dmssmithwosspring2023 project 8
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Joined 10 Mar 2023
Project by group dmssmithwosspring2023
Info
| Explore | All seeds need water, sunlight, oxygen, and a proper environment to germinate. Germination is when the seed grows into a plant because the area has the proper growing standards. Plants need these requirements because chlorophyll absorbs the sunlight and produces more energy so the plant can... |
|---|---|
| Research Question | How does the amount of water affect seed germination? |
| Predictions | If we add 8 mL of water to water the seeds, then the seeds will germinate faster because over-watering it will drown it and underwatering it make the plant die. |
| Experimental Design | Experimental Design: Independent variable: The amount of water. Dependent variable: Seed germination. Controlled variables: Light, air temp, type of seeds, amount of seeds, paper towels, source of light, water temp. Materials: 30 pea seeds, 3 petri dishes, 3 wet paper towels, growth light,... |
| Conclusion | The seeds watered with 10 mL of water germinated the fastest, but they later molded. The seeds that received 6 mL of water germinated a day later, but were able to grow and survive. Therefore, my claim is that 6 mL of water is best. We watered one petri dish with 2 mL of water, another one with... |
| About this Project |
This group was able to plan and execute the research project in a way that allowed them to gather reliable results and information. They were able to use their results along with the research to be able to draw conclusions that made sense. The group members used their time effectively to... |
Updates
Dear Mr. Hirsch,
This is the end of our project and we wanted you to know how it went. Seeds watered with 10 mL germinated the fastest but molded soon after. The seeds watered with 6 mL germinated shortly after the seeds watered with 10 mL and the 6 mL barely molded. Even though the seeds watered with 6 and 10 mL germinated quickly, the seeds watered with 2 mL never germinated. From this experiment, we learned that it is crucial to know the proper amount of water to give your seeds in this case the proper amount was 6 mL. If we could've done one thing differently we would change the amount of water used so the lowest variable would germinate. We also wanted to thank you for your time and for helping us.
- Anna Claire, Elyse, and Grace
Hi everyone,
Thank you for excellent summary, and I will respond to all of your posts with this comment. You all did a great job on this experiment, and I am glad that you mentioned adding some new volumes of water if you were to do this experiment again. I think it would have been interesting to flood the seeds (maybe 30 mL of water), just to see what the other extreme conditions would be. Seed germination is different than plant growth, and you saw that fast germination did not necessarily equal long-term plant health in flooded conditions. You all should think about the results from this experiment next time we have a wet spring, because the seeds that farmers plant in the ground could be flooded, which will affect their ability emerge from the soil and grow.
Hi Mr. Hirsch!
These data tables are describing the pea seeds growth in the quantitive way and in the qualitative way. Also as I was sending these to you, the lines in part of the data tables went away.
-Anna Claire, Elyse, and Grace
The Quantitative data over 10 days of planting the pea seeds
|
Length (mm) |
2 mL (av. root) |
2 mL (av. sprout) |
6 mL (av. root) |
6 mL (av. sprout) |
10 mL (av. root) |
10 mL (av. sprout) |
|
Day 1 |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
|
Day 2 |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
No growth |
5 mm |
No growth |
|
Day 3 |
No growth |
No growth |
3.25 mm |
No growth |
4 mm |
11.5 mm |
|
Day 4-6 |
No data |
Weekend |
No data |
Weekend |
No data |
Weekend |
|
Day 7 |
No growth |
No growth |
30.1 mm |
11.6 mm |
17.4 mm |
33.2 mm |
|
Day 8 |
No growth |
No growth |
32.6 mm |
17.4 mm |
20.2 mm |
32.2 mm |
|
Day 9 |
No growth |
No growth |
28.9 mm |
17.7 mm |
40 mm |
38 mm |
|
Day 10 |
No growth |
No growth |
23.9 mm |
33.6 mm |
21.88 mm |
36 mm |
The Qualitative data over 10 days of planting the pea seeds
|
Description |
2 mL of water |
6 mL of water |
10 mL of water |
|
Day 1 |
No growth, paper towel damp |
No growth, seeds are lighter and bigger |
No growth, seeds are lighter and bigger |
|
Day 2 |
No growth, paper towel dry |
No growth, paper towel wet, same as day 1 |
One seed grew, standing water in the dish |
|
Day 3 |
No growth, paper towel slightly damp |
All seeds are lighter and larger, paper towel wet, some seeds grew |
Some shoot and root growth, standing water, seeds are large and light in color |
|
Day 4-6 |
No data |
Weekend |
|
|
Day 7 |
No growth, paper towel is dry |
All seeds have sprouted, paper towel is wet |
One seed is moldy, paper towel is soaked, two seeds lost their seed coat |
|
Day 8 |
No growth, paper towel is dry |
Seeds have leaves, paper towel wet, small roots growing off the main one |
Paper towel is soaked, some have leaves |
|
Day 9 |
No growth, paper towel damp, seeds are wrinkled |
Paper towel is wet, all seeds have leaves, one seed has mold |
Paper towel is soaked, moldy seeds, tips of roots are moldy |
|
Day 10 |
No growth, mold on paper towel |
