Celery Lab

It is funny how a teacher can have an amazing lab in front of them with the materials and procedure written out and yet the results not come out correctly- however that is science. Not only is that science, but that is the art of being a teacher- being flexible! While teaching my students about plant transport this week we did the classic celery lab where you put a stalk of celery in a cup of water, add food coloring, wait 24 hours, and observe how the die has moved up from the roots to the top. However, what they do not mention in the procedure or in other teachers' reflections on the experiment is that:

1.) You must cut the celery right before placing in the water (not 3 hours before as I did)

2.) You must use the celery that has leaves at the end, not just a stalk (so yes you need to buy about three times the bundles of celery than you actually need because only 1/3 of them come with leaves still on them when you purchase them from the grocery store

3.) Finally- DON'T TELL YOUR STUDENTS YOU WILL BE DOING THE NEXT ACTIVITY THE FOLLOWING DAY- they get very disappointed when you have to fix the experiment and delay the lab by three days

What I learn from activities such as these is that while you're teaching, you must be flexible. It was a bit nerve racking this morning when I went in to "checkup" on the celery to find that only 3 of 14 were showing the results, but I had to be flexible and move the lab to the following Tuesday to allow time to re-do the stalks that do not have leaves, and give them a chance to soak before our "little scientists" come in to observe.