Seed germination booklet
Seed germination booklet
- Unit 1: Life cycles of flowering plants
- Unit 2: Sound
- Unit 3: States and properties of matter
- Unit 4: The digestive system
- Unit 5: Forces and magnetism
- Unit 6: Seasons and adaptations of plants and animals
🌱 This Topic is About Seed Germination
- 🌾 I will find out what seed germination means.
- 🧠 I will use my knowledge to make predictions about how seeds grow.
- 💧 I will learn what conditions seeds need to germinate.
- ⚖️ I will plan and carry out a fair test investigation.
- 📊 I will record my observations carefully in a table.
- 🌿 I will see why it’s better to test more than one seed for fair results.
- 🔍 I will make a conclusion from my observations and results.
- ⏳ I will understand why we sometimes need to observe over time to see changes.
Let’s become seed scientists and discover how new plants begin! 🌻🔬
🌟 Key Words
- absorb
- conditions
- germination
- shrivels
📖 Tap to Learn the Meanings!
- 💧 absorb: To take in water or another substance, like a sponge soaks up liquid.
- 🌦️ conditions: The things that affect how something happens — like temperature, light, or moisture for plants.
- 🌱 germination: When a seed starts to grow into a new plant.
- 🍂 shrivels: When something dries up and becomes smaller or wrinkled.
Great work! These words help you understand how seeds grow and survive. 🌾👏
🌱 How Seeds Grow
Seeds might look dead, but they are not. Seeds grow into new plants. There is a tiny plant inside each seed that begins to grow when the right conditions are met — such as warmth and moisture. Each seed also has a food store that helps it start to grow.
💧 Germination Begins
When a seed starts to grow, we say it germinates. The seed uses its stored food to give it the energy to grow. Germination begins when the seed takes in or absorbs water. The seed coat then splits open, and the tiny root grows downward into the soil. The seed coat later shrivels and becomes smaller after germination.
🌸 Amazing Seed Facts
Some seeds can stay dormant — that means they can live without germinating — for many years until the conditions become suitable. The oldest known seed to germinate was from a lotus flower that had been buried at the bottom of a lake in China for about 1,300 years before it grew again!
🔍 Think like a Scientist 1
Observe a Seed
🧰 You will need: a bean seed, a saucer of water
🧪 What to do:
- Soak the bean seed in water overnight. Predict how the seed will change overnight and why. 💧
- Observe the seed the next day and write down any changes that you see. 👀
- Was your prediction correct? Explain why the changes happened. 🌱
❓ Questions:
- Why do seeds need to absorb water?
- a) Which part of the new bean plant grows first?
b) Suggest a reason why this part grows downwards. - a) In which direction does the first shoot grow?
b) Suggest a reason why this part grows in this direction. - Why do you think the new leaves start to grow above the ground?
- Why do you think the seed shrivels and becomes small after germination?
- Which type of scientific inquiry did you use in this investigation?
Say why this type of scientific inquiry was suited to this investigation.
👀 show answer
- 1: Seeds absorb water to start germination and activate the food store. 💧
- 2: The root grows first and goes down to anchor the plant and take in water. 🌿
- 3: The shoot grows upward to reach light for photosynthesis. 🌞
- 4: Leaves grow above the ground to collect sunlight for making food. 🍃
- 5: The seed shrivels as it uses up its stored food. 🫘
- 6: It was an observation-based investigation because you watched and recorded how the seed changed over time. 👩🔬
🔍 Let’s Investigate!
Investigate conditions needed for germination
🧰 You will need: 20 seeds, four glass jars filled with soil or sawdust, water, a measuring cup.
Place five seeds against the glass in each jar. Moisten the soil in three jars.
🌱 Part A
- Place one jar of dry soil and one jar of moist soil in the same place.
- Check the moist soil every day to make sure it does not dry out.
- Observe the seeds every two days for eight days.
- Copy the table and record your observations.
| Days | Moist soil | Dry soil | Moist soil in cold place | Moist soil in warm place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 6 | ||||
| 8 |
🌡️ Part B
- Place one jar of moist soil in a cold place and one jar of moist soil in a warm place.
- Repeat the rest of the steps not numbered in Part A.
❓ Questions
- Answer these questions for both Part A and Part B:
a) What did you measure?
b) Which factor did you change?
c) Which factors did you keep the same?
d) What difference did you observe between the jars?
🌟 Tap to See Answers
- a) The number of seeds that germinated.
- b) The moisture level and temperature of the soil.
- c) The number of seeds, soil type, and size of jars.
- d) Seeds germinated best in moist, warm soil; few or none in dry or cold soil.
Great work! You discovered that both moisture and warmth are important for germination. 🌱👏
🐝 Pollinators and Pesticides
Honeybees are important pollinators. The bees in the picture are pollinating onion flowers. Bees also pollinate the flowers of many other food plants, such as apples, potatoes, and beans. In fact, 80% of the plants we eat are pollinated by bees.
Farmers and gardeners like pollinators but they don’t like insects, snails, worms, and other pests that eat their plants. They often use chemicals called pesticides to get rid of the pests.
💡 Why Are Pesticides a Problem?
The pesticides kill the pests, but they also harm pollinators. Pesticides sprayed onto plants often cover the flowers. When bees visit flowers to look for nectar and pollen, they take in the pesticides along with their food. Pesticides on seeds can also harm bees. When the seed grows, the pesticide spreads to the whole plant, including the pollen and nectar.