Paper towel is wet, one seed is moldy, all of have leaves and roots |
Multiple seeds are moldy, paper towel soaked |
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
Yes, we are measuring the length of both the roots and sprouts for our data. We finished collecting data for our experiment and are presenting our results today. We will update the conclusion section next week.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
Today is our last day for observations and I am taking the seeds home. We will upload a final picture. After collecting our final data, we think our claim will be the 6 mL water treatment germinated the seeds the best.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi team! That sounds great. Are you measuring the seeds to see the length of the roots and shoots to confirm your observations? It looks like germination (with is either yes or no) is the same between the 6 and 10 mL, but it would be interesting to look into growth as well. Good luck!
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
Today is our last day for observations and I am taking the seeds home. We will upload a final picture. After collecting our final data, we think our claim will be the 6 mL water treatment germinated the seeds the best.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
The seeds are growing rapidly. Some are getting tangled in the 10 mL petri dish because they are so long, but we are able to free the seeds without harming them. We are recording all of the data in a table and making sure to include all of the qualitative and quantitative observations. If we could do this experiment again, we would change the lowest amount of water to three or four milliliters so we can see some growth.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Great to hear, and I agree that 2 mL seems too low (although it is good to have a too-low control). I would also like to learn how much water is too much, so perhaps 15 or 20 mL on the upper side.
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
We think that 10 mL is too much water because the paper towel is getting moldy and we had to throw out two seeds because the seeds were covered completely in mold. The tips on some of the roots have mold as well. We are surprised to see mold because the seeds germinated faster than the 6 mL of water petri dish. The 10 mL of water seeds were doing well, but started to grow slower than the 6 mL of water ones.
We are measuring them without taking them out of the petri dish for most of them, but some we pick up by the seed so we don't damage the sprout or root. They are in a dark area, so we think, since they have leaves, that they are going to wither and not be as strong. They don't have enough light for photosynthesis, and that may harm them.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi Grace and team,
Great observations. Be sure to record all of your observations (like how some of the seeds started rotting and you removed them), because those are important things to consider when you all report on your data. Based on what you are observing right now, if you had to do this experiment again, what would you change so you can see the impact of the volume of water? 10 mL is apparently too much, so could you try other volumes?
This is what the seeds look like today.
You all are going to want to start thinking about how to best measure your plants. Since the roots and shoots are pretty delicate, should think about how to get your measurements without totally destroying your plants.
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
All of our seeds grew from the 6 mL of water and 10 mL petri dish. Still no growth from the seeds in the 2 mL of water petri dish. Most seeds that grew have both the root and the sprout. The ones with the sprout have leaves. We did not water them over the weekend, so that could change our results. Mold is visible on the paper towel and one seed in the 10 mL petri dish, and two seed coats have fallen off in the dish.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Great results everyone! It is interesting to see that the low water seeds are not germinating, but the other two are. I wonder how much water is too much water? Are you surprised to see the mold contamination? How do you interpret that observation?
These are the seeds on Thursday of last week.
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
One of our seeds from the petri dish that receives 10 mL of water grew. The sprout is 5 mm in length. The seed that grew is lighter in color since we first watered them and is bigger. We think that more seeds are going to germinate tomorrow because they look similar to the seed that sprouted in terms of color and size.
-Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi all. Looking good! When dried seeds are exposed to water, the first thing they do is absorb the water (we call this imbibing), which give the seed enough water to start the process of germination. Several of the other seeds look like they are ready to germinate too! Keep me updated and great observations.
I accidentally posted the same picture.
Okay, looking good! Let me know how it goes!
Dear Mr. Hirsch,
We set up our investigation and this is how it looks.
- Anna Claire, Elyse, and Grace
Sorry, we tried to attach a picture, and it is not showing up.
