Great job team and I really appreciate your conclusions!  I know that you measured height, but there are other measurements of plant health that may also be worthwhile looking at if you could do this again.  Sometimes, when plants are stressed out (like growing in a classroom with poor lighting), they grow thin and vertically like they are trying to reach higher quality light.  So, perhaps putting them outside with direct sunlight would help them grow outward in addition to upward.  In that case you would have to measure leaf area or plant weight, which is much harder to do.  Also, did you calculate any standard deviations or standard errors for your measurements?  Those will show you the variation in the data and can also help you determine if the differences you saw may not be due to chance.  If your teacher has time and is familiar with statistics, you can google a quick ANOVA generator, which is a statistical process that allows scientists to compare groups together to see if there is a difference.  Let me know if you have any questions and great job!

Hello!

We seem to be having some small technical difficulties. I had been around 3/4 of the way through filling them out but because I hadn't fully logged in. Once we are done our lb reports Mr. Kessler says I can copy and paste.

Anna from TGC

Hi Team 7!

I'm just checking in to see how everyone is doing.  It looks like you have some good growth already!

Could you update the Info fields above?  Just click on 'Info' in the side menu and then on 'Edit Project' on the page that comes up.  

Hi,

Down below I added some pictures of our radish seeds. They are going very well but we have a quick question about our plants. We are trying to be as precise as possible but some of the plants are shrinking a few millimeters. Is that normal for the plant or did we measure wrong?

Thanks,

TGC

Hi team,

Just wanted to give a quick update on what is going on. We have planted our plants and they have been growing very well. We have measured all the plants and they are looking healthy and strong. We are starting to water them with the different types of water and are excited to see the results!

Thanks,

TGC

Hi Team TGC,

I wanted to check in and see how things are going with your experiment!  Also, please check out Jennifer's post below about adding information for the experiment in the blue rectangles on the top of the page.  Have a great weekend! 

PS - I did not realize you all were in San Diego!  I lived in San Diego for a few years (OB, specifically) about 15 years ago, and loved it! 

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!

Hello Dr. L!

On Friday we germinated our radish seeds. we haven't had a very close look yet but some of them definitely sprouted!

Anna from TGC

Thank you so much! I misspoke, we will actually have four rows of seed cups. Thank you for the advice-very helpful.

Anna from TGC

Thanks for reaching out team, and this looks like a great plan.  Please see my notes below (underlined), and let me know if you have any questions! Dr. L

•  

• Radish seeds

• Ml Alkaline Water Try to test pH so you know what it is.

• Ml Distilled Water Try to test pH so you know what it is.

• Ml Tap Water Try to test pH so you know what it is.

• Ml Sparkling Water Try to test pH so you know what it is.

• Ml Soil (enough to fill seed cups) Make sure the soil is consistent in all cups. Also, soil differs in pH, so consider testing that as well (or using soil with a known pH, like from a garden store).

• Ruler Make sure you measure in metric, this is science!

• Grow lights Make sure that the lights are equally (as possible) illuminating all the plants. Since you are measuring growth, the consistency of light will matter here.

• 4 Seed cups You should have more than this, at least 12.  Twelve is the smallest number that will work best because you want at least three plants per water treatment), so that way you can take measurements and get averages and standard deviations of the data at the end of the experiment. If you can do more, then you should. Also, imagine if one of your seeds does not germinate. Then, since you only have one seed per treatment, you have to exclude one of your treatments. 

• Notebook and pen

• Labels   

•  

•  

1. Gather the seeds, different types of water, soil and ruler.

2. Fill Seed cups with soil until there’s 2 cm of space at the top. Since you do not know how much water you will add, you may want to poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.  This hole will allow excess water to drain out and not cause root rot or other stressors.

3. Create a small 2 cm hole in the middle of the soil with two fingers.  Probably just one finger will do, radish seeds are small.  Also, you could use the end of a pencil or pen (just tape off your depth on the pen so you are consistent).  Also, double check the planting depth.  I just googled it, and some dependable sources claim 1-1.25 cm planting depth for radish seeds.

4.  Place radish seed in every hole and cover gently with a thin layer of soil so that you cannot see the seed but it is still a thin layer.

5. Label seed cups by what kind of water they will receive. Probably do this first so you don't have to deal with dirty, heavy cups.

6. Water radish seeds daily with ? mL of different types water. I cannot really help you here since I do not know the size of cups and type of soil you are using. However, I think you should do some practice tests on soil with no seeds in it, so you can learn how much is too much. Also, every day is probably too much.  I would start with every 2-3 days and then see how they are doing.  If you water too much, the seeds will be too wet and they may not survive.

7. Record notes and observations on plant growth daily. What aspect of growth are you measuring?  Height, presumably?  That is fine, but also take notes of other characteristics like leaf number and color, which are also indicators of plant health and stress. 

