This blog post from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Wisconsin Fast Plants, describes an investigation that educators can implement in the classroom to facilitate students' learning about variation and natural selection through firsthand observations and hands-on data collection in a very short time. The post offers an abbreviated example of how to conduct a classroom investigation with the Fast Plants Polycot seed variety. It covers topics like the benefits of using the Polycot seed variety in the classroom (easy to notice trait variations, large sample populations in a small classroom space), selecting traits for students to experiment with and observe, designing a selection investigation, observing and recording polycot generations data, and analyzing data.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website is a guest post by classroom teacher, Julie LaConte, of Rossman School in Creve Coeur, MO. In this post, Julie describes her experiences researching, preparing for, and teaching with Fast Plants in her classroom. Thank you for sharing your experiences, Julie!

This blog post by the Fast Plants Team provides a materials list and instructions for a Do-It-Yourself, LED Grow Light that is ideal for Fast Plants growth. This grow light uses cost-effective materials that can be obtained online and from a local hardware store. The light is easy to construct, powerful, and height adjustable, which helps simplify the goal of keeping your grow light close to your developing Fast Plants. This post also explains what it means to provide optimal lighting for seedlings and describes why it is important to understand light intensity and its effect on growing plants.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website describes the value of using Fast Plants as a model organism for biological and environmental investigations. This post is primarily an index of Fast Plants resources, providing prompts for teaching goals and suggesting Fast Plants kits (distributed by Carolina Biological) that can be used to accomplish these teaching goals.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website provides an overview and list of resources for teaching about heredity and inheritance patterns with Fast Plants seed varieties. This blog is primarily a point of reference for other Fast Plants teaching resources, but includes specific detail about monohybrid seed varieties with punnet squares. Further, links are included to video walkthroughs for Monohybrid (in soil), Monohybrid Seed Disks, and Dihybrid (in soil) investigations.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website provides an overview and list of resources for teaching life science topics with Wisconsin Fast Plants. This blog is primarily a point of reference for other Fast Plants teaching resources.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website provides an overview and list of resources for teaching about observable variation and measuring selection (focusing on leaf hairs/trichomes). This blog is primarily a point of reference for other Fast Plants teaching resources.

Read this blog post for background information about the relationship between the physical environment and life processes and systems in Fast Plants. Growing healthy Fast Plants is easy if you understand how the environment can affect growth and development. Three broad categories of environmental factors influence how an individual plant matures through its life cycle:  1) the physical environment, 2) the chemical environment, 3) the biological environment. Based on this information about standard conditions for optimal Fast Plants growth, one could easily design a wide variety of controlled experiments. Questions naturally arise while reading about optimal conditions that could be investigated by designing an experiment to how varying one condition affects growth, development and/or reproduction. This blog post is part of a series explaining how key environmental factors "physical, chemical, and biological" can impact the growth of Wisconsin Fast Plants.

This blog post on the Fast Plants website discusses the concept of plant blindness (the inability to see or notice the plants in one's own environment) and the importance of ending plant blindness and supporting plant vision. Fast Plants are an effective introduction to growing and noticing plants: to know a plant, grow a plant! This blog post includes links to preservice teacher lesson plans that support plant vision and a botanically-inclined future.

This blog post from the Fast Plants team provides detailed advice and instructions on the ideal timing for harvesting Fast Plants seeds. It is important to harvest at the correct time, to ensure maximum seed viability for planting the next generation. This post addresses several frequently asked questions relating to seed harvest and provides close up pictures of seeds in seedpods to aid in determining the correct time to harvest your plants. Additional content includes details about pollination and biological processes related to fertilization of a flower.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants website describes the value of using Fast Plants as a model organism to teach plant life cycles at multiple grade levels. Content includes an overview of plant growth stages (including videos) and links to resources and activities that can enrich teaching and learning about the plant life cycle as your Fast Plants grow and develop.

This blog post from the Wisconsin Fast Plants Team describes three ways to optimize your growing environment to grow healthy Fast Plants. Tips for growing healthy plants are focused around the following three concepts, with descriptions of ideal environmental conditions for each: 1. Not enough light for healthy Fast Plants 2. Temperature too cold or too hot for healthy Fast Plants 3. Healthy Fast Plants need healthy roots

In this activity, students develop an understanding of the relationship between natural phenomena, weather, and climate change: the study known as phenology. In addition, they learn how cultural events are tied to the timing of seasonal events. Students brainstorm annual natural phenomena that are tied to seasonal weather changes. Next, they receive information regarding the Japanese springtime festival of Hanami, celebrating the appearance of cherry blossoms. Students plot and interpret average bloom date data from over the past 1100 years.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bogs are unique ecosystems, which have important ecological functions in carbon storage, climate stability, water quality, and biodiversity. The bog microbiome, composed mostly of bacteria that live in association with bog plants, plays key roles in these functions. However, the differences in associated bacteria between vascular plants and the non-vascular bryophytes that predominate in bogs remain unclear. Researchers recently used shotgun metagenomics to investigate the microbes associated with 12 representative bog species. Vascular plants tended to be colonized by specific bacteria, while bryophytes exhibited greater bacterial species richness and diversity. The two plant groups also had different marker species. The gene profiles of vascular plant- and bryophyte-associated microbes revealed functional differences, including differences in nitrogen cycling..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students will compare different plant traits and determine how each structure helps that species of plant grow and reproduce in the schoolyard habitat. After which, students can observe each plant for acquired traits.

Botany generally refers to the study of plants, but other organisms are often included in the field such as photosynthetic bacteria, fungi, algae, and slime molds. Plants are multicellular organisms with complex, eukaryotic cells that contain cell walls, chloroplasts, and other cell structures that are absent in animal cells. They can be studied at many levels, ranging from the molecules that comprise them to cells and tissues to organs (flowers, leaves, roots, etc.) to organ systems (shoot system and roots systems). Each structure in the plant body is adapted to optimize its function, whether it be photosynthesis, support, nutrient absorption, transportation, or reproduction. Plant physiology explores the chemistry and physics of these functions, including how they respond to the environment, coordinate responses using hormones, gather energy and nutrients, and change throughout their life cycles. Plant ecology examines even larger scales, including plant populations and their roles in communities and ecosystems. Humans rely on plants for food, fiber, and medicines, and to provide clean air, erosion control, and other services. Unfortunately, human activities resulting in habitat loss, climate change, and pollution threaten plant biodiversity, but current and future conservation efforts slow the loss of biodiversity.

The lessons in this issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom introduce the work of botanists and botanical illustrators, specifically their race to make records of endangered plant species around the world. “Very little of the world’s flora has been fully studied,” says one Smithsonian botanist, “and time is running out.” In the first lesson, students gets to know six endangered plants. They examine illustrations, photographs, and dried specimens of the plants as they consider this question: If a scientist can take a picture of a plant, are there advantages in having an illustration? They go on to consider some of the big questions that botanists themselves must ask: Which of these species are most in need of conservation efforts? Are any of these plants more worth saving than others?In the second lesson, the students try their own hands at botanical illustration, following the methods of a Smithsonian staff illustrator. All that is required for the lesson are pencils, markers, tracing paper, and access to a photocopier.

Working in teams of four, students act as botanists and use non-fiction on-line text to conduct Self Organized Learning System (SOLE) research to uncover the needs and life cycle of a plant for the school garden.

Botany, also called plant science(s), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. 

Botany, also called plant science(s), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field.