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I am looking for information on a lab that I orginally saw at a CA Science TEacher Conference 2-3 yrs ago. We took spinach and ground up using sand & some chemical. WE then shined a light on the solution and it flouresed red. Does anyone know if the solution is water, alcohol or acetone or some other combination? Thanks

Patricia wrote, 'I am looking for information on a lab that I orginally saw at a CA Science TEacher Conference 2-3 yrs ago. We took spinach and ground up using sand & some chemical. WE then shined a light on the solution and it flouresed red. Does anyone know if the solution is water, alcohol or acetone or some other combination? Thanks.'

Hi Patricia,

I think the lab you want is the one I have attached to this post. I found it after a quick google search at the following link.

Attachments

chlorophyll_lab.pdf (0.02 Mb)

Hi Patricia, Welcome to the Discussion Forums. Ruth has found the lab you are probably looking for; I thought you might also be interested in a couple of other resources about photosynthesis. If you go to the National NSTA Conference website when it was held in CA earlier this year, you will find a Search Events tab at the bottom of that URL where you can type in the term 'photosynthesis'. Two presentations on photosynthesis appear where the presenters posted their worksheets, ppts, etc. for you to download: San Francisco 2011
Also, there are other discussion threads on photosynthesis that you might be interested in reading. One is called Photosynthesis in Middle School
and another is called: Photosynthesis and Respiration Resources
Let us know if the lab Ruth found was what you were looking for. Better yet, let us know what you are doing in your classroom to teach photosynthesis to your students. It is great to hear other teachers' ideas and share resources and activities here. Perhaps others will chime in with their favorite photosynthesis labs.

I am doing a photosynthesis lab with snails and sprigs of elodea. I have 4 jars, one with just water, another with water and a snail, another with water and a sprig of elodea, and another with water elodea and a snail. When bromothymol blue is added it will turn yellow in the presence of carbon dioxide and blue in the presence of oxygen. Its up to the students to predict what the color change will be in each jar based on their knowledge of photosynthesis and respiration. I wanted to do another set of 4 jars and keep them in the dark, but the pet store only had 2 mystery snails. I am worried that the snails might die- I've never done a lab with living animals before.

Hi Kayla,
I found this resource on how to care for mystery snails in case you are interested. Good luck.

Hi all, I stumbled upon this looking for some ideas on photosynthesis. Thanks to everyone for their great ideas and links! Stacey

Hi all, I stumbled upon this looking for some ideas on photosynthesis. Thanks to everyone for their great ideas and links! Stacey

We are working on a workshop plan for kindergartners. One of our team members wants to discuss photosynthesis. Is there a way to explain this on a very basic level or should we exclude this topic for discussion?

Hi Beverly,

I would not exclude the topic for discussion. IMHO, I think kindergarteners should know the following about photosynthesis.....

*Plants make their own food which is sugar.
*They use a process called photosynthesis to do this.
*They get energy from the sun to help them make the sugar.
*The raw materials needed in this process are water and carbon dioxide.
*They make oxygen that is important to animals.

Anything more in-depth than this would be very hard for kindergarteners to conceptualize.

This resource from the NSTA Learning Center may also be helpful. I also think that this resource might be promising. Post back what you decide to do. :-)