The Science of Seeds sample

Why We Eat Maize , Wheat, Rice , and P otatoes

CONTENTS

Timeline . . . iv

Introduction Seeds, Seeds, Everywhere! . . . 1

Chapter 1

First Farmers, First Crops . . . 7

Chapter 2 Maize . . . 19

Chapter 3 Wheat . . . 31

Chapter 4 Rice . . . 48

Chapter 5 Potatoes . . . 65

Chapter 6

Endangered Seeds . . . 77

Glossary • Metric Conversions

Resources • Essential Questions Index

Interested in Primary Sources? Look for this icon.

Some of the QR codes in this book link to primary sources that offer firsthand information about the topic. Many photos are considered primary sources as well because a photograph takes a picture at the moment something happens. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more! You can find a list of the URLs on the Resources page. You can also use the suggested keywords to find other helpful sources.

seeds

SEEDS, SEEDS, EVERYWHERE!

Maize , wheat, rice, and potatoes. From Lagos to Los Angeles, these four staple foods can be found in our breakfast cereals, lunch boxes, and on our dinner tables. The foods we love would not be the same without these four staple foods. What would a Rice Krispie Treat taste like without rice? Without potatoes, there would be no crispy French fries to dip in ketchup. And your burrito would be hard to hold without corn or wheat to make tortillas! How did we come to rely so much on these four foods?

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Why do we rely on so few staple crops in a world of agricultural diversity?

Since our earliest days, plants have been essential to the human diet. Today, there are more than 50,000 edible plant species on Earth. Yet only a few hundred plants make up a significant part of our diet. And just 15 plants provide 90 percent of the calories we eat. Of those, “the big four” crops —maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes—are staple foods for about 5 billion people. These big four crops are stable and widespread. Even in changing climate conditions, we rely on them to feed billions of people.

WORDS TO KNOW

maize: a Central American cereal plant; also known as corn.

staple food: a food that is an essential part of a population’s diet.

edible: fit to be eaten.

calories: units of energy in food.

crops: cultivated plants grown as food.

climate: long-term weather pattern in a region.

agriculture: the science or practice of farming.

malnutrition: poor nutrition caused by not eating the right foods.

nutrient: a substance in food and soil that living things need to live and grow.

WHAT ARE STAPLE FOODS?

A staple food is a food that is a significant part of a population’s diet. People eat staple foods regularly, often daily. These foods provide a large portion of the calories and nutrition a person needs.

Many staple foods come from plants. They are inexpensive and provide a lot of calories for energy. Beyond maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes, other staple foods include millet, sorghum, cassava, and yams. And not all staple foods are plants. Animal products such as meat, fish, and dairy are also staple foods.

A staple food in one region may not be as crucial for people living in another region. For example, millet, rice, and soybean are staple foods in China. In Mexico, maize and potatoes are more common staple foods. For centuries, a region’s staple foods were linked to the plants and crops that could grow nearby.

However, improvements in agriculture and transportation now allow staple foods to spread to new places worldwide. Have you ever had quinoa? Quinoa is a grain-like plant grown in the Andes Mountains in South America. Today, people as far away as North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa enjoy eating quinoa.

The Scientific Method

A scientific method worksheet is a useful tool for keeping your ideas and observations organized. The scientific method is the process scientists use to ask and answer questions. Use a notebook as a science journal to make a scientific method worksheet for each experiment.

Question: What are we trying to find out? What problem are we trying to solve?

Research: What is already known about this topic?

Hypothesis: What do we think the answer will be?

Equipment: What supplies are we using?

Method: What procedure are we following?

Results: What happened and why?

Staple foods are nutritious but do not provide all the nutrition people need. To avoid malnutrition, people must eat foods with other nutrients .

