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Basil Cuttings and Pea Seeds

Grade 6 life science: basil cuttings given different fertilizer doses and peas grown from tall and short parents show how environment and genes affect growth.

Grade 6ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned toMS-LS1-5

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
10 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use fertilizer test data to explain how an environmental factor affects plant growth.
Students use histograms of pea heights to explain how genes inherited from parents affect growth.

How to use

Read the passage together and check that students know how to read a histogram before Part 2. Students can answer on their own and compare open responses with a partner.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

MS-LS1-5

Explain how environmental and genetic factors affect the growth of organisms.

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Basil Cuttings and Pea Seeds

Use two greenhouse tests to explain how genes and the environment affect growth.

Part 1: The basil test

Read the passage and study the basil table. Then answer questions 1–4.

Getting Ready for the Plant Sale

1Every May, the sixth graders at Juniper Ridge Middle School sell herbs and vegetables they grow in the school greenhouse. This year their teacher, Anselm Rourke, gave the class two questions to test before the sale. Does fertilizer change how much basil grows? And does the height of a pea plant depend on the plants its seeds came from?

2For the basil test, the class took 20 stem cuttings from one large basil plant. Because every cutting came from the same plant, they all had the same genes. Each cutting grew roots in a jar of water and was then planted in its own pot of the same potting mix. All 20 pots sat on one greenhouse bench and got the same amount of water. Each week, 5 pots got no fertilizer, 5 got a half dose, 5 got a full dose (the amount on the label) and 5 got a double dose. After 5 weeks, the class cut all the leaves from each plant and weighed them. On the double-dose plants, many leaf edges had turned brown and dry.

3For the pea test, the class used seeds saved from last year's garden. Last year, two kinds of garden pea of the same species grew there: a tall climbing kind and a short bush kind. Pea flowers usually pollinate themselves, so a pea seed's genes come mostly from the one plant it grew on. In April, the class planted 20 seeds from tall plants and 20 seeds from short plants in one raised bed. The rows were mixed together, so both groups shared the same soil, sunlight and water. Eight weeks later, the class measured the height of every plant.