Faculty Mentor:
    Dr. Mary Musgrave
        musgrave@nsm.umass.edu

STEM Connections fellows:

        
       Ken Bateman
        kabateman@hotmail.com
 

        
        Lisa Stout
        lstout@microbio.umass.edu
 
 

Introduction to project

Classroom project links

Web resources

Textbooks

About Fast Plants and Bottle Biology
Wisconsin Fast Plants were developed with NSF funding at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The short life cycle, compact size, and minimal light and watering requirements of these plants make them easy to grow and care for in a classroom setting. Many exciting hands-on experiments have been developed for students at all grade levels to conduct.  Bottle Biology utilizes low-cost materials (such as 2-liter soda bottles) for students to explore environmental connections between plants, animals, water, and human impact, to name a few.

These pedagogic materials and hands-on activities have proven to be wonderful vehicles for introducing teachers and students alike to the excitement of experimentation. The scientific process is easily conveyed when each person builds equipment and conducts experiments, pooling data to understand trends across the classroom. The low cost nature of the materials required to set up these experiments makes them very attractive options for teachers working on a tight budget, and has ensured the adoption of the hands-on approach in the classroom. A further advantage of the curricular material is the effective decoupling of science and technology; students learn what the scientific process is and keep it separate conceptually from technology (which becomes associated with the equipment they construct to conduct their experiments).

Fast Plants and Bottle Biology in the Classrooms    

    Powder Mill Middle School, Southwick, MA
        Teacher:  Beth Hemingway, 6th grade science
        Personal Project interest:  exploring genetics of rosette phenotype

    Van Sickle Middle School, Springfield, MA
        Teacher:  Maureen Keating-Lessard, 6th grade science
        Personal Project interest:  selection for certain traits (ex: increased plant hairiness)
 

Fast Connections with Fast Plants
Southwick/Springfield 6 grade classes will connect with each other via the Internet. They will interact with each other by sharing ideas, asking questions, experimentation, and data collection using fast plants.  Students and Fast plant team will develop a web site and a monthly newsletter.
Teacher Projects will be used as models to prepare students for Science Fair and to introduce the students to using and applying the Scientific Method.

Web resources related to project
    www.fastplants.org is a website all about Wisconsin Fast Plants and includes lots of resources for students and teachers
    www.carolina.com is a link to Carolina biological supply, for ordering materials and other info
    www.bioshelters.com offers a virtual tour of a recirculating aquaponics facility that recycles 99.7% of all its water and wastes
    http://ccbit.cs.umass.edu/NasaBioshelter/ is a link to interactive K-12 lesson plans for the International Space Station Era
    http://www.life.uiuc.edu/hughes/prairieflowers/sciencekits/bottlebiology.html  is a website featuring activities to go with the book
    Bottle Biology
    http://www.epa.gov/teachers/ is the Educational Resource page of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

Textbooks available to teachers

     Using Fast Plants & Bottle Biology in the Classroom (published by NABT)
     Duckweed Unlimited (Using common duckweed to measure water quality)
     pH...Potential Horrors of Acid Rain (assessing the effects of pH on growth and development of Fast Plants)
     The Salty Solution (A study of the effects of salinization on plant growth and development)
     The Neighborly Effects of Atrazine (A study of the environmental effects and plant tolerances to atrazine)

     Bottle Biology (published by Kendall/Hunt)
     Bottle Basics (Collecting, cleaning and cutting)
     Decomposition Column (When is the end a beginning?)
     Predator-Prey Column (Who eats whom?)
     Terraqua Column (What is the land-water connection?)
     Water Cycle Column (Is rain pure?)

    Spiraling Through Life with Fast Plants (published by Kendall/Hunt)
    Germination
    Growth and Development
    Flowering
    Pollination
    Fertilization to seeds

    Exploring with Wisconsin Fast Plants (published by Kendall/Hunt)
    Where do Fast Plants come from?
    Growing Fast Plants
    Life Cycle of Fast Plants
    Influence of the environment on plant growth
    Variation, heredity, evolution
    Energy and Nutrient Recycling
    Stories, Modeling, Games
    Environment, lighting, alternative growing systems

    Wisconsin Fast Plants Manual (published by Carolina Biological Supply Company)
    Germination
    Plant Responses to light and gravity
    Gibberellic Acid/Rosette plants
    Plant Nutrition
    Mendelian/Non-Mendelian Genetics
    Effects of Salt, Acid Precipitation on growth