Easy growth experiment on peas stimulates interest in biology for 10-11 year old pupils

How do we support the enthusiasm children show for biology in school? Unfortunately, lack of exciting practical work and boring biology lessons seem to make science less popular. As a senior lecturer in plant physiology at Karlstad University I have simplified experiments intended for students at university and then tested them on 10-11 year old pupils in a state school. Pupils have cultivated seedlings of peas in normal day/night conditions and in darkness over two school weeks. Differences in length, leaf form and colours are striking and easy to explain. Besides these clear results the experiment has many advantages: it is easy to prepare and carry out, it requires very little equipment and it is cheap. The theory is simple and most important: it stimulates to further studies in biology.