Seeds

Seeds in Fall... Collect Them All! Student Page
(Completed in late September/early October.)

===__Summary__: Students collect seed/leaf samples from trees in the community. These seeds/leaves are then identified in class using online and offline resources and used to predict the level of biodiversity in the area. Additional seed activities include dichotomous sorting using attributes.===

__Think__

 * ===biodiversity = living variety===
 * ===simple leaf = a leaf with one leaflet on each stem===
 * ===compound leaf = a leaf with two or more leaflets on each stem===
 * ===In a short hike around the school, we can find FIVE or more varieties of trees with seeds===
 * ===The biodiversity key listed below will be used to guide our hypotheses.===

__Biodiversity Key__
Well-established Trees Found ||= Level of Tree Biodiversity in the Area || //Note: A "well-established" tree is found by 5% or more of fifth graders.//
 * = Number of Different
 * = 0-10 ||= poor ||
 * = 11-20 ||= moderate ||
 * = 21 or more ||= rich ||

__Hypothesis__: I think the level of tree biodiversity in our area is...

 * ===poor = ELEVEN students===
 * ===moderate = SIXTY TWO students===
 * ===rich = EIGHTEEN students===

__Data__: Below is a photo of the number of well-established trees with seeds in our area that were found collectively by our fifth grade classes.


===__Conclusion__: Fifth graders at Ayer Elementary found 21 varieties of well-established trees with seeds in our community. According to the chart above, our community has RICH tree biodiversity. Eighteen of ninety one hypotheses were correct.===