Will seeds germinate in cold weather?
Objectives: Compare seed germination in warm soil to that in cold soil. Students write predictions and revise conclusions. Learners will speculate what allows seeds to sprout.
Materials
Procedure
Fill eight or ten cups with soil and plant seeds paying careful attention to the depth in the dirt. Have the students agree that all the cups are almost the same. Tell the students that we will mark half of the cups "A" and the other half "B". We will keep the cups marked "A" in a sunny window in the classroom. The cups marked "B" will be kept cold in a fridge. Have the students discuss and predict what will happen. Have each student write down a simple sentence stating the prediction. Water all the seed cups, both "A" and "B" the same amount (just enough to soak the first inch or so, a spray bottle is useful for this) once or twice a day.
Within a few days the group of cups in your classroom will sprout but the ones in the fridge never will. Have the students discuss what we've seen. How does this show what happens when the ground warms up in the spring? Writing objective: write to describe how cups "A" and "B" were different. What was the result of the difference?
*Different seeds have preferred temperatures at which they germinate but almost none will sprout below 40º F.
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