We suggest students work in pairs. Each student will make their own seed models, but having a partner is useful for discussion and testing during the activity. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Prepare Seed Models

Each of the printouts has multiple seed models. We suggest cutting these seed models ahead of time for your students. Using a paper cutter can make this prep go quickly. Print out and prep enough so that each student has one Maple Seed Model, one Rain Tree Seed Model, and one Koa Seed Model.

Make Sure You Have Enough Space

Each student will be making and dropping three different seed structure models. Students will be asked to stand up and find a space to drop their seed models. In our tests, the seed models didn’t move very far, so students should need just a few feet around their desks.

Teacher Background

You and your students may notice that the seed models don’t look exactly like the real seed structures. The models may look different than the real things, but they should mimic the function of how the real seeds fall and float to the ground.

We suggest students work in pairs. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Separate Materials for Distribution

Seed A (pompom) is distributed in Step 7 and Seed B (bean) is distributed in Step 14.

Make Sure You Have Space

Make sure students have space to hop up and down in place when doing fluffadoo + seed model tests.

General Trends

Seed A should stay on the fluffadoo the longest. Oftentimes, it can stay attached until the maximum of 15 hops. Seed B should fall off of the fluffadoo almost immediately- usually within 1 or 2 hops.

Troubleshooting

If Seed A is consistently falling off of a student's fluffadoo within a few hops, we suggest checking: (1) the pompom is being placed where multiple cotton balls touch (rather than on top of a single cotton ball) and (2) the student is “hopping gently” and not shaking their fluffadoo too hard while hopping.

Accessibility Accommodations

Instead of hopping in place, students can test their fluffadoo + seed by raising and lowering their arms while seated (mimicking the motion of a hopping fluffadoo).

This is a two-part activity. We recommend that you allow at least three days (up to one week) in between Part One and Part Two of the experiment to give the radish seeds time to germinate.

You will need access to a sunny windowsill for radish seeds to grow in the light. You will also need access to water so that you can fill up the spray bottles.

We suggest students work in pairs. Homeschool students can work on their own but will need to prepare at least two Dixie cups so that they can compare what happens to the plants in sunlight versus in the dark.

Prep Radish Seeds

For each group of four students, put about ⅛ teaspoon radish seeds (at least 40 seeds) in a Dixie cup.

Prep Dixie Cups

For each student (or one homeschool student), fill one Dixie cup halfway with moist potting soil. Or if you are using peat pellets, place one pellet in each cup, fill the cup with water, and let the pellet soak up the water for at least 30 minutes.

Prep Spray Bottles

In each spray bottle, mix about 1 cup of water with about ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. Adding baking soda will inhibit mold growth in the soil, but won’t affect the plants.

Plan Your Time

After students complete Part One of this activity, they will need to wait at least three days (up to one week) to give the radish seeds time to germinate. Make sure to spray both the cups in the sunlight and the cups in the dark with water during this time.

When most of the leaves have come up, show Part Two of the activity.

We suggest students work in pairs to share ideas. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Experiment with Real Plants

This activity walks students through virtual experiments to help reinforce the concept that an experiment should only change one part (variable), but keep all the other parts the same (controls).

We think it’s best to follow-up these learnings with a hands-on experiment that uses real plants! If you have radish plants leftover from the lesson “Could a plant survive without light?”, you can guide your students to plan and conduct a few classroom experiments.