Open House Prep, Biochem, Seeding, Anatomy, Carrot Culture, and Taxonomy

Open House, Biochemistry, Seeding, Anatomy, Carrot Culture, and Taxonomy

Open House!

Please be sure to come visit the Agricultural Science program on February 2nd from 9 to 12 pm for the annual SCVTHS Open House. We will have our Ag Science Building open with activities (some you may have seen through my teacher blog), and we will have a table in the main building by the Media Center with an activity to lead families to our building. There will be a shuttle bus to transport people if the walk is intimidating. Please share this info with those that may be interested. Looking forward to seeing you here. You can register to attend by clicking on this link to our SCVTHS home page.

Biochemistry

Our Research and Development students are closing in on running their experiment. They have been analyzing and planning their procedures. While reviewing their procedures and selecting materials, they noticed that there may be an opportunity to block antibiotic resistant bacteria from protecting themselves. One of our students has taken the lead on examining the organic chemistry behind bacteria protecting themselves from host organisms. Below they are starting a pilot test using mostly materials expected to used in the experiment. They had to go "old school" with their sterile culture and utilize a clear plastic tote. This tote was actually what students used in the first year of Biotech since we did not have a biosafety cabinet / laminar flow hood then. We now use the tote for classroom FFA jacket storage.

Seeding

Our PTO pansy crop has been started! We sowed seed into 288 cell trays provided by the PTO while veteran grower Nick Malanga assisted in set up. The seeds were sown on Monday 1-14 and Tuesday 1-15 as seen above. Then below, about a dozen of the day one pansies have germinated with our two students in charge of the project. Very exciting to see these come up so early.  A bit high maintenance at this point since we are still figuring out how to grow a pansy crop the right way. The students seen below will use this project as a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project and earn hours toward honorary FFA degrees, proficiency awards, scholarships, and marketing themselves. Project planning, Formal record keeping, and recording what standards students learned makes a complete SAE project.

Also an additional thank you to Ginder Greenhouses for donating the seed and finishing pots. We greatly appreciate contributions that help students learn and earn credit toward SAE projects.  Thank you!

Anatomy

Intro to Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources (FANR) students are currently in a plant science unit and will soon move to a plant growing requirements unit. Below is picture of flower models FANR students created and labeled for a flower anatomy lesson. 

Carrot Culture

The Animal and Plant Biotech students last week wrote a protocol for introducing a supplemental gene into a carrot in part utilizing tissue culture. After creating this protocol from lessons previously learned, they then perform the part of the experiment that includes the tissue culturing. The major steps are: 1) creating the carrot growth medium, 2) sterilizing the carrot tissue and all the materials needed, 3) cutting the carrot with a cork borer to obtain inner tissue that will be more likely sterile, and 4) culturing the carrot on callus initiation media.  They will transfer the carrot callus to shoot induction media in roughly eight weeks.

Taxonomy and Nutrients!

Plant Science students are moving through units quickly at this point. They have recently, and quickly, covered units in Plant Taxonomy, Plant bionomial naming and associated rules, and currently investigating nutrients. The last lab they completed was testing two soil types for nutrient content.  Both samples came from our greenhouse tomato crop and we found need to add some nutrients to them. Good thing we tested these!

Starting January of with Productivity

Starting 2019 Off with Productivity
January 9th

 Agricultural Research & Development - Antibiotic Resistance Testing

Students have made plans for ordering their antibiotic research project materials, made a plan for experimentation, begun a data collection plan, and above are seen in the beginning of a lesson about data.  Here they are learning about accuracy and precision.

 Intro to Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources

Students in this class are learning about cellular contents and DNA. They have completed activities in identifying organelle functions, DNA structure and replication, identifying trait categories and their variances, and shown above they have learned how to use both physical and chemical separation techniques for harvesting DNA from a strawberry.

 Animal and Plant Biotechnology

Students have done several lessons on the controversy associated with genetically modified organisms, and have learned sterile technique.  In the above photo, students are preparing growth media for ferns in sterile tissue culture. They will autoclave the media, then when cooled enough will pour the media into culture vessels, and then culture ferns onto the fresh media. 

Plant Science

Students in this course recently completed a unit covering flower anatomy and function. Today they began a unit to understand classification and taxonomy.  In the photo above students have been assigned to develop their own dichotomous key using identification features they chose.

Science Fair Preparation

We will be hosting a science fair on February 25th.  Students are busy preparing by running experiments, writing their analysis, and preparing for presentations. In the two photos below, one student is trying to answer the question of which of the three turfgrass species harvest the most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? She enlisted some help from classmates and is using a data logging device with a CO2 chamber to measure the gas level removed by each of the three turfgrasses. She will present her findings at our science fair.

PTO plants

Our students will be growing pansies for the SCVTHS PTO to give away to staff in May.  Below we are setting up our new thermostat to control a heat mat needed to create optimal conditions for pansy seed germination.