Hi Mr. Hirsch,
Great question! We're going to measure both the stem and roots separately.
Thanks,
Grace, Elyse, and Anna Claire
Hi everyone, one question: What length will you measure? Roots emerge first from seeds, but then (what will soon become) the stem emerges. Are you going separate your measurements from the roots and the hypocotyl (the early stem), or just group them all together?
Dear Mr. Hirsch,
We are going to incubate them using petri dishes and with a paper towel. We can use 30 seeds and will use all of them. We decided to go with option one due to the classroom limitations. Thank you for your suggestions and questions!
-Grace, Anna Claire, Elyse
Okay, that sounds great! Let me know the next steps!
Hi Grace,
Great questions! One question: Since you are measuring germination (i.e., not growth), how do you intend to incubate your seeds? Are you going to use a gallon ziplock bag with a moist papertowel with the seeds placed on top to create a humid environment? Germination is pretty easy to measure, so you can add more seeds to get enough data to run statistics on. How many seeds can you use? I would encourage you to use as many as you can.
Of all your options (which are super interesting), I think option one will be the easiest to measure given (what I think are) the limitations of your classroom. Since you can easily measure the volume of water, option one is the most straightforward. Option two is will be more difficult because you will not only need to measure the temperature of the water, but also incubate your plants/seeds in whatever temperatures you select. So, for example, if you add ice water to a cup of soil that is sitting on the counter in your room, the temperature of that soil environment will get cold initially, but reach room temperature pretty quickly after you add the water. So, you will have to figure out some way to incubate your plants in different consistent temperatures throughout your experiment to ensure you are actually measuring the effects of temperature. Light is super cool too, but you would have to construct special light boxes for this. I can imagine a system of getting small boxes and taping different clear sheets of colored plastic over the top so the seeds are only getting specific spectra of light. I guess it comes down to what resources you have at you disposal and how much work you want to put into setting up the experiment. Let me know what you decide! Great ideas here.
We've come up with a few investigation questions such as:
- How does the amount of water affect seed germination?
- How does the temperature of water affect seed germination?
- How does the color of light affect seed germination?
We are leaning toward number two because we are curious to see how the temperature affects the seeds. We came up with the question because we didn't think that many people would think about the temperature of water.
-Grace, Elyse, Anna Claire
Hi Elyse, Anna Claire, and Grace, it is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Lou Hirsch, and I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Plant Pathology is the study of plant diseases, and I study fungi that make plants sick. In addition to working with plants and their pathogens, I am also in charge of two different undergraduate programs at UK and I teach a lot of classes that focus on plant pathology, agricultural biotechnology, and genetic engineering. When I am not teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family, scuba diving (I am a scuba instructor, and am actually typing this in my AirBandB in Kona, Hawaii after a dive because I am on spring break), and playing on a pretty bad adult kickball team.
It sounds like you all have at least some experience with plants (ranging from eating them with grandma to growing them yourself) so I am excited to help you with your project. Please let me know the next steps!
Hi, my name is Elyse. I love playing soccer and lacrosse, throwing a football in the pool, hanging out with friends and family and going shopping with my sister. I have not had much experience with plants other than picking fruit and veggies and jarring pickles with my grandma. I'm looking forward to doing this investigation with you.
Hi, my name is Anna Claire! I love to hang out with friends, play softball, and travel. I have had some experience with plants in the 4th grade. We had to plant a seed in a cup and watch it grow over time. I'm looking forward to planting the seeds and moving forward in the investigation!
Hi, my name is Grace! I play soccer and ballet and have many hobbies. I love to crochet, draw, paint, run, and grow seeds. I have always had an interest in seeds. I have lots of experience with growing seeds and I have a garden that I take care of. I mainly grow peppers, tomatoes, and corn. I'm looking forward to raising seeds and working with you!
Hello everyone!
My name is Devani Jolman and I will be your liaison for this PlantingScience session!
I am a 2nd year PhD student at Old Dominion University in Virginia. I study the ecological consequences of plant hybridization by investigating hybrid highbush blueberries through the Coastal Plain and Piedmont of Virginia. I absolutely love plants and I love teaching, so PlantingScience is perfect. Before starting grad school, I spent over 4 years doing outdoor education in Vermont and Michigan. Currently, in my free time, I am teaching plant-based programs at local botanical gardens and for other community groups. Introducing students to the magic and beauty of plants is what I live for!
I am excited to work with you all this season and to see your amazing projects develop! If you need anything, please reach out. I am here for you!
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