The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed nearly 50 WFPIDs covering a variety of Fast Plants topics and activities. These WFPIDs are full of hands-on, practical information to help you get the most from Fast Plants. We encourage you to use them.
Inheritance and Fast Plants
A Biological Riddle: How Can Things That Look So Different Be the Same?®
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Answer that question by taking a trip to your local supermarket and purchasing vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, turnips, and pak choi (celery cabbage). By comparing these with the rapid cycling plants (Rbr), and breeding the vegetables with each other, learn what the interesting connection is between these very different looking vegetables.
Around the World with Brassicas
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Explore in depth the 6 most important species of Brassica and what role they each play in feeding the world population.
Fast Plants and Families
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Explore what it means to be in a family. Do the seeds in one pod have the same mother and father?
Getting a Handle on Variation
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What are some of the reasons for a plant's biological variations? Explore these variations using your own Fast Plants® data and a frequency histogram.
Hairy's Inheritance
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Why do plants have hair on various parts of their anatomy? This is a question whose answer many scientists are still unsure of. Through observing and counting the hairs on their Fast Plants®, students learn more about variation and inheritance, and perhaps even raise interesting hypotheses of their own about this trait's underlying purpose.
Hairy's Inheritance: Selection, Variation, and Inheritance
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Also published as a Carolina Tips article, this activity guides students and teachers through the art of selection, hypothesizes on the mode of inheritance, and measures gain from selection using a trait easily observed on Fast Plants®: hairs.
Quantitative Variation, Selection, and Inheritance with Fast Plants
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An introduction to quantitative variation and Fast Plants®. Explore the concepts of heritability, continuous variation, and response to selection in Fast Plants®.
Unraveling the Mysteries of Hairy's Inheritance
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Current research around the questions how are hairs on Fast Plants® Inherited. What if you cross a hairless Fast Plant with a hairy Fast Plant? Will the F1 be hairy or hairless? What about the F2?
