Science Lesson 26

1. Explain the difference between oxidation and digestion.

Oxidation is the process of using fuel to make energy. Digestion is the process of making that fuel. They rely on each other to keep the body running.


2. Write down everything you eat in one day. Then compare the foods you ate to the foods shown in the food pyramid. How was your diet different? How was it similar? Di you eat many foods not shown?

I can already rule out meat. Whatever happens today, I will still be vegetarian.

Rice Cereal (Grain)
Dried, Chocolate-covered Mangoes (Fruit)

Cucumber, Cheese, and Hummus Sandwich (Lots of Protein, and Dairy)

Cheese Quesadilla with Red Pepper (Protein with Vegetable)

COMPARISON: First of all, I don't like that your food pyramid included no protein besides meat. Meat is murder. Icky icky murder. Also, I ate some foods that weren't shown, such as the pita bread in the quesadilla, and mangoes.

Though that's okay. Actually, eating different and exotic foods like that gives you more nutrition that just plain ole' bread, because it is made of a lot of different things; that allows a change from the straight wheat of bread.

Below is an example of a vegetarian food pyramid that includes non-meat protein sources.



3. Why are vitamins and minerals called micronutrients?

Because they have very little concentration in foods.


4b. Make a nutrition collage.




EXAM

1. Why does a potato taste sweeter after you have been chewing it for a while?

Because starch has sugar locked inside it. Saliva (which by the way is secreted more when you chew) breaks down the starch outside to get to the sugar inside.


2. What is the difference bewteen complex and simple carbohydrates?

Starches (complex) are more advanced than sugars because it's like a crystal. It has other nutrients locked inside it, such as starch. Sugars instantly release their contents when chewed.


3. Why are fats important in our diet?

They add energy if you are instantly active afterwards.

4. How do our bodies use vitamins and minerals? Are they essential to our health?

Absolutely. Vitamins and minerals help organs grow, brain tissue develop, and many other things happen faster than usual. They are great to help you grow up to actually have a good heart, brain, and immune system. If you have, say, lots of OMEGA-3 as a baby, you'll have a really strong neural system.

5. Name three important minerals and three important vitamins.

Potassium, Iron, and Fiber. Vitamins A, B, and C

Life Science Lesson 6 and Exam

1. Identify each of the parts of the seedlings.

Only the bean plants survived. I shall describe their roots. On some specimens there seem to be more roots on 2/3 grown seedlings than fully grown, so I shall use one of those as an example. The fiborous roots do not come from the taproot, they just branch off of where the taproot comes from. The taproot is all hairy with root hairs. It is very simple, but efficient.


The stems are very different. I have five specimens of various stages of growth, and only two have stems. All the others, well, they are unusable. On a 2/3 grown specimen, the stem is shaped like a very very small ?. On a full grown specimen, it is tall and straight.


As for leaves, the same is apparent. The two older specimens are the only ones to have leaves. The 2/3 grown seedling has leaves folded up in a tight trange.. They will probably unfurl as it gets older. On a fully grown specimen, there are only leaves on top, and four of those.

2. Using a head of cabbage, a stalk of celery and a clove of garlic, slice each in half and draw/label the parts that can be identified.



(left click to see more detail)

3. Explain the functions of the parts of a green plant.

Leaves absorb sunlight.

Stems process all minerals and water and store them.

Taproots take in water and minerals from the branch roots and cart them up to the stem

Branch roots absorb water and minerals.

Buds contain flowers and leaves.

Bud scales mark the place for new branches.

4b. Research carnivorous plants. Find out what specialized mechanisms these plants have that enable them to capture and eat bugs. Write a three paragraph paper describing how they do this. Use the names of some fo the plants you learned about.

A carnivorous plant is a plant that preys on insects. They get their food by trapping insects. Carnivorous plants are normally found in poor soil conditions where a regular plant that receives food by photosynthesis couldn’t live. The soil that they live in also doesn’t have lots of nutrients. Some can grow to be three feet tall or more. The carnivorous plant’s leaves usually grow close to the ground, so there is plenty of room for a pitfall trap or a flytrap. The stalk of the plant can bear flowers in spring or early summer.

The Venus flytrap is probably the most well known carnivorous plant. Insects are attracted to it by its sweet smelling and tasting nectar. Their trap is activated by an insect rubbing against two of its tooth like hairs (*Gasp in horror*). The trap can shut in less than a second and it closes by the triggering electric charges. Within 30 minutes after capturing the insect the trap is tightly shut and filled with digestive juices. After trapping an insect the trap will remain closed for 8-10 days. The plant cannot be tricked if something falls it because it will probably only touch one hair. For the Venus flytrap’s trap to work the prey must be fully inside the trap to be surrounded by digestive juices.