WORDS TO KNOW

evolution: changing gradually over many years.

civilization: a complex human society.

cultivate: to raise and grow plants for food.

hunter-gatherer: a nomadic person who lives by hunting, fishing, and gathering food. forage: to search widely for food.

nomadic: a lifestyle that involves moving from place to place.

anthropologist: a scientist who study humans and human behavior.

harvest: the process of gathering crops.

germinate: to sprout or begin to grow.

A CONNECTED HISTORY

The big four staple foods do more than feed people worldwide. These top crops have also played a role in the evolution of human civilization. The histories of humans and the crops we grow have been interconnected for thousands of years.

Staple foods supported the first human civilizations—wheat and barley in the Near East, rice and millet in Asia, and maize and potatoes in the Americas. And they did not grow by accident. Instead, humans purposely cultivated these crops. In doing so, people transformed these crops from wild plants into the staple foods we enjoy today. And with these crops, our human ancestors evolved from hunters and gatherers to early farmers. These changes took place slowly over many generations.

LIFE AS A HUNTER-GATHERER

Hunting and gathering were a way of life for most of human history. In fact, until about 12,000 years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers. Huntergatherers hunted and fished for meat. They foraged plants, seeds, berries, fruits, and vegetables for food. Hunter-gatherers ate a variety of foods that contained a wide range of nutrients. Meats, fish, and plants provided proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and nutrients.

TEXT TO WORLD

Imagine what your life would be like as a hunter-gatherer. How would you find food where you live? What could you hunt or fish? What plants could you gather to eat?

Hunter-gatherers were very active. They traveled across large areas of land to find the food they needed. This constant travel made it difficult to build long-term settlements or stay in one place for very long. Instead, most hunter-gatherer groups were nomadic . They regularly traveled for food. The constant travel limited the size of the group. Some groups only included the members of an extended family. Other groups were larger and included multiple families. However, few groups had more than about 100 people.

Anthropologists and other scientists who have studied hunter-gatherer groups believe they accumulated a vast knowledge of the natural world. And they used that knowledge to survive. They could identify edible plants and knew which parts of the plant could be eaten. They knew which plants should be cooked before eating. They kept a seasonal calendar of when plants sprouted, bloomed, and were ready to harvest . They knew when animals and birds mated and had their young. They were able to extract medicines and poisons from plants. They used plant fibers to make clothing, baskets, and other objects.

About 12,000 years ago, humans lived on all continents except Antarctica.

Hunter-gatherers also learned to manage their environment. For example, they set controlled fires to eliminate weeds and insects. The fires also helped seeds with hard shells such as pine nuts, chestnuts, and walnuts germinate. More germinating seeds increased the number of seed-producing, edible plants. After the fires, new grass grew and attracted animals for grazing.

ADOPTING AGRICULTURE

For thousands of years, humans survived by hunting, fishing, and foraging. Then, about 12,000 years ago, evidence shows that nomadic human tribes began to use tools that allowed them to grow and cultivate their foods. The gradual adoption of agriculture and farming enormously impacted our human story.

WORDS TO KNOW

tubers: thick storage stem of certain plants such as potatoes. migrate: to move from one region to another.

With agriculture, early humans no longer needed to travel far and wide for food. The traditional huntergatherer lifestyle, which humans had always followed, was slowly replaced. With agriculture, humans grew crops and a reliable food source. Permanent settlements were established near farmlands.

Over time, settlements grew into towns and cities. And because farms could produce enough food to feed more people, the number of people skyrocketed. About 10,000 years ago, about 5 million people lived on Earth. Today, there are more than 8 billion humans on the planet.

Scientists cannot point to a single reason why hunter-gatherer groups adopted farming. Another mystery is how people living in different parts of the world, who had no contact with each other, independently adopted agriculture. In the Near East, evidence of early farming of wheat dates back 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. People began growing rice 9,000 years ago in China’s Yellow River Valley. African people grew tubers and roots around 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. And in South America, people began growing maize, beans, and squash between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago.