Some pesticides kill the bees directly. Others make it hard for the bees to fly and find their hive or other flowers to feed on. Pesticides can also make bees have fewer young.
🌼 Helping Pollinators
We should try not to use pesticides in and around our homes and encourage other people to do the same. People should use pesticides only when they are truly needed, such as when plants are badly attacked by pests. They should not use them when plants are flowering.
Some pesticides are sprinkled onto plants or soil as a powder. These can be more harmful than liquid sprays, so people should try to avoid using them.
🐝 FUN QUESTIONS – Pollinators and Pesticides
1a. Bees are pollinators. Name two other pollinators you know of. 🌸🐦
🌟 Show me!
1b. Why are pollinators important? 🌼
🌟 Show me!
2a. What is a pesticide?
🌟 Show me!
2b. Why do farmers and gardeners use pesticides? 🌾
🌟 Show me!
3. Is it good to use pesticides? Say why or why not. ⚖️
🌟 Show me!
4. Why is it a problem if bees die or have fewer young? 🐝💔
🌟 Show me!
5. Pesticides harm pollinators. How else might they affect the environment? 🌿
🌟 Show me!
6. What might happen to humans if there were no more pollinators? 👩🌾
🌟 Show me!
7. Why should people not use pesticides when plants are flowering? 🌷
🌟 Show me!
8. What are some other ways to keep pests away without using pesticides? 🌱
🌟 Show me!
🌼 FUN QUESTIONS — Plant Life Cycle & Flowers
1. Arrange these processes in the correct order to draw a life cycle diagram for a plant: fertilisation, seed dispersal, fruit and seed formation, pollination, germination.
🌟 Show answer
Correct order:pollination → fertilisation → fruit and seed formation → seed dispersal → germination. 🌸➡️🌱
2. Name two ways in which a fern plant is different from a tomato plant.
🌟 Show answer
- Ferns do not make flowers or fruits; tomatoes are flowering plants that do. 🌿 vs 🌺
- Ferns reproduce by spores, not seeds; tomatoes make seeds inside fruits. 🍅
(Other acceptable: fern leaves are fronds; tomato has petals, stamens, carpels, etc.)
3. This drawing of a flower has some parts missing.
a) Redraw the flower and add the missing parts from the list: sepals, stamens, anther, ovary, stigma, eggs.
b) Label all the parts of the drawing.
c) Which part of the flower forms the seeds?
d) Name the process by which the seeds are formed.
e) Where does the process take place?
🌟 Show answer
- a–b) Add and label: sepals (outside), stamens with anthers (make pollen), stigma (top of carpel), ovary (at base), and eggs/ovules inside the ovary.
- c) The ovules (eggs) become the seeds.
- d)Fertilisation.
- e) Inside the ovary of the flower.
4. Look at the picture of a flower.
a) What is pollination?
b) How is the flower in the picture pollinated?
c) Name two ways you can see in the picture that the flower is adapted for its method of pollination.
d) Name one other way that the flower could be adapted for its method of pollination.
🌟 Show answer
- a) Pollination is moving pollen from anther to stigma.
- b) The bright, showy flower is most likely insect-pollinated (e.g., by bees). 🐝
- c) Two visible adaptations (any two): bright coloured petals; large anthers with lots of pollen; wide open shape for landing; long stigma positioned to touch visiting insects.
- d) Another adaptation: sweet nectar or scent to attract insects; nectar guides; sticky pollen. 🌸
Great thinking about plant structures and their jobs! 👏
🌱 FUN QUESTIONS — Seeds and Germination (Continued)
5a. What is the process called when plants spread their seeds?
🌟 Show answer
5b. Describe two ways that seeds can be adapted to be spread by animals.
🌟 Show answer
- Some seeds are inside fruits that animals eat. The seeds pass through and fall somewhere new. 🍎🐦
- Other seeds have hooks or spines that stick to animal fur or feathers. 🐾🌿
Well remembered! 👍
6. Copy and complete these sentences about germination using the words in the box: food store, air, root, shoot, warmth, swells, downwards, absorbs, upwards.
🌟 Show answer
When a seed starts to germinate, it absorbs water and swells. The seed gets energy from its food store. 🌱
The root is the first part of the new plant that starts to grow. It grows downwards. The shoot grows next. It grows upwards.
Seeds need water and warmth to germinate. 🌞💧
Perfect work — you’ve completed the germination story! 👏
7. Junaid’s class germinated seeds under different conditions. These were their results:
| Conditions | Number of seeds germinated |
|---|---|
| Warm, light | 10 |
| Warm, dark | 15 |
| Cold, light | 5 |
| Cold, dark | 7 |
a) Which conditions are best for germination?
b) Do seeds need light for germination? Use the results to explain your answer.
c) Did the seeds get water or not? How do you know this?
d) Junaid must draw a graph of the results. What type of graph should he draw and why?
e) Draw the graph for Junaid.
🌟 Show answer
- a) Best conditions: warm and dark, where 15 seeds germinated. 🌡️🌱
- b) No, seeds don’t need light — they grew even better in the dark. 💡❌
- c) Yes, they got water because all the seeds germinated at least partly. 💧
- d) Junaid should draw a bar chart to compare the number of seeds under each condition. 📊
- e) (Students draw: a bar chart with “Conditions” on the x-axis and “Number of seeds germinated” on the y-axis.)
Fantastic data interpretation! 👏