1We've got to choose a topic for our experiment, haven't we, Jack?
2Were you thinking of something to do with seeds?
3That's right.
4I thought we could look at seed germination - how a seed begins to grow.
5OK.
6Any particular reason?
7I know you're hoping to work in plant science eventually...
8Yeah, but practically everything we do is going to feed into that.
9No, there's an optional module on seed structure and function in the third year that I might do,
10so I thought it might be useful for that.
11If I choose that option, I don't have to do a dissertation module.
12Good idea.
13Hmm... well, I thought for this experiment we could look at the relationship between seed size and the way the seeds are planted.
14So, we could plant different sized seeds in different ways, and see which grow best.
15OK.
16We'd need to allow time for the seeds to come up.
17That should be fine if we start now.
18A lot of the other possible experiments need quite a bit longer.
19So that'd make it a good one to choose.
20And I don't suppose it'd need much equipment;
21we're not doing chemical analysis or anything.
22Though that's not really an issue,
23we've got plenty of equipment in the laboratory.
24Yeah. We need to have a word with the tutor if we're going to go ahead with it though.
25I'm sure our aim's OK.
26It's not very ambitious but the assignment's only 10% of our final mark, isn't it?
27But we need to be sure we're the only ones doing it.
28Yeah, it's only 5% actually,
29but it'd be a bit boring if everyone was doing it.
30Did you read that book on seed germination on our reading list?
31The one by Graves?
32I looked through it for my last experiment,
33though it wasn't all that relevant there.
34It would be for this experiment, though.
35I found it quite hard to follow -
36lots about the theory, which I hadn't expected
37Yes, I'd been hoping for something more practical.
38It does include references to the recent findings on genetically-modified seeds, though.
39Yes, that was interesting.
40I read an article about seed germination by Lee Hall.
41About seeds that lie in the ground for ages and only germinate after a fire?
42That's the one.
43I knew a bit about it already, but not about this research.
44His analysis of figures comparing the times of the fires and the proportion of seeds that germinated
45was done in a lot of detail - very impressive.
46Was that the article with the illustrations of early stages of plant development?
47They were very clear.
48I think those diagrams were in another article.
49Anyway, shall we have a look at the procedure for our experiment?
50We'll need to get going with it quite soon.
51Right.
52So the first thing we have to do is find our seeds.
53I think vegetable seeds would be best.
54And obviously they mustn't all be the same size.
55So, how many sorts do we need?
56About four different ones?
57I think that would be enough.
58There'll be quite a large number of seeds for each one.
59Then, for each seed we need to find out how much it weighs,
60and also measure its dimensions,
61and we need to keep a careful record of all that.
62That'll be quite time-consuming.
63And we also need to decide how deep we're going to plant the seeds -
64right on the surface, a few millimetres down, or several centimetres.
65OK.
66So then we get planting.
67Do you think we can plant several seeds together in the same plant pot?
68No, I think we need a different one for each seed.
69Hmm... Right. And we'll need to label them.
70We can use different coloured labels.
71Then we wait for the seeds to germinate.
72I reckon that'll be about three weeks, depending on what the weather's like.
73Then we see if our plants have come up, and write down how tall they've grown.
74Then all we have to do is look at our numbers, and see if there's any relation between them.
75That's right...