| Explore | Outside of school, we know that plants grow from the ground and need water and the sun. In school, we have learned about photosynthesis and cellular respiration, and that plants are the primary source of energy for consumers. We are interested in how different climate conditions affect plant growth. |
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| Research Question | We want to test how pollutants in the air and other factors that filter the Sun's light affect plant growth. We came up with the question based off our interest in the increase in pollutants in the atmosphere in contemporary society. This question fits what we know about the topic because we know that plant growth requires sunlight, so if we block the sunlight, we want to see how that would affect the plant growth. |
| Predictions | The cup with the clearer film (cling wrap) will undergo photosynthesis quicker, therefore the leaves will float in a shorter amount of time than the cup with the black and completely opaque (black construction paper) film. The cup with the semi-opaque film (parchment paper) will undergo photosynthesis at a rate in between the construction paper and the cling film. We think this will happen because of the different amounts of light. There will be more light coming into the cup with cling wrap, therefore there will be more photosynthesis than the cup with the black construction paper, that receives little to no light. |
| Experimental Design | Our plan is to do the same experiment, but with distilled water in all4 cups. Cover one cup with cling wrap, one with parchment paper, one with black construction paper, and one with one green cling wrap. Record the time in which the spinach leaves float. We will be testing the different levels of light exposure and measuring and observing how that affects plant growth. We will keep the solutions, the time, and the spinach leaves constant. We will record our data on the same table we used for the original experiment. |
| Conclusion | |
| Investigation Theme | POS |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | Mountain View High School |
| Session | Fall 2017 |