The Hadza of Tanzania

In Africa, the Hadza people of Northern Tanzania still rely on hunting and gathering to survive. They have no domesticated livestock and do not grow their own food. Instead, they hunt game with hand-made bows and arrows and forage for tubers, plants, and honey. As they follow a nomadic lifestyle, they do not have permanent homes. Instead, the Hadza build temporary shelters from dried grass and branches. They own few possessions, which makes it easier to move to a new camp. Today, there are about 1,300 Hadza tribe members. They are one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa.

You can see some of their lifestyle in this video. How are their lives different from yours? How are they similar? Please be aware this video has graphic moments.

A TURNING POINT

The gradual shift from hunting-gathering to agriculture was a turning point in human history. In places across the globe, people without contact with each other began to grow crops. They grew crops suited to their specific climate and environment. Then they migrated to new regions, and they brought their crops and seeds with them. As they met new people, groups began to trade with each other. Seeds, crops, and agriculture spread to new places.

The story of top crops—maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes—is closely intertwined with early humans and their first agricultural efforts. Where did these crops come from? How did humans cultivate them? And how did these crops become so important to human history? Let’s investigate and find out how these seeds grew to become the crops that shaped the world.

WHAT’S IN THE PANTRY?

Maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes are four of the most common staple crops in the world. But how common are these foods in your home? How much of what you like to eat depends on these four top crops?

› To begin, take an inventory of the food in your kitchen pantry, cabinets, and refrigerator. Make a list of everything you find.

› After you have a list of food, place each into a food category: corn, wheat, rice, and potato. You can add some additional categories, such as dairy, fruits and vegetables, and meat. Look at the list of ingredients on boxes and cans to determine if there are any staple foods in the food.

› Once you have sorted the food by category, think about the following questions.

» What staple food did you find the most?

» What staple food did you find the least?

» Did you find any foods that did not fit into any of your categories? What were they?

› Based on what you found, how much does your family rely on staple foods?

Consider This!

If one of the four top crops was no longer available, what foods would you not be able to eat? How would you replace these foods in your diet? What substitutions could you make?

Essential Questions

Each chapter of this book begins with an essential question to help guide your exploration of gravity. Keep the question in your mind as you read the chapter. At the end of each chapter, use your science journal to record your thoughts and answers.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Why do we rely on so few staple crops in a world of agricultural diversity?

WHAT’S ON YOUR DINNER TABLE?

You probably have some form of maize, wheat, rice, potatoes. These staple foods dominate our breakfast bowls, lunch boxes, and dinner tables around the world! In The Science of Seeds: Why We Eat Maize, Wheat, Rice, and Potatoes with Hands-On Science Activities for Kids, young scientists aged 9 to 12 learn about how humans co-evolved alongside these foods. We dive deep into the science of botany, the importance of biodiversity, and the complex dynamics of feeding a large population.

Hands-on science projects and essential questions offer kids a deep exploration into why we eat what we eat!

Try these hands-on STEM activities!

• Create a map of food birthplaces

• Design habitat helper seed bombs

• Build a potato battery

• Make food-inspired art

Praise for The Physics of Fun by Carla Mooney

“One of the best ways to get kids excited about STEM is to show them how every aspect of daily life is intrinsically connected to science and technology. The reliable Inquire and Investigate series takes on this task by offering titles brimming with information . . . ”

Booklist Series Nonfiction Showcase

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JUVENILE NONFICTION EDUCATION RESOURCE

books from Nomad Press include the following educational components:

Timeline of important events

Hands-on, science-minded activities

Links to online media

Essential questions

Text-to-world connections

Primary sources, including maps, photographs, and letters

Extensive back matter, including glossary, index, and resources

Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements

PUB DATE: JUNE 2024

PB: 9781647411152, $19.95

HC: 9781647411121, $24.95

eBook: all formats available, $12.99

Specs: 8 x 10, 128 pages, color interior with illustrations and photography

Ages: 9 –12

Grade Level: 3 – 6

Publicity & Marketing:

• Co-op funds available

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