| Explore | We don't know all that much about germination but we do know: -seeds are living just dormant until they find right conditions. -seeds need water, good temp, and good location to go through the process of germination. -germination means to start growing. -the process ends when the plant breaks the soil. |
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| Research Question | how will the amount of salt in the water affect the rate of germination. |
| Predictions | If more salt is put in the water then it will take more time to germinate. |
| Experimental Design | We are using the petri dish method for our seeds, this is where you take petri dishes put a damp paper towel in them and put the seeds on the paper towel. This does not require soil. Our procider is: 1. Gather materials( petri dishes, salt, measuring cup, and water). 2. Place seeds in petri dishes and put them under light. 3. Mix different amounts of salt into 250 ml. of water 4. Every day water plants with 10 ml. of water and keep other variables consistant 5. After they all germinate record and prepare results. |
| Conclusion | When more salt is added to a seeds water, the percent of germination decreases. When we added no salt to 20 seeds water 95% of the seeds germinated. Then we added a teaspoon and a tablespoon of salt to the water. There was not much of a difference, but the water with a teaspoon of salt had 5% germinated while the tablespoon had 0% germinated. . The salt in the water triggered something called osmosis. This process disrupts the balance of water on the inside of a cell and the outside of a cell. Because of this, the plant shrivels up and can not finish the process of germination. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Grade Level | Middle School Students (grades 6,7,8) |
| School Name | DeWitt Middle School |
| Session | Spring 2019 |