| Explore | *The seed coat protects the embryo and zygote from damage. *First line of defense against external forces. *Lets the seed adjust metabolism. *Seed coat consists of cell layers protecting as well as surrounding to ovule. *Some seed coats have different amounts of layers. *"the epidermal layer of the seed coat generates a cuticle which represents a physical barrier between the seed and its external environment." *Seed coat protects from pathogens penetrating within the seed [from an article on frontiersin.org written by Volodymyr Radchuk and Ljudmilla Borisjuk] For a plant to germinate, it needs proper conditions: water in the ground and food. It stays in the seed until it gets these conditions. |
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| Research Question | How does the amount of seed coating affect plant growth? |
| Predictions | We predict that the seeds with half of a seed coat and no seed coat will germinate faster than the seeds with a seed coat because the seed has to break out and push up the seed coat. |
| Experimental Design | place paper towel (folded in half) in half petri dish *repeat 6 times Remove seed coat from 10 seeds Leave 10 seeds alone Peel half of seed coat off of 10 seeds plant 5 seeds in each petri dish water daily *10ml |
| Conclusion | Claim: Due to the fact that there was no seed coat, the plants grew faster. Evidence: This is proven by all of the non-seed coat plants growing considerably more: by day 4 the non-seed coats grew 86.5 mm, almost doubling that of the plants with seed coats at 44mm. Reasoning: This is also shown in the secondary knowledge probe, “A solid seed coat may keep the seed safe, but it also renders the seed almost helpless when it comes to environmental cues.” The seed coat is designed to protect the seed, but this hard shell will make it difficult for the seed to grow out of it. I believe that it was a fair test, although I thought that the seed coat plants would grow more because they were more protected, the opposite happened. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Teacher Name | Kristen Stiem |
| School Name | DeWitt Middle School |
| Session | Spring 2022 |