Title: Variation in Pea Seeds

Title: Variation in Pea Seeds

Biology I Honors

Research I

2012-13

Title: Variation in Pea Seeds

Purpose:

  • To demonstrate variation in numbers of seeds in different types of pea pods
  • To organize and graph data
  • As students complete the lab exercise, students are to complete their lab notebooks and follow the correct Lab Notebook format found at the course website.

Research Question {Problem}

  • Students are to create a problem based on under-lined section in the purpose section above.
  • Remember the correct format of the problem.
  • Must be written as an open-ended question.

Pre-Lab Questions

  • There are no pre-lab questions for this lab exercise

Introduction

  • Students should complete their introduction based background information on peas
  • Types of Peas
  • Where peas are found in the world
  • Data on how many people consume peas in a year
  • Threats to pea agriculture in the world
  • Example(s)
  • Drought
  • Pests

Hypothesis:

  • Students must create a hypothesis using the if-then format.
  • Hence, students should establish an independent variable and a dependent variable

Thesis Statement:

  • See how the thesis statement should be developed under the “lab notebook” tab on the course website.

Materials:

  • 25 Samples of EACH TYPE of pea pod.
  • It is suggested that students have a minimum of TWO types of pea pods. THREE types are strongly recommended

String Beans

Lima Beans

Procedure: (Must be written in the correct format in lab notebook…See course website for details)

  • Describe the shape, size, texture, color, etc of different types of pea pods
  • Open 25 pods of each type of pea
  • Count the number of pea seeds in each pod
  • Record your data in a data chart
  • Determine the following statistics:
  • Average number of peas per pod (total number of seeds/total number of pods)
  • Range in number of peas per pod
  • Median (middle value)
  • Mode (most frequent value)
  • Obtain data on average number of peas per pod in different types of pea pods from other groups
  • Use the averages to construct a bar graph
  • Type of seed on horizontal axis
  • Average number of seeds on vertical axis

Results:

  • Data chart for your pea seed counts
  • Data chart for class data
  • Graph
  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete results section.

Discussion:

  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete discussion section.

Conclusion:

  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete the conclusion section.
  • Include information about which type of pea shows the least variation and which type shows the most variation in number of peas per pod

**STUDENTS ARE TO FOLLOW FORMAT POSTED ONLINE FOR LAB NOTEBOOK.ALL SECTIONS SHOWN ONLINE MUST BE INCLUDED IN LAB NOTEBOOK WRITE-UP. THIS IS A BRIEF CONCISE GUIDE FOR THE LAB EXERCISE.

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