| Explore | Plants go through photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Photosynthesis needs carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to make glucose and oxygen, while cellular respiration needs oxygen and glucose to make carbon dioxide, water, and ATP energy. Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts in a plant cell to make the plant green. Cellular respiration occurs in the mitochondria in plant and animal cells. |
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| Research Question | How does the amount of light affect how fast a seed germinates? |
| Predictions | If the plant gets more sunlight, then it will germinate faster. We think this because the sun gives energy to the plants to do photosynthesis and live and grow. We also know that plants don't grow in winter because of lack of light and heat. |
| Experimental Design | Our variables are: Independent variable: Amount of light shown on the seeds Dependent variable: Time it takes the seed to germinate Variables to control: Soil amount, water amount, light distance, and anything else except for amount of light Materials: Plastic bottle, scissors, paper towel, pencil, seeds, water, soil/sand, and a light source Procedure: 1. Gather materials 2. Spread 8 seeds in each petri dish around edge(6 petri dishes in total-2 dishes in each amount of light) 3. Water each petri dish 3 mL every 2 days 4. Check on each seed every few minutes to find exact germination time 5. Record Data - Qualitative and Quantitative - height and description *Get 3 petri dishes and put in different amounts of light |
| Conclusion | Light does not affect the speed of germination; it doesn't affect length either. The only thing we noticed was that the 24 hr seeds had green roots, unlike the 1 hr seeds and the 0 hr seeds. All of the petri dishes stayed at most 2 germinated seeds away from each other. After day 2, the seeds stayed with the amount that germinated, except for the 24 hr seeds. Those got 2 more germinations on day 6. We concluded that light doesn't affect seeds' germination rate because they start off in the dirt with no light, and still grow. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Grade Level | Middle School Students (grades 6,7,8) |
| School Name | DeWitt Middle School |
| Session | Spring 2019 |