Materials Included In Kit

Additional Materials Required

Prelab Preparation

Label five cups or beakers with masking tape labeled “Unknown 1,” “Unknown 2,” Unknown 3,” “Unknown 4” and “Unknown 5.” Fill the cups or beakers approximately half full with the seeds corresponding to each unknown. Place the cups in a central location since all students will need to obtain the seeds.

Safety Precautions

Remind students to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water before leaving the laboratory.

Disposal

Please consult your current Flinn Scientific Catalog/Reference Manual for general guidelines and specific procedures, and review all federal, state and local regulations that may apply, before proceeding. At the end of the activity, the gloves containing the plants and cotton balls may be thrown away in the trash according to Flinn Suggested Disposal Method #26a or may be transplanted into soil.

Lab Hints

• Enough materials are provided in this Super Value Kit for 5 classes of 30 students working in pairs, or for 75 groups of students. Setting up the Growing Glove will require a 50-minute class period. The seedlings will then be observed two more times over the following week requiring only a couple minutes. The last day of observation (Day 7) will require about 10–15 minutes as students will need to look at the root and leaf structures to answer the Post-Lab Questions. After students have turned in their answers, you may wish to tell them what type of plant each unknown was.
• Southern exposure is optimal for growth. If available, adhere Growing Gloves to a window facing south. If this is not possible in the classroom, see if windows in another classroom, library, office, etc., may be used for this activity.

Teacher Tips

• Have students first record their observations in the Data Table on the day the seeds are added to the glove, then the third, fifth and seventh day. This schedule may be modified by a day or two dependent on the laboratory schedule. By the seventh day, students should be able to identify whether the plant is a monocot or dicot. However, if southern exposure is not available, the week is exceptionally rainy, the window is very cold, or any other factors happen to limit the amount of sunlight and the rate of growth, allow students an extra day or two for final observations.

• Have students transplant the young plants into small pots and continue to observe the ongoing plant life cycle throughout the semester.

Answers to Prelab Questions

1. From your observations, identify whether each unknown seed is from a monocot or dicot plant and explain your reasoning.
   

   Accept any reasonable explanations.
   Unknown 1–Monocot
   Unknown 2–Dicot
   Unknown 3–Dicot
   Unknown 4–Monocot
   Unknown 5–Dicot
   

2. Sketch the appearance of one of the monocot seedlings and one of the dicot seedlings growing in the glove and label the characteristic parts.
   

   Student sketches will vary but should include fibrous roots and parallel veined leaves for the monocot example and a taproot and branching veined leaves for the dicot example.
   

3. While sitting in class, you notice a seed stuck in the tread of your gym shoe. As you remove the seed, the seed coat splits and two cotyledons fall out. What does this tell you about the plant the seed came from?
   

   The plant the seed came from is a dicot plant since it contains two cotyledons, which is characteristic of dicot plants.
   

4. Do you have a reason to believe any of the Unknowns 1–5 were seeds from the same type of plant? If so, which unknowns were they and why do you believe this to be?
   

   Unknowns 3 and 5 are both radish seeds. Accept all reasonable answers such as seed appearance was similar, both are dicots with leaves that look the same, germination rates were similar, etc.
   

5. Explain in your own words why the seeds were able to sprout without being buried in soil.
   

   As a seed becomes exposed to water, it swells with absorbed water and enzymes within in the seed begin to function, bringing the seed out of dormancy. The cotyledons contain the primary source of nutrients for a seedling. Soil is not required in the early stages of germination, however, as the plant grows larger, soil is needed to anchor the plant and keep it hydrated.

Sample Data

Introduction

A tiny seed that fits in the palm of your hand holds the blueprint for all the characteristics of a plant or very large tree. How does this process begin? What are some of the first characteristics to become visible? What do these characteristics tell us about what type of plant the seed will become? This activity will explore some of the first visible traits of a seedling and what they reveal about the plant.

Concepts

• Monocots

• Germination
• Dicots
• Observation

Background

Seeds are defined as the fertilized ovules of female plants. Seeds may be found inside fruits, flowers, pods, and roots of plants depending on the particular species. Almost every plant begins its life cycle as a seed, making seeds essential to life as we know it on Earth. One of the most notable qualities of seeds is their ability to remain dormant for extended periods of time. When a seed becomes exposed to water, it absorbs the water and swells causing the enzymes within the seed to begin to function, bringing the seed out of dormancy. This marks the beginning of the germination process.

Cotyledons are parts of a seed composed of nutritious tissue called endosperm which is comprised of starch, lipids (oils) and proteins. For this reason, many seeds have nutritional value to animals, including humans. The cotyledons provide food to a germinating plant until it is able to produce food on its own.

Plant species are classified into two major groups—monocotyledons and dicotyledons, commonly shortened to monocots and dicots. Plant species with one cotyledon are called monocotyledons (mono = one). Plant species with two cotyledons are called dicotyledons or dicots (di = two). In addition to the number of cotyledons, there are several other differences in the morphology, or physical features, of these two types of plants. The veins in the leaves are typically the easiest way to distinguish between monocots and dicots when observing plants. For characteristic traits of each classification, see Figure 1.

Materials

Safety Precautions

Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before leaving the laboratory.

Procedure

1. Using a permanent marker, label the fingers of a glove 1–5 starting with the thumb (1) and continuing to the pinky (5).
2. Take the glove to the location in the room where the cup containing the unknown seeds are placed.
3. While one partner holds the glove open, the other partner counts out four seeds from the cup labeled “Unknown 1” and drops them into the thumb of the glove.
4. Repeat step 3 for unknown seeds 2–5, placing four seeds into each finger of the glove labeled with the same number as the seed.
5. Obtain a cup or beaker containing 150–200 mL of tap water.
6. Using forceps, pick up a cotton ball and place it into the water. Allow the cotton ball to soak for about 10 seconds in the water. Remove the cotton ball from the water and squeeze the cotton ball with the forceps a couple of times to remove excess moisture.
7. Have one partner hold the glove open wide while the other drops the cotton ball into the finger labeled with a “1” on the glove.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the remaining four fingers of the glove.
9. Take the glove and a 6" piece of masking tape to a window as directed by your instructor.
10. Fold the glove so that the opening is now pointing downward.
11. Place the tape across the upper part of the glove, securing it to the window (see Figure 2).
12. Observe the initial appearance of the seeds and record all observations on the Growing Glove Worksheet for Day 1.
13. Continue to observe the seeds and germinating plants over the next several days. Fill in the Data Table with your observations including detailed descriptions of the germinating plant’s leaves, root structure, etc.
14. At the end of the activity, the gloves containing the plants and cotton balls may be thrown away in the trash or the plants may be transplanted into soil.

Student Worksheet PDF

10772_Student1.pdf