Corn and photosynthesis at Farm Camp
By Kenzie Barth, Minnesota Corn Growers Association intern
This week, District Field Manager Cara Soukup and I went to Farm Camp! August 13th and 14th we were at FarmAmerica in Waseca, and on the 16th we went to Wolf Creek Dairy in Dundas. Farm Camp is an opportunity for students in grades 3 – 6 to learn about agriculture from a range of commodity groups. It was my first time at Farm Camp and I had a great time teaching campers about corn!
At the corn station, we taught students about how corn grows using photosynthesis and examined the different parts of the corn plant and what they do, as well as handed out germination packs so campers could see their own corn kernels germinate at home. And last but not least, we learned the photosynthesis dance.
To begin, we all took some deep breaths to show that people breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, which plants then breathe in. We then learned about the parts of a corn plant that help it to grow, including roots, the stalk and leaves. Campers learned about what happens in each part of the plant, like roots absorb water and nutrients, stalks hold up the plant, and photosynthesis happens in the leaves.
Then, we all turned into corn plants for a few minutes and did the photosynthesis dance! It has a few steps:
First, we held out our leaves (arms) so we could absorb lots of sunlight.
Then, we took in a deep breath of carbon dioxide.
Third, we took in water and nutrients from the soil, then we got zapped by the sun!
After that we had a big energy rush from all the sunlight, and finally we breathed out oxygen (We didn’t hold our breath the whole time, thank goodness!).
After we did the photosynthesis dance, every camper made a germination pack so that they could watch their corn kernels germinate later. The germination packs were pretty simple: campers grabbed a Ziploc bag and a paper towel, then they got the paper towel damp and put it in their plastic bag along with two corn seeds.
Some groups had enough time to do an additional activity where they got into small groups and compared the functions of plant parts to our bodies, for example, the roots hold the plant up like how our feet hold us up.
We concluded each session by taking a few questions and talking about the differences between popcorn, field/dent corn and sweet corn. Cara told campers about some of the many uses of corn, including cornstarch coating shoelaces, corn in the rubber of their shoes, and corn in ethanol found in the fuel of cars.
A big thank you to FarmAmerica and Wolf Creek Dairy for hosting Farm Camp 2k18! We had a great time at the corn station and can’t wait to come back next year.
