| Practicals |
Teaching topics |
Description |
Growing and sourcing |
Curriculum links |
 | You don't have to eat your greens - you can bring them into the lab and use them for investigating photosynthesis instead. Fresh spinach leaves make a great resource for TLC. |
Practicals
- Photosynthesis: Resource - An investigation into the separation of photosynthetic pigments.
- Photosynthesis: Ask the Experts - Demonstrating the Hill reaction (available for SAPS Associates)
- Photosynthesis - Resource: Investigating the behaviour of leaf discs
This is a hands-on way to investigate photosynthesis, and can be used
to compare sun and shade plants, different light intensities, etc.
Teaching Topics
- Chromatography
- Photosynthetic pigments
Description
Spinach, Spinacia oleracea
Spinach is a leafy, green vegetable grown as an annual. Recorded to have first been cultivated by the Persians. Modern breeding techniques have reduced the calcium oxalate levels, which in older varieties caused a bitter-tasting leaf.
Growing and sourcing
Obtaining: Easily sourced from greengrocers, markets and supermarkets. To keep the leaves fresh, you may wish to look for bundles of spinach leaves with longer stalks, cut the ends off and put them in water.
Curriculum Links
CfE
Scottish Highers Unit 3 Sustainability and Interdependence