| Explore | Plants need Water minerals CO2, and light in order to grow. Chloroplast has green pigments to block the light it would be harmed by. non-evergreens kill off their chloroplast in the fall so that they require less energy in the winter, it also reveals other pigments so the leaves change color. |
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| Research Question | How does the quality of the water affect the speed of plant germination? |
| Predictions | Jason: the plants being given the well water will grow best. Zack: The well water plants will germinate fastest because of the minerals in the water that humans take out for consumption Riley: I think tap water will grow the best. Update on 3/8: I think the tap will grow best. |
| Experimental Design | 1) Put one paper towel in each petri dish 2) Put four alfalfa seeds on each towel 3) Water the towels with one water quality level until moist 4) Measure every morning BEFORE watering 5) Repeat step 4 for 5 days |
| Conclusion | CLAIM --- Bottled water is the worst environment to plant alfalfa seeds in compared to tap and well water. EVIDENCE --- The added minerals in the bottled water is what affected the seeds. Whereas the tap and well seeds had all germinated by day 3, the bottled seeds floundered, and only one germinated after 3 days. By the final days, the tap and well seeds were doing fine, half of the bottled seeds had died, but the other two had germinated. REASONING -- This is sort of what I thought would happen. The minerals in the bottled water are a viable cause to what happened with the seeds. They aren’t meant for seed consumption; they’re intended for humans. Tap water didn’t affect the seeds as much as I thought, but it does make sense in the fact that it is basically filtered well water. Well water has much more plant-friendly minerals in it that most humans don’t like, which also makes sense. This test was a somewhat fair test because each of the seeds were given the same treatments and approximately the same amount of water, but due to deficiencies the well plant got more sunlight. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Teacher Name | Evelyn Gray |
| School Name | DeWitt Middle School |
| Session | Spring 2021 |