BioSite Blog 2

I have always loved being around little kids, that is why I did this project. It was fun teaching them about the chickens, and I even learned a few things in the process. I was a little worried that the 4th graders would not like what we had planned, but they fortunately loved everything we did. They were of course shy at first but they soon warmed up to us once we showed them they had nothing to be afraid of. It was excited to see how eager the kids were to learn about our chickens. One girl said that she owned chickens, so we had to step up our game. We may have been a little rusty with our first group but we quickly got the hang of things once we knew what we were doing. I could not have done it with out the help of my team members and the cooperation of the kids. This was definitely a positive experience for everyone that contributed and was apart of this. I hope that I can be apart of something like this again.

BioSite Blog 1

In my group, we all had different ideas on how we'd proceed with the day that the students come to see our chickens. We decided to try an incorporate all of our ideas in our final presentation for the 4th graders. We all knew that it is hard to keep a group of 4th graders attention, so we tried to make it as fun as possible. I believe we all did a solid job at working together. We would start by introducing ourselves while trying to seem enthusiastic. Then we'd start by passing the talking ball ball around asking the kids what their name was and what they were most excited about to learn. Next we asked the children questions about chickens. The one's who got the questions right would get to pick out of a few foods to feed to the chickens. Some of the foods were meal worms, carrots, lettuce, and bread. We would tell them to use an open palm while feeding the chickens. After, anyone that did not get to feed the chickens would get the opportunity to do so. Once that was done, they would go in their journals to draw a picture of a chicken and write something they learned. If there was any time at the end, we would offer the chance for the kids to hold a chicken if they so desired. Overall, I believe our schedule was organized and fun.

Flowers Under A Microscope

upper view of the stamen of the orange flower

side view of stamen of the yellow flower

The glands at a flowers base make nectar, which is the part of the flower that insects want. So the insect crawls into the flower to reach the nectar. On the insect's little journey, the pollen grains on the anthers stick to the insect's feet where they are transferred to another flower. Or they can be moved from the stamen to the pistil of the same flower.  The pistil of the flower holds the female organs and is made of the stigma and the ovary. In the ovary you find the ovule which is at the base of the tube. When a piece of pollen spore falls onto the stigma, it sends a tube down to the ovum. The male gametes are found at the tip of the tube. Once that tip reaches the ovule, it bursts and releases the male gametes. One of the gametes combines with the polar nuclei and the other the the female egg. The ovum then starts the production of a seed and the ovary grows a protective barrier around it that will eventually turn into the fruit.

The Disappearing Cabbage

     It's been several weeks since we have planted our plants in the garden. We believed that when we left our plants in the garden they would become big and healthy plants. However that was not the case. When we returned to the garden after a few weeks we found out that our plants have been either been damaged or dead.  

Part 1 

Evidence:

This is the site of where the plants were planted are in disarray. The mulch that we put around our plant has been rummaged through by something.

     Judging from the picture above we believed that something moved the plants. The area was messy the mulch we placed around the plant was scattered around the planting site.

A picture of what seems like digging in the site of the plants.

     This picture tells us that something dug up our plants. The only thing we can think of that would intentionally dig up our plants was the chickens close by.

Weeds that have been used as food by something near our plants.

     This pictures brings us to believe that there is something else that might cause the disappearance of our plant. Judging from the small holes we concluded that these weeds were being eaten by a species of small insect.

Hypothesis:

  After observing the evidence and researching about tiny insects and chickens, we have concluded that a chicken has eaten our plant. After researching more about chickens we've learned that chickens can dig, eat cabbage, and can jump. By bringing these facts together we came up with a hypothesis that one of the chickens in the coop jumped onto a bin in the chicken area and went to the plant are and dug up the plants and ate them.

Part 2

About Our Project

        The Story of the Seed is a year-long project that is designed by Mr. Bursch from Willow Glen High School, where students track the life of a plant, from a tiny seed to a large plant. Students are put into groups, with each group receiving a seed of a cultivar of Brassica oleracea (Kale, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, etc.) The seeds are then germinated in moist paper towels during the first experiment of the year. Some time after the seeds have sprouted, the groups are then to transplant their healthiest seeds into trays of soil where they are placed under growth lights to grow larger before putting them into one of the raised beds in the school's main garden. After the plants have been transplanted the students in each group are to monitor the growth of their plants.

Author Bio (Huy Nguyen)

My name is Huy Nguyen. I came to San Jose, California with my family from Saigon,Vietnam when I was around three years old which was around 2003.

I don't garden that often, all I do is water the plants. The person that really gardens in my family wood be my mom. She takes cares of all the plants in our backyard. I don't really cook, since I've never tried to cook and the only people that cook in my family are my parents.