Pitcher plants are shaped like a pitcher of water. They can grow from 2-3 inches high to 3 feet high. Larger animals like frogs have been digested in the larger species. They have a flap above the opening of the pitcher. This prevents rainwater from getting in the trap. They have sweet nectar near the pitcher’s rim. Their insides are slippery, so that once the insect is inside the pitcher it is pretty hard to get out. At the bottom of the pitcher is where the digestive juices are and where it will digest the insects.

Bladderworts live in water. They have no roots; only stems and branches. Some grow to about 8 inches long. Bladderworts eat water fleas, mosquito larvae, and other small water critters. Water critters are attracted to the Bladderwort by its antennae. Water critters assume it is algae. Then the insects are trapped in the plant’s hollow trap. The traps are called bladders. Their leaves have trigger hairs attached like the Venus flytrap’s. The transparent trap then swells up like a water balloon. The trap will usually digest and catch prey about 15 times before dying.

EXAM

1. What are the two main types of root systems. Describe each one.

Fibrous and Taproot. Fibrous roots branch off the taproot, spreading root hairs everywhere. Taproots are thick, main, water-sucking roots. A carrot is a taproot.

2. What are the main functions of roots in green plants? Name and describe three functions.

Roots absorb water, nutrients, release used Carbon Dioxide, and keep the plant from falling over, and store collected nutrients.

3. What role do leaves play in the function of a plant?

Leaves absorb sunlight that is to be transferred into sugars.

4. Name at least three parts of plants that are commonly eaten by humans. Give an example of each.

Roots: Carrots, and potatoes, Stem: Celery, and lettuce, Fruits: Avocados, and Tomatoes.

Life Science Lesson 10: Flowers and Plant Reproduction

1. Obtain a flower. Closely examine and identify its parts. Draw a picture of the flower, identify and label the parts of its reproductive system.

I did! See pic below.

2. What are the three ways that pollination can occur? Describe each one.

Self-Pollination: Is when a flower's pollen touches it's own stigma.

There are two kinds of cross-pollination: Insect and wind. Insect is when a bee or butterfly carries pollen from one flower to another. Wind is when wind blows pollen to another flower. This probably happens very rarely.

3. Make a list of ten plants that your family eats and decide whether the parts you eat are fruits or seeds or both. Record your resulsts.

Avocado Enlarged Ovary, Fruit

Tomato Enlarged Ovary, Fruit

Carrot Root, Vegetable

Celery Stem, Vegetable

Broccoli Bud, Vegetable

Soybeans Seed, Vegetable

Oranges Enlarged Ovary, Fruit

Potatoes Root, Vegetable

Grapes Enlarged Ovary, Berry

Strawberries Enlarged Ovary, Berry

4b. Press flowers to make stationary, framed wall art, flower prints using paints etc.

I finished my flower press. See below.




EXAM

1. What is the difference between and angiosperm and a gymnosperm. Give 2 examples of each.

Angiosperms are flowers and deciduous trees. They are different from gymnosperms because they can grow flowers and their leaves stop photosynthesizing in fall and winter. A maple or sea daisy is an angiosperm. A coastal redwood or a Japanese fir is a gymnosperm.

2. What does deciduous mean? Give and example of a deciduous plant that you know.

It means they lose their leaves in fall. An example is a Trembling Aspen (see pic of Trembling Aspen below).
3. What are the main parts of a flower? Describe each one in a few words or a sentence. Assume that the flower has both male and female reproductive parts.

Petals are colorful leaves that form a ring around the flower's reproductive parts. Petals attract insects so they can pollinate the flower.

Pistils are female parts that, if pollen touches the top, an egg down inside the pistil is fertilized.

Stamens are male parts. The top bead, called an anther, contains pollen grains. Inside each pollen grain is a sperm cell. *coughFLAGELLUM!!!cough*

4. Name three ways tha ta flower can be pollinated. Why is pollination so important? What do you think would happen if there was no more pollination of flowers on earth?

Self-Pollination: Is when a flower's pollen touches it's own stigma. There are two kinds of cross-pollination: Insect and wind. Insect is when a bee or butterfly carries pollen from one flower to another. Wind is when wind blows pollen to another flower. This probably happens very rarely. Pollination is important because without pollination, no fruit can grow. Most animals would starve.

Without pollination, all the fruit would disappear quickly. The herbivores, with nothing to eat, would starve. The carnivores, with the herbivores gone, would starve too. The humans might stay along a bit, but with fruit gone, there would be a huge economical crash. After all that, the humans would starve. Earth would be perfectly suited for life, but have none except for ocean life. A playground for genetic experiments, if you please.

Life Science lesson 7 & Exam

1. Try to determine the composition of the soil used for your seedlings.

The soil inside my bean cup is very nutrient-deprived. It is potting soil. We have not gone to a park yet for rich soil.

