In this investigation, students will gather their own evidence to explain how inheritance works. As they observe three generations of Wisconsin Fast Plants, students will unravel a mystery of paternity: What is the fatherĺŐs phenotype? Is it the same as the motherĺŐs phenotype or the offspringĺŐs phenotype? Or is it something entirely different? As the generations of plants grow, students will make observations that will serve as evidence to support or refute their explanations about the inheritance of a trait.

This is a jpg version of the Wisconsin Fast Plants life cycle that is found on our website. These Fast Plant illustrations were drawn by Alison Schroeer.

On YouTube: Time lapse video of Wisconsin Fast Plants growing from planted seed through flowering to seed production, set to music!Time lapse just makes them grow a little faster than they do in real life -- this video shows approximately 40 days, the time it takes to produce the next generation.