"Fast Plant" kits will be developed around the rapid-flowering Brassica campestris, a "new plant technology", for use in K-12 science and biology classes. Approximately 20 hands-on exercises illustrating the basic concepts and principles of biology and genetics will be developed through the cooperation of teachers, scientists and curriculum experts. Inquiry and problem solving through hypothesis testing will be an important focus of each exercise. Carefully designed to supplement the existing curriculum, the final product will be packaged into easy-to-use kits including seeds, watering system, teacher manuals and student workbooks. The rapid-cycling brassicas, members of the cabbage family, have unique properties which make them ideal classroom subject: hardiness, petite size (eight fit into a coffee mug), rapid growth (complete seed-to-seed cycle in 35 days) and a wide variety of genes expressed as identifiable phenotypic characteristics. Objectives of the Instructional Materials Development Program include the introduction of new materials and methods into the precollege classroom. This project aptly meets Program objectives in that it is providing an exciting opportunity for more indepth studies in areas such as reproductive biology, genetics, physiology and ecology. The project director, both by training and experience, is highly qualified to conduct activities.
