some just went brown and mushy-looking.
Students learned that plants produce a huge number of seeds because not all of them will be successful in reaching maturity. In order for a plant species to thrive it needs to give itself a good chance by making a lot of seeds.