Since your blue light plants were similar in height to the sunlight plants, I think you have the right idea that the other lights were trying to get more light by growing taller. Plants with access to less light will grow longer in an attempt to reach the light source. While I have not seen this with color, only amount of light, it would be a reasonable assumption. Perhaps instead of height being a "good" measurement of growth, you could think about these data as relational to "normal" conditions aka sunlight. Your sunlight plants measured 8.47, with blue 8.99, pink 9.73, and red 11.52 (inches? centimeters?). Thinking about sunlight as the control, how would you interpret these data?

Do you think that even though the blue light had the lowest average, it might have been because the plants under the other lights were trying to reach more light? Or the plants under red light actually had the best growth because we were measuring height?

I can't add another photo of the blue light plant.

I filled out the blue boxes. Anyone can change them if they feel the need to. I hope the information is good!

For the red light, our average was 11.52 cm. Pink light: 10.69 cm, Blue light: 9.16 cm, Sunlight: 10.58 cm

What were your averages?? I would love to see your data and hear your conclusions! Don't forget to fill out the project information above!

Thank you!

Today we measured the plants height and watered them. After we found the average of the plants. So for the blue light plant, we took the height from today, (the last day to measure the height) heights data, and found the average!

Result sections are my favorite! That's where you showcase all of the amazing data you collected. Graphs are a wonderful way to visualize your data. I would suggest a table that has all of your raw data (each measurement), then use a graph to show the average height every day. I don't know how much Mr. Kessler has talked to you about graphing so if he would rather you do tables then please follow his lead!

We're glad to hear you're back! Today is our last day of data collection. Tomorrow we will be focusing on the results section of the writeup. What should we include in our result section? 

Hi Team,

I'm back! Seeing all your progress has put a huge smile on my face. Don't forget to fill out the information about your project above!

That's good.  Plants love water, but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing! 

I've never heard of a plant shrinking, but maybe you've discovered something new. ;). How much did the plants 'shrink'?  If it wasn't very much, it could have simply been a difference in the way you measured one day versus the next.  

Your mentor should be done travelling after this week.  I'm sure she'll be happy to hear about the progress you've made!

Again today we measured the height of all of the plants. But we did not water them because they were already pretty good from yesterday. 

The lights have been on for 3 days now.

We oberved are plants today and some of them got shorter. How is that possible. We have recording data for all 4 plants, control, blue, pink, and red. 

We measure the height of the plants and one day one, we missed measuring the control plant. I know it is okay but I thought I should say it!

That works!  "What we can get our hands on to use." is a big consideration for real scientists too.  

Just one suggestion: you might talk to Team 11 about plant height.  Their radishes are growing some really long stems, but it isn't because they're healthy right now.  Height doesn't always mean a plant is healthy; sometimes a tall plant is actually an unhappy plant that is putting on a lot of stem length because it's trying to reach the light or something else it needs to survive. 

It might be worthwhile to think about other things you can measure about the plants.  Otherwise, it sounds like you're doing a great job!  (Don't forget to complete the fields up top!)

Now we are changing the violet (suposed to be outside light) with pink light because we have that light.

We have been watering the plants 4-5ml per seed. We have to change the violet light to white, since we don't have violet light. I belive then we will have blue, red, white, and one outside. Lotem is measuring the height of each of the plants and recording the information in a table. In our notebooks we would right down the quantitive data from the plants.

Hey Team 10!  Jennifer is travelling this week, so I'll be checking in with you until she gets back.

How are things going?  Did you start your seeds under the lights, or did you sprout them first and put them under the lights this week?

Hey teams!  I gather things are going well in the classroom! 

I just wanted to post a reminder to everyone that you can - and should - edit the blue fields at the top of your project pages.  Click on 'Info' in the left-side menu and then look for 'Edit Project' on the right side of the Info page.

At the end of the session, I get to nominate groups with those fields completed to be considered for 'Star Project' status.   If your project is selected as a Star Project, you'll receive prizes from PlantingScience!

There are questions posted with each of the fields to help guide you regarding what to write.  Mr. Kessler and I are also happy to help explains, so let us know if you have any questions!

Growth already, how cool! Any trends popping out on how the colors are impacting the growth?