2. Go to a local garden center and find three different types of fertilizers both manmade and organic. List the recommended uses, sources of materials and minerals in each and application.
Note from Mom: Two types of organic fertilizers were available for this assignment. Manmade fertilizers were not included due to their potential hazards to health.

Organic:

E.B. Stone Organics' Rose & Flower Food
Ingredients
Natural
Various ingredients derived from:
Blood Meal, Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Dried Chicken Manure, Bat Guano, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, and Potassium Sulfate.

Bacteria
Bacillus Subtilis
Bacillus Lichenformis
Paenibacillus Polymyxa
Bacillus Azotoformans
Paenibacillus Durum
Bacillus Pumulis
Streptomyces Lydicus
Trichoderma Harzianum

Soil
Calcined Clay

Fungi
Glomus Intraradices
Glomus Mosseae
Glomus Aggregatum

How to Use:
Feed your roses as new growth begins in the spring by spreading 1 1/2 cups of fertilizer evenly under each plant starting 8 inches from the base and working out into the drip line. Mix it lightly into the soil and water the area.

Feed with 1 1/2 cups of fertilizer every 8-12 weeks throughout the growing season.


E.B. Stone Organics' Citrus & Fruit Tree Food
Ingredients
Natural
Various ingredients derived from:
Blood Meal, Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Dried Chicken Manure, Bat Guano, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, and Potassium Sulfate.
Bacteria
Bacillus Subtilis
Bacillus Lichenformis
Paenibacillus Polymyxa
Bacillus Pumulis
Paenibacillus Durum
Bacillus Pumulis
Streptomyces Lydicus
Streptomyces Greiseus
Trichoderma Harzianum
Trichoderma Viride

Soil
Calcined Clay

Fungi
Glomus Intraradices
Glomus Mosseae
Glomus Aggregatum

How to Use:
For first year trees, apply approximately 3/4 cup per month. In most areas, application may start in February repeated throughout the growing season. When possible, work the fertilizer lightly into the soil before watering.

3. Do you have a flower or vegetable garden? Yes.

a. What kind of plants do you grow?
An orange tree, assorted succulents, mint, aloe vera, snapdragons, African daisies, daisies, petunias, raspberries, morning glories, grapes, echinechea, jasmine, blueberries, bacopa, beans, elephant ears, pholox, verbena, kangaroo paw, sea daisies, roses, bougainvillea, mandanveilia, gara, begonia, cyclamen, and rosemary.

b. How do you keep the soil healthy and fertile so that plants will grow? We use a mixture of potting soil and store bought compost in our pots, and water the plants weekly.

c. We do use fertilizer. It is organic and it is the exact same fertilizer that I used to answer # 2

d. No. We do not compost (though we want to) because most bins are very very expensive.

4b. Research different home composting methods.

Compost!
Compost is a substance made of rotted materials that slowly becomes a rich kind of mulch. Actually, the mulch is the non-compressed, half rotted stuff at the top of whatever container you are using. The humus (a black, fully, rotted, compressed soil-like material) is the stuff at the bottom, which is extremely good for plants.

Composting helps the earth, because if you compost, you channel around half of your trash into something the helps life thrive. Of course, hotter is better, because heat makes things rot faster.


Compost rots because microscopic creatures eat the food and plant matter, leaving only leftovers and, er, micro-poop. Microorganisms are microscopic simple bacteria that eat just about anything. They are the reason why things rot. They do other things, like enriching the soil. Some add nitrogen to the soil, making it more nutritious.

The best kind of compost is a layered, “compost sandwich.” The bottom must ALWAYS be made of sticks to allow drainage. The best style is: Twigs, soft material (Like green plants and soft vegetable scraps), hard material (Like leaves, orange peels, and small sticks), soft, soft, hard, soft, soft, hard, and so on.

Before I move on to another method, I need to explain the two basic needs of compost:
1. Water. A hose will do. Do not overwater. The best kind of compost is one that has the texture of a full sponge, not the water of a full sponge.
2. Air. It will also smell rotten if you don’t give it air. Want to know why? That is the smell of dead bacteria. You need bacteria for you compost. Bacteria and microbes are the chemical magicians of compost.

Another method to get good compost (besides waiting!) is by turning. Turning can be done in many ways, from flipping the bin over and shaking, to using a premade crank to stir the compost. It causes a chemical reaction that makes the top mulch turn into good, crumbled, cakelike humus.

Another kind of compost is sheet composting. It is like a substrate pile of whatever you are using on whatever you are fertilizing. Basically, throw some hard material on the ground and let it rot naturally. The problem with it is that you can’t throw kitchen scraps in, only plant material.
Also, it rots very slowly.

Another way (this is the best way for us) is worm compost.
Many people know the value of worms in their garden. Worms are great decomposers, especially red-wigglers and African night crawlers. If you have only kitchen scraps, or if you live in an apartment, composting with worms is the way to go.
Worms are best kept in a closed worm box. They like darkness and dampness.

