King Middle School Students Germinate Native Plant Species

Students at King Middle School have begun the second phase of their NRCM Grant Project, which involves germinating seeds that will eventually provide crucial habitat and sustenance to local bird species. Check out their progress!

Our first step in learning how to sustain wildlife with native plants has been to learn about seed plants. As beginning botanists hoping to increase the biodiversity across our city, we first have to learn about the basic parts of plants and their jobs. We are currently investigating germination by studying bean seeds in clear hydroponic planters. We are keeping observation notes in an app on our iPads called Notability. Here are some examples of soaked bean observations. We included measurements and descriptions of our Jacob’s Cattle Bean seeds as well as labeled the parts of the seeds. We also compared beans to corn to see the difference between monocots and dicots. Next, students will start germinating native plant species while we also continue to learn from the bean plants. We are looking forward to learning how roots, stems, and leaves assist the plant.