8. Wait one week. The seeds may not all germinate in a week, and if they do, the seedlings will be quite small.  Are you just measuring seedling emergence?  You could also do a similar experiment on seed germination by placing a paper towel in a gallon ziplock bag and placing seeds in a grid pattern on the paper towel.  Then, carefully wet the paper towel with the water treatment and seal the bag.  Just a thought. 

9. Record data. See above #7, but what are you measuring?  Also, what is your hypothesis?  Every good experiment should have a hypothesis!

Thanks Again!

Anna from TGC

Also, sorry it came twice.

Hi Dr. L!

You're absolutely right! we should have responded sooner. We now have a collective materials and procedures list and individual hypotheses. We should start germinating seeds today and planting them next week. Also, just so you know, we are now down to three members as one of them left the school. Here is the materials and procedures list and thanks for checking in!!!

• Radish seeds

• Ml Alkaline Water

• Ml Distilled Water

• Ml Tap Water

• Ml Sparkling Water

• Ml Soil (enough to fill seed cups)

• Ruler

• Grow lights 

• 4 Seed cups

• Notebook and pen

• Labels      

1. Gather the seeds, different types of water, soil and ruler.

2. Fill Seed cups with soil until there’s 2 cm of space at the top.

3. Create a small 2 cm hole in the middle of the soil with two fingers. 

4.  Place radish seed in every hole and cover gently with a thin layer of soil so that you cannot see the seed but it is still a thin layer.

5. Label seed cups by what kind of water they will receive.

Water radish seeds daily with ? mL of different types water.

1. Gather the seeds, different types of water, soil and ruler.

2. Fill Seed cups with soil until there’s 2 cm of space at the top.

3. Create a small 2 cm hole in the middle of the soil with two fingers. 

4.  Place radish seed in every hole and cover gently with a thin layer of soil so that you cannot see the seed but it is still a thin layer.

5. Label seed cups by what kind of water they will receive.

6. Water radish seeds daily with ? mL of different types water.

7. Record notes and observations on plant growth daily.

8. Wait one week.

9. Record data.

Thanks Again!

Anna from TGC

1. Record notes and observations on plant growth daily.

2. Wait one week.

Record data.

Hi Dr. L!

You're absolutely right! we should have responded sooner. We now have a collective materials and procedures list and individual hypotheses. We should start germinating seeds today and planting them next week. Also, just so you know, we are now down to three members as one of them left the school. Here is the materials and procedures list and thanks for checking in!!!

• Radish seeds

• Ml Alkaline Water

• Ml Distilled Water

• Ml Tap Water

• Ml Sparkling Water

• Ml Soil (enough to fill seed cups)

• Ruler

• Grow lights 

• 4 Seed cups

• Notebook and pen

• Labels      

1. Gather the seeds, different types of water, soil and ruler.

2. Fill Seed cups with soil until there’s 2 cm of space at the top.

3. Create a small 2 cm hole in the middle of the soil with two fingers. 

4.  Place radish seed in every hole and cover gently with a thin layer of soil so that you cannot see the seed but it is still a thin layer.

5. Label seed cups by what kind of water they will receive.

Water radish seeds daily with ? mL of different types water.

1. Gather the seeds, different types of water, soil and ruler.

2. Fill Seed cups with soil until there’s 2 cm of space at the top.

3. Create a small 2 cm hole in the middle of the soil with two fingers. 

4.  Place radish seed in every hole and cover gently with a thin layer of soil so that you cannot see the seed but it is still a thin layer.

5. Label seed cups by what kind of water they will receive.

6. Water radish seeds daily with ? mL of different types water.

7. Record notes and observations on plant growth daily.

8. Wait one week.

9. Record data.

Thanks Again!

Anna from TGC

1. Record notes and observations on plant growth daily.

2. Wait one week.

Record data.

Hi TGC, I wanted to check in to hear how your experiments are going!  It's been awhile since I've heard from you, and I imagine you have worked on the project a bit more since last week.  Let me know! 

Hello,

Our rough draft of our question is Do different types of water effect plant growth?

We will continue to work on Monday.

TGC

Hi all,

We decided to pose the question "do different types of water effect the plant's height and overall health?" We had the ideas of using tap water, bottled water, Alkaline water, distilled water, sparkling water, mineral/ vitamin water, melted ice water and possibly rain water (if available,) but we are trying to narrow them down.

Thanks,

The Greenhouse Crew.

Hi Greenhouse Crew!  Thank you for reaching out and sharing your ideas about the upcoming experiment.  Can you let me know what you mean by different conditions of water?  Also, what are you going to measure about the plants?  Exploring those two questions more deeply will help you think through your experimental design, and also help me advise you better.  Good luck with this; water is super important!

Also, we're thinking of centering our experiment around water in different conditions and how that affects plants.

Hi all! Last week we learned about the five most important elements to growing plants. They are; Sunlight, water, nutrients, atmosphere, and soil! We're excited to work with you!

The greenhouse crew