Mineral Nutrition
- To demonstrate mineral nutrition is essential for plant growth.
- To learn that nutrients are only one of many limiting factors of plant growth.
The class will grow their own maize plants on soils with different mineral content and evaluate how the absence or excess of mineral nutrients influences plant growth. Students will observe plant size, the presence of nutrient-deficiency symptoms such as leaf yellowing, and assess the increase of plant biomass over time comparing differences between treatments.
Essential Questions
How are mineral nutrients essential to plant growth?
Sub-Questions
Are pure water and air sufficient sources for the plant growth?
What is “the dry matter” of the plant?
Which organic compounds do form the plant dry matter?
Which of the chemical elements does consist those organic compounds?
How do the plants take the nutrients from the soil?
Why are nutrients needed for plant growth?
Student Outcomes
- Students will understand how to formulate a reasonable hypothesis
- Students will know how to set up a simple biological experiment using maize plants
- Students will gain skills in scientific observation
- Students will learn to interpret experimental results
- Formulating hypotehsis
- Testing hypothesis with experiment
- Planning and perfomrance of the experiment
- Presentation of the results and their interpretation
Approximate total amount of time necessary for the experiment is 25-28 days. There can be slight variation in duration of each part of the experiment due to differences in local conditions.
- Germination:
- Preparation for seed germination 1-2 class periods
- During germination, water daily and record germination progress– 10 minutes per day for 7 days.
- Cultivation:
- Preparation of the experimental system and planting 1-2 class periods
- During cultivation, water daily and record plants growth factors- 10 minutes per day for 16 days.
- Harvest:
- Preparation of the plants for drying 1 class period
- Drying:
- Place plants in drying oven for 8-12 hours at 90°C
- Evaluation/Interpretation:
- Record final results, review hypothesis, answer essential questions 1-2 class periods
Level
Advanced Middle School & High School