by Liz LaRosa

www.middleschoolscience.com

(modified from original in text book)

Objectives:

• to identify the parts of a mushroom.
• to observe the spores released from different types of mushrooms.
• to understand the way fungi reproduce.

Procedure:

1. You will be given one mushroom per lab couple. Record what type you have in Figure 1.
2. Make a sketch of your mushroom in Figure 1. Label the cap, stalk and gills.
3. Carefully remove the stalk from the mushroom.
4. Place the cap, gill side down, cover with a beaker, and leave untouched for 2 days.
5. Remove cap and spray spores with hair spray
6. Examine prints with magnifying glass.
7. Sketch/Place your spore print in Figure 2.

Data:

Figure 1: Sketch of Mushroom _________________________

Figure 2: Spore Print

Analysis:

1. What did you observe on the paper when you removed the cap?
2. Name all the parts of a mushroom that you observed.
3. Why did we add hair spray to the prints?
4. Why did we use the magnifying glass?
5. Explain how fungi use spores to reproduce.
6. If fungi release millions of spores, why aren't we overrun by fungi?

Conclusion: 2 - 3 sentences on what you learned.