Project Information
Many students think of the scientific method as a step-by-step process that all scientists follow in order. But real research is rarely so neat and tidy…it is really more of a research cycle or spiral because things you learn in one step can change your ideas about what you’ve already done or about next steps.
It is OK to change your thinking! We encourage you to go back and edit things you write in this section at any time as your ideas change. Just remember to explain your changes in your updates feed.
Click “edit project” to get started ------>
Title | PlantingMI6 HQ |
---|---|
Alias | hthsrocheteam10 |
Access | public [View public profile] |
Created | 25 Sep 2016 |
Owner | HTHS Roche Fall 2016 Project |
Explore | Plants have leaves with which they photosynthesize sunlight. Inside those leaves are chlorophyll which converts sunlight into energy. Plants have roots with which they gather nutrients and water, which is transferred through their stems. Questions that interest us are how plants react to different substances or environments. |
Research Question | We want to study the effect of sound on plant growth. We came up with this question by first looking at the materials that were available and since we we're all interested in technology, we decided to pursue the effect of sound. We know a lot about technology and had previous done many experiments on plants and were looking to do something different and new. We had heard of experiments involving sound and after seeing which materials were available, we decided on testing the tone rather than a genre of music to make the experiment more controlled. We found a paper saying how higher frequencies positively affected plant growth in bean plants, and we wanted to replicate that with Wisconsin Fast Plants. |
Predictions | There are three possible outcomes given our experiment. The first, which we favor, is that a higher frequency will positively affect plant growth based on studies already made on different plants. There doesn't seem to be a general consensus on the reason of this. The second is that a lower frequency will positively affect plant growth. The null hypothesis is that there will be no significant difference in plant growth. |
Experimental Design | Our plan, as shown in our Experimental Design Diagram (saved in Files as a PDF under the name 'EDD'), is to have three test groups with each group having 12 trials. One will be subjected to 500 Hz, the second to no sound (control), and the third to 7,600 Hz. When the experiment is complete, we will measure the plant growth in height and number of leaves as dependent variables. Everything else, including water, soil, light, insulation will be kept constant. |
Conclusion | In the project results, the plants subjected to sound tones grew the tallest and had the most leaves on average. The plants grown in the 7600 hz tones had the highest averages for both, followed by the 500 hz ones and then the control with no sound. Our final paper detailing this is saved in files under the name "PlantingScienceLabReport." According to this data, the alternate hypothesis was correct. The difference in average growth is likely due to the higher sound tones affecting the plant's growth rate and allowing them to grow larger than those grown with no sound or lower sound tones. Finally, a future experiment to expand upon this one could test more sound tones in between 500 hz and 7600 hz or above 7600 hz to see if those plants grew taller than those grown with 7600 hz tones. |
Investigation Theme | WOS |
Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
School Name | High Technology High School |
Session | Fall 2016 |