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Mrs. Kissell's 7th Grade Science Home Page

We have continued the IB curriculum emphasizing science skills and inquiry within our plant unit! An outline of the most recent lessons is below.

November 11, 2014

Seed dissection In this lesson we separated the parts of both a lima bean seed and a corn kernel. We discussed the seed coat, endosperm, germ and young plant that is visible within the lima bean seed.

October 28, 2014 Fast plants We set up the [|"fast plants"] activity - a special set of seeds from the brassica plant genus developed by the University of Wisconsin - to see the whole life cycle of the plants within 4 weeks!

October 21, 2014 DNA in your food activity In this lesson we performed a DNA extraction from a banana using household materials: shampoo, rubbing alcohol and water. This helped the class visualize the concepts we have been discussing in class and that there is DNA in all living things.

October 14, 2014 Plant adaptations: deciduous versus coniferous trees We looked at the differences in the leaves of pine trees and coniferous trees that lose their leaves and how this relates to plant water use.

October 7, 2014

Plant transpiration We set up an experiment to measure how much water a parsley plant would use over a period of time, with a control "chamber" with no plant.