Thank you for this update and for doing such a great job of providing the details of your experiment and how it went to me. I think it is really useful that you all did two treatments in addition to your control sample and helps cement the potential role of smoke n the reduced rate of photosynthesis.

A couple of things to think about:

1. What about smoke exposure could be reducing the rate of photosynthesis? (Tip: Often when scientists get results, they look into what others have found doing similar or related experiments to see how their results fit into a bigger picture, often called a literature review. One way you all could answer this question is through a Google search of how smoke affects photosynthesis)

2. Could there be any other variables or factors that could potentially impact your results? In other words, are there any limitations to the conclusions you can draw from your experiment or help identify if future experiments need to be done to eliminate other potential explanations for the current results? (Note: This is also something scientists have to think about when they do experiments. It helps generate new questions and place the results within a realistic framework and helps avoid making cause and effect conclusions when the evidence only supports a correlation. Hint: The research you do for the first question could also help you answer this one.)

I know this is a lot of information, so if you all have questions about how to decide what sources are reliable when looking things up on the internet or about how to assess whether or not other explanations could be possible, please reach out.

-Jennifer

Sophie,

Here are some cool resources incorporating art and science.

Projects/Activities:

Origami DNA: https://www.yourgenome.org/activities/origami-dna/

Evolution games/art: https://evolution.wisc.edu/educational-resources/

Coloring Science Concepts: https://www.colormephd.org/

Neurons at Play Comic: https://info.cell.com/neurons-at-play

Bone structure through art: https://mysteryscience.com/trending/mystery-1/bones-animal-structures/161?r=54951802

Ultimate List of STEAM Art Projects: https://www.steamsational.com/the-ultimate-list-of-steam-art-projects/

Careers:

https://artsintegration.com/2018/09/01/steam-careers-for-the-21st-century/

An example of a career involving science and art: I knew someone while I was working at UW-Madison who had a degree in biology and in graphic design. Her job was to help create communications between the scientific community and the farming community in Wisconsin. She used her interests in science and art to help people use the best farming practices and create better communication between researchers and the public. This is only one example. There are lots of ways to do science and art for a living.

Hello all!

That is a really cool question you all have focused on. I love your diagram too, it made it so clear to me what you all are thinking about.

I think there are some insights and follow-up questions I can provide. You may not know the answer to the questions I pose and that is ok. I am posing them to get you to start thinking the way scientists do as they design experiments and refine their hypotheses. And remember, when you hit a place where you aren't sure what the answer is use your resources (books, people, etc.) to help figure out your next steps just like you did here.

First, have you looked into what other people have done to answer this question? What did they do and find?

Second, assuming we figure out the fire set-up, how would you plan to measure what impact smoke has on photosynthesis? What length of time do you think you would need to expose the plant to smoke to? How much smoke do you want to expose the plant to? Will you need a control plant that is not exposed to smoke?

Third, in terms of your set-up question: What other ways could you introduce smoke into your experimental design besides plain fire? What about using something slow burning, like incense sticks or charcoal?

I am also going to provide a resource of a experiment that was looking at how cigarette smoke affected plant growth. There may be some useful information here that can give you ideas or help you solve design issues: https://www.scienceprojects.org/effects-of-cigarette-smoke-on-the-growth-of-plants/

I know I just provided A LOT of information here. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions about anything I said or shared here, or anything else that comes up.

Y'all are doing great!

-Jennifer

P.S. I will post the art&science resources under our intro conversation Sophie.