Ask A Biologist: Dr. Biology's Virtual Pocket Seed Experiment

Seed germination activities are a long-time favorite of educators. One of the classic seed experiments uses a resealable plastic bag, a paper towel or napkin, seeds and water. This is a low-cost, effective tool for teaching about seeds, germination, gravitropism and energy. It also provides a perfect environment for introducing the fundamentals of the scientific method.

Dr. Biology has been busy working on a new seed experiment and he needs your help.

He has collected so much information from the experiment that he needs someone to analyze the data. All the results have been recorded in photographs, including some cool animations.

To become Dr. Biology’s assistant, just read the information below and collect and analyze the data from the experiment. There is also a packet to download and print on your computer. It includes instructions about the experiment, information about seed germination, blank data cards, and graph paper to record your results. You will need Adobe Reader(link is external) to print the packet which is about one megabyte in size.

Hey, have you read the companion article, Time Traveling Plants, for this experiment? You can learn about seed development and also how seeds are tiny time capsules that survive in suspended animation for hundreds to thousands of years making them little time travelers.