We used radish seeds. Our seeds have already germinated. Most of the seeds have already grown roots and some have very long roots while other seeds have shorter ones. Most of the seeds have already grown very long stems and have leaves. Some have longer stems than others. Some have around 2-3 leaves and others have 4-5 leaves. 

Hi Team,

Sounds perfect! I cannot wait to see the data!

Also we are testing 4 different colored lights. Blue, Red, Violet, and control group White. There will be 12 seeds per each colored light, and we are watering each seed 5 ml per day.

Like Lotem said, the colored lights will be on from 7:30-8:00. That is what Mr. Kessler said.                          Every day we are recording the height of all the plants, and finding the average of the plants. Average of the 12 plants per each color.

So average of Blue, Red, Violet< and White.

The lights will be running for about 7-8 hours a day.

Hi team,

I love that you have different hypotheses!

Sounds like you have accounted for replication, 48 seeds across 4 treatments will give you a lot of data. I have a couple of questions:

How long will you be running the different colored light treatments?

Will your lights have an on/off time or be running 24 hours?

Our hypothesis: If we use blue light, it will help the plant grow the most. Another member of our group has a different hypothesis which is: If we use the red light, it will help the plant grow the most.

Materials we are using for this project: lights/filters, plant containers, 48 seeds, water, soil, and a ruler.

We will measure the growth by using height.

We will use multiple seeds under the same light in rows next to each other. But the seeds under the same light will have space in between each of the seeds.

To best mimic sunlight you should use white light. To replicate violet is it possible to run a blue and red light at the same time in your color changing hanging lights?

How many plants are you planning to do per treatment?

Don't forget to keep everything else consistent so that the light is the only changing variable (length of lights on, watering, temperature, etc.). Confounding variables can make data difficult to figure out.

We decided to use red, blue and violet as our colors. How do you think we can replicate the violet?

In the classroom there are lights that can change colors that hang over a table that we can grow plants on. That would be one of the supplies we can use. We could measure which light helped the most by what you said! The number of leaves and how tall the plant grows, but mostly how tall the plants grow.

Question: How would we make a control group? What kind of light resembles the sun the most?? 

Hi Team,

Different colored lights is a great idea! I also like Lotem's suggestions on color. When designing the experiment there are several things to consider:

Supplies - do you have the equipment to provide the plants with different colors of light? It does not have to be blue lights, you can color the petri plate or the bag that you will be growing your plants in with blue sharpie/marker.

Replication - science always repeats their experiments with as many individuals as possible. How many seeds will you use for each treatment?

Results - what criteria will be measured during the experiment. When you want to identify what was the "best" light color for growth, how do you determine growth? For example, you could measure the stem length, count the number of leaves, count the number of seeds that germinated, etc.

Can't wait to hear what you come up with!

Dr Robison

What could we do to start developing the experiment? What should we do next?

Today we came up with a question about plants for this project, then look up a little bit about it. The question we chose is how do different kinds of colored lights helps plants grow the best. Some things I found is that blue light helps with chlorophyll and root development. Red helps with growing fruit and vegetables. Green helps with photosynthesis. Lotem says we should try blue, red, and violet lights on plant growth!! 

That is a very good question Lotem. Have you ever sat in the sun and felt the warmth on your skin? Plants are able to trap that warmth, that energy, and use to power the creation of sugar (C6H12O6) from carbon dioxide (CO2). Can you figure out how many carbon dioxide molecules it takes to make sugar? 

I was wondering how sunlight helps plants grow and what it gives plants.

Very cool! Now that you know that information, what questions do you have about how plants grow?

Today we learned that the five main components of plant growth are sunlight, soil, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients.

Today we learned that the five main components of plant growth are sunlight, soil, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients.

Hello. We just got on today!

Hello Team!

I'm Jennifer Robison, a professor at Manchester University in Indiana. I study how environmental stressors impact plant growth and development. I will be your faculty mentor through this project. I am really excited to work with you for the next few weeks as you explore how plants grow and develop!

Hi all!  My name is Jennifer Hartley, and I work for the Botanical Society of America. 

My role as a 'liaison' is to support Mr. Kessler and your mentors. I'll be following along as you work on your projects, but I won't be posting regularly. However, I may chime in with messages if your mentor needs to step away for a short time during your projects.  I'm looking forward to seeing what questions you pursue and what you find out!