| Explore | One thing I learned about germination is that some seeds need to go through animals digestive systems to germinate. One thing that affects seed germination is soil. I learned that too much water can drown the seeds and as a result they will die. We learned that some plants may have a pigment called photosensitive pigment which tells the plant where the sun is and whether it is close or not. |
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| Research Question | What would happen if one seed was growing in a mix of soil particle sizes vs a seed that is growing in one size of soil? |
| Predictions | If a seed where to grow in a mixture of sand and soil then we think our seed will grow slower because soybeans aren’t succulents or cacti, the most common plant planted in sand, so the cacti and succulents are used to it and have adapted to the environment. |
| Experimental Design | Control : 1.Gather materials 2.observations 3.Soak seed 4.observations 5.Set up petri dish 6.Put seeds into the dish 7.Label Petri Dish 8.Take observations before germination 9.Grow seed (water) 10.Take notes after germination to compare before and after Sand + Soil: 1.Gather materials 2.observations 3.Soak seed 4.observations 5.Set up petri dish 6.Label Petri Dish 7.Add soil and sand mix on top of paper towel 8.Water 9.Let grow for 1 day 10.Take observations Soil: 1.Gather materials 2.Take observations 3.Soak seed 4.Take observations 5.Set up petri dish 6.Label Petri Dish 7.Add soil 8.Water 9.Take observations 10.Take observations for the duration of the lab Constants - Water amount Water temperature Light amount Light type Light amount Container Temperature of environment Independent variable - Soil + Sand Dependent variable - Our dependent variables are how long it takes for our plants to germinate and our other dependent variable is how big the seed gets. Our control experiment is that we would: Soak the Seed. Plant on a paper towel Let it germinate. Experimental groups - Sand + Soil Sand Soil Paper Towel |
| Conclusion | Our hypothesis was partially supported. In the control experiment, a damp paper towel, the seeds germinated the fastest and had the most growth out of all four of the growing mediums. The control experiment seeds grew the most in all three trials. In the soil, the seeds did germinate, but not as quickly as the control experiment. However, the seeds in soil only germinated in trial one. In the mix of sand and soil, the seeds did not germinate in any of the trials. In sand, the seeds also did not germinate in any of the trials. As we took observations we noticed that the amount of growth between our control experiment and all of the other growing mediums was very different. We had predicted that the seeds in sand and the seeds in a mix of sand in soil would have little to no germination, but we originally thought that the seeds in soil would germinate about the same amount as the seeds on a damp paper towel. |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Grade Level | Middle School Students (grades 6,7,8) |
| School Name | San Francisco Friends School |
| Session | Spring 2019 |