Compost is a perfect way to keep a self sustaining home and garden.
(If you want to compost NOW, call 1-800-GRO-DIRT)
Click here to see a video about "How to Compost":
http://video.gaiam.com/services/link/bcpid1586371772/bctid1840781718

EXAM

1. Explain the functions of soil in the terms of how it is used by a plant.
Plants absorb the nutrients in the soil and use it to be healthy (like multivitamins).

2. Explain the difference between dirt and healthy, living soil.
Dirt has zero microbes, is dry and dusty, and has very little minerals to offer. Soil has maximum in all of the above (microorganisms, moisture, and minerals).

3. How do organisms in soil help plants get nutrients that they need to grow? Give an example of one type of organism that does this.
They decompose dead plant matter into tiny bits that can be easily consumed by the roots. An example is Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria (which I fondly call NFB), which takes nitrogen out from the air and turns it into healthy minerals.

4. Why is organic matter important to healthy soil?
They add nutrients through waste products, and keep soil loose.

Life Science Lesson 5 & Exam

(the above photograph is a visual growth timeline of the bean seeds that were planted during this lesson)

1. Grow seedlings and measure them for their rate of growth.

Radish, tomato and bean seeds were planted in biodegradeable containers.

2. Continue to observe your seeds for a week.

Only the bean seeds survived. The radish seeds and tomato seeds were dumped out and disposed of by the gardner as well as being blown about by Santa Ana winds.

3. Prepare a growth chart.

Here is my growth chart. I say Approx. Day, because I found several specimens of different ages and made an approximate timeline (see photo at the top of this post for a visual timeline).

Day 2 Seed gets paler. The coat is going soon.

Day 4 Coat splits.

Day 5 Tiny root emerges (Germination!).

Day 6 Root gets much bigger.

Day 13 Large root system is apparent. Baby leaves start to unfurl.

Day 20 Seedling is fully grown.

4. Explain what three requirements were necessary for your seeds to grow.

1) A seed needs soil to provide foundation for it's roots to grow.

2) Water softens the seed's coat so it can crack and sprout.

3) Heat provides energy to jumpstart the process of sprouting.

5. Explain why soaking seeds in water helped them to sprout more quickly.

The tough seed coat softened and allowed the embryo to break through.


6. Explain three ways that seeds can be dispersed.

1) The fruit can fall off and rot away.

2) The seeds can be carried by the wind.

3) The seeds can be softened and dispersed by animal droppings.


7. Think of a reason why certain types of fruits are so bright and colorful and how this might benefit these different types of plants.

Bright and tasty fruits would appeal well to animals, and therefore be eaten, and the seeds would be spread around by poop.

8. b. Make a list of five different ways a seed can be dispersed (you may use the ways already described in this lesson and/or research others).

1) The fruit can fall off and rot away.

2) The seeds can be carried by the wind.

3) The seeds can be softened and dispersed by animal droppings.

4) Seeds can be moved by rushing water.

5) Other times seeds can stick to animal's fur and be dropped later.

* Spend some time outdoors and look for ten different plants and figure out which type of dispersal each plants uses.


Daisy (Witnessed in action!)
Wind dispersal

Orange (Witnessed in action!)
Fruit

African daisy (Witnessed in action!)
Wind

Rose (Witnessed in action!)
Drops seeds

Raspberry
Fruit

Blueberry
Fruit

Grapes
Fruit


Extra Credit: A Poem about Seed Dispersal

In the Spring.
A seed with a ring
Of feathers
floats by
Where is it going? In the sky.
It plants itself down near a stone
As the wind whistles in a melodious tone.
A few days later, a plant is born!


EXAM


1. How does the growth and reproduction of plants differ from that of animals.

Plants grow their whole lives, and produce seeds instead of internal or external eggs.


2. Name three ways in which plants are extremely important to life on Earth.

Other animals eat plants to produce energy to grow. Plants breathe (carbon + oxegen) (C + O x2) Carbon Dioxide, and breathe out oxygen. We can't breathe CO2, and it also stuffs up the atmosphere. Plants create rich soil (compost) when they decompose, thus creating a safe, rich home for other plants and microorganisms.

3. What are the three main parts of a seed? What is the purpose of each part?

1) Seed coats protect the soft embryo inside, and keep bad stuff out.

2) An embryo is a baby plant that starts to get bigger and bigger once the seed's needs have been met.

3) Endosperm is the plant's original food that it grows on, and keeps the embryo from dying and not being able to grow.


4. What are the three main requirements for a seed to begin germination?

Heat, water, and soil.

5. List and describe three ways that seeds can be dispersed.

The fruit can fall off and rot away. The seeds can be carried by the wind. The seeds can be softened and dispersed by animal droppings.