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    • Botany

    Botany

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    Botany is the branch of biology that specializes in plant life.  Botanists study nearly 400,000 species of life, including flowers, vascular plants, fungi and algae.  And because plants are inexpensive and easy to grow, they are frequently a topic for science fair projects.

    		Botany Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00

    Biology4Kids.com: Plants5 stars

    "If you're not a microbe and you're not an animal, chances are you are a plant. There are loads of species of plants on Earth. Just as there is a system of classification for animals, there is also a system of classification for plants." This Biology4Kids introduction to plants is divided into ten parts. Start your tour with Photosynthesis and progress by using the navigation buttons at the bottom of each page, or jump to any section via the menu at the top of the right-hand column.



    Education.com: Botany Science Fair Projects5 stars

    "Kids will love discovering how concepts like phototropism, gravitropism, photosynthesis, and transpiration aren't just things they can read about in textbooks — they're very cool biological processes that can be readily observed at home." Not just for the science fair, these 214 botany experiments can be done for any reason at all, including just for the fun of it!

    National Museum of Natural History: Botany5 stars

    For kids and grownups alike, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) provides insight into their current botany research subjects, including Plant Conservation and the Plant DNA Barcode Project. "A taxonomic impediment for many systematists, field ecologists, and evolutionary biologists is determining the correct identification of a plant or animal sample in a rapid, repeatable, and reliable fashion. This problem was a major reason for the development of a new method for the quick identification of any species based on extracting a DNA sequence from a tiny tissue sample of any organism."

    TED Talks: Plantastic!5 stars

    "Green, leafy, often delicious: Plants are all around us and make the ecosystem work. Hear from gardeners, vegetarians, designers and conservationists on the wonderful world of plants and vegetables." TED is an annual conference (and non-profit) devoted to spreading good ideas via short talks that are usually 18 minutes or less and very accessible. This video collection of ten botany talks (curated by TED) addresses current issues in botany, such as living in a food desert and the loss of biodiversity.

    University of Illinois Extension: The Great Plant Escape5 stars

    "Welcome to the Great Plant Escape! My name is Bud. My good friend Sprout and I are helping Detective LePlant on his search. You will find that plants are an important part of your life. We will need your help to find clues, do experiments, and solve problems as we journey into the world of plants." This fun interdisciplinary webquest for upper elementary students introduces botany and food science. It is organized into six separate cases, each of which includes activities, mysteries to solve and web links.

    		Botany Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00



    Honorable Mentions

    The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

    Botany and Seed Germination Experiments


    Cite This Page

    Feldman, Barbara. "Botany." Surfnetkids. Feldman Publishing. 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2024. <https://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/botany/ >.


    About This Page

    By . Originally published March 19, 2014. Last modified April 25, 2023.

    Filed Under: More Science, Science

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