This is the time of year when we think about spring planting. Use the video below as an introduction to growing seeds.

Click here for the Safeshare link.

A simple story about what happens when you plant bean seeds,

I dissected lima bean seeds with my second-grade students. Click here for that post.

Cool Beans is a fun fiction story to read while you are studying seeds. Click here for the Safeshare link.

Why do roots grow down and shoots up? Geotropism or gravitropism is the influence of gravity on plant growth or movement and phototropism is how a plant responds to light. Click here to go to a recent post where I introduced phototropism.

Click here for the Safeshare link.

Click here for the Safeshare link.

Try these investigations:

I placed bean seeds in four different orientations inside an empty DVD case on a wet paper towel. Will the roots demonstrate geotropism and the sprouts phototropism?  Will placing the bean seeds in different directions change how the seeds sprout?

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

I opened the case, laid it flat on the counter, and when I returned later in the day, the plant had turned up. Phototropism!

I placed the bean plant from a previous experiment on its side. Look how the stems demonstrated phototropism and turned upward.

If plants use gravity and light to grow, what happens when astronauts grow plants on the space station? Will roots grow in random directions because there is no gravity?  Click here to go to the NASA website to learn about growing plants in space. Vivify Stem has several experiments to learn about growing plants in space. Click here

The goal of learning should not be the memorization of facts, but the understanding and application of knowledge.