SAPS Tickle Your Plants for Extra Strength - student notes Thigmotropism is an adaptive growth response shown by plants to mechanical stimuli, such as being touched. These responses involve biochemical, physiological and anatomical changes. An advantage in the classroom is that a mechanical stimulus is often effective when applied at regular intervals (for as little as once a day) rather than continuously.
This resource gives some ideas of ways that structural responses can be explored, providing opportunities for individual student investigations.
This is a developing resource idea, first published in SAPS Osmosis newsletter, Autumn 2000. If you'd like to see this become a fully-fledged teaching resource, why not become a SAPS Associate and apply for funding to develop it further?