Premise: Most students are familiar with seeds and plants, but compared to a generation ago, fewer students today have grown plants from seed. Seeing the influence of environmental conditions on germination and plant growth is a direct way to learn that plants, like other organisms, succeed better in some environments than others. However, genetic factors also play a role in plant growth and survival. Being able to identify a treatment (e.g., the addition of fertilizer) as the cause of a particular outcome (e.g., an unusually tall plant) requires good experimental design.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• plantingscience (2016), "Corn Competition - Teacher's Guide," https://plantingscience.org/resources/82.

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1. Corn Competition