| Explore | We know that they grow from the soil and that they need sunlight to survive. We discovered that soil sometimes cannot hold all the water that it is given and other things can. The question that I have about plants is, what would happen if you were to give one plant no water and let it sit out in the sun, and what would happen if you give a plant good amounts of water without sunlight. (C.C. and W.C)I know what plants need to survive and why they need it. I know about photosynthesis, what it does to a plant and why it is important. I know what would happen if a plant does not get what it needs and what happens when it gets what it needs. We discovered in class what a plant looks like without water and or sunlight. We learned why plants need these things and how it helps the plant. (R.B. and E.A) |
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| Research Question | We want to test out what soil plants grow best in. We came up with this because this is what we talked about in class. It fits the topic because we had class discussions. (C.C.) We also learned what a plant needs for the process of photosynthesis. Why are those important and why do they affect it? We learned how much they need and where they need it. Which plant will do better, a plant with water and sunlight or a plant with water and no sunlight? (W.C.). and (E.A.) What do you think will happen if a plant's sunlight is from a light blub compared to actually sunlight? |
| Predictions | I think what might happen is that the plant won't fully grow because it's not actually sunlight. The one with actual sunlight grows better than the other one. (W.C) Cliffy thinks that natural sunlight will do better because the LED lights won't really produce the nutrients they need. (C.C) Riley thinks the plant with the LED won't grow as fast as the plant with natural sunlight. Elias thinks the one with the natural sun will grow better.(E A and R.B) So overall we all think that the natural sunlight will grow better than the one with LED lights. |
| Experimental Design | First, we will get the plant for the teacher. Secondly, we will cut the bottles and put two with soil and seeds and two with soil and a plant. One of each will be put either on the window sill and in a box with artificial light. Thirdly, we will be watering the plants every day with the same amounts of water. Fourthly, we will be measuring the plant's length and how much it grew. thirdly, we will log down the information in a notebook/piece of paper. Lastly, we will make sure that the plants go back into the box and on the window sill. (C.C) |
| Conclusion | A claim we can make from our project is that if you put a plant in LED it takes a few days to start growing. Compared to a plant in sunlight that starts growing quick. But once the LED planter started growing it grew quick. Possible explanations for the results are that the LED plant got 24/7 lighting compared to the sunlight. Another explanation is maybe one plant got more water than the other. The data we collected and our reasoning with scientific ideas support our claim because maybe the reason the other plant started growing later was that is got less water than the sunlight. That fits with the data because water is need for it to grow. A future experiment that could be done to expand on the results of this experiment is not watering the plants and seeing what grows faster and bigger. Another experiment could be 2 plants in LED or sunlight with different amounts of water. This fits with the experiment results because we can see if both still take long to grow. We can also do that but in sunlight to see if they grow quickly.(R.B) |
| Investigation Theme | AFW |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| Teacher Name | Brian Mulcahey |
| School Name | Catholic Memorial School |
| Session | Fall 2021 |
| About this Project | Their experimental design is very specific and their research question includes the purpose of asking the question. Their online communication has also been amazing and all exchanges of questions and answers have been so insightful. The mentor and students were in excellent communication. Questions shared showed curiosity for plant science beyond the experiment. The mentor answered questions and included further questions the student could consider. |