It was great working with you on your project.  I hope you had fun exploring plants and agronomy!  All the best for the rest of your school year :)

Thank you mentors for taking the time to work with us in this experiment. 

Farewell and Best Wishes

As this research project is now in the final stages of wrapping-up, we wish to thank everyone who participated in this inquiry; the students, mentors, teachers and others behind the scenes. We appreciate all of your efforts and contributions to this online learning community.

Scientific exploration is a process of discovery that can be fun! There are many unanswered questions about plants just waiting for new scientists to consider, investigate, and share.

After the end of the session, we will be updating the platform and archiving groups and projects, after which time new updates/posts will not be able to be added to projects or groups. You have until Tuesday, April 25, 2021, to post ALL of your updates, comments, and goodbyes. Please come back and visit the PlantingScience Project Gallery anytime to view this project in the future. You can search the Gallery by keyword, team name, topic, or school name.

Good bye for now.

Warm regards,

The PlantingScience Team

In today's class, our teacher conducted an experiment, where we saw what type of soil (clay or soil) would filter the most. We made a prediction and said that clay has bigger particles than soil and so it will filter out most of the dye from the water. The color sticks more to one type of soil (clay) than the other (soil) because of the fact that clay has bigger particles. This experiment reflects what happens in agriculture because you will know your soil better. An experiment we would like to test would be which fertilizer gives the best results for a quicker plant growth. 

Nutrients and water move through soil by this process called diffusion. During this process, roots grow throughout the profile and use up nutrients directly around the root system and the root hairs. As the concentration of nutrients around the root system drops, nutrients from higher concentrated areas move toward low concentration areas and toward the roots.

Hi team,

I like your logo :)  It's good to see that you've updated your info.  Your research question is an important one - we definitely need to get food from farm to table, but it's also really, really big.  When we're learning by reading a book or taking a class, we can learn a lot of different things at once, so you can ask big questions.  But when we're running an experiment, we have to do only a few small things at a time, so we can build up new knowledge carefully.  Ultimately, we answer the big questions by asking lots of small ones.

Here's an example of the difference I mean.  A big question would be, do people like candy?  This is hard to answer because there are lots of different kinds of candy and types of people, and "like" and "don't like" are hard to measure.  A good specific question for an experiment might be, "do high school students like skittles or M&Ms better?".  That is a question you could test by offering students a choice and seeing which ones they choose.

So, for you to be able to do a project or experiment, you need to make your question a lot smaller.  What is one small, specific thing about raising healthy crops that you would like to know more about and that we could test with an experiment?

Hi jennifer , The sources of stress that I have observed in plants have been around me are temperature on the plants, water resources, chemical stress, and insect stress. I seen that when watering a water too much water can then affect plants by then they will not be able to breathe by taking up oxygen with their roots. 

Hi Brenda & team,

Great answers about soil and key nutrients.  You're right that nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are important and that's why they are key ingredients in fertilizers.  That's a pretty good list of stresses that plants face, too.  Are there any sources of stress for plants that you can observe around you right now?  How do the plants respond?

It sounds like you're learning a lot of new words right now, so maybe I can help you with a few of them.  You mentioned "autotrophs" - "auto" means self (like autobiography) and "troph" has to do with food.  So because plants make their own food (instead of eating other things), they are called "autotrophs".

"Bio" refers to life, so you're right that "biotic" stress has to do with living organisms.  Biotic stress is stress caused by other living organisms.  The insect stress you mentioned would be an example of "biotic" stress for a plant.

"A" is often used to indicate the opposite of something, so "abiotic" means not biotic, or not having to do with living organisms.  In other words, "abiotic" stress usually has to do with the environment, as you mentioned.  Temperature or water stress would be good examples of "abiotic" stress.

I hope that helps and I look forward to hearing more about your soil experiment :)

Jennifer

Hi team,

Nice to meet you all!  And congrats on making it to senior year of high school - you're almost done :)

My name's Jennifer and I study invasive plants.  Recently I have been studying a weed called dock that is a problem in organic agriculture and pastures.  Like you, I really liked science in high school, but I also really like being outside, so I decided to study how plants grow in the wild because that means I get to be outside sometimes when I'm working!

Ecoregions are an interesting way of classifying the world.  The climate is so different from one part of the world to another!  What ecoregion do you live in?  What kinds of crops do farmers in your area grow?

You mentioned climate, sunlight and water, but you also said a plant needs nutrients. What nutrients does a plant need and where do they come from?  What is the difference between biotic and abiotic stress?  What sources of stress do you think plants in your area have to deal with right now?

I'd also like to hear more about what you're doing in class.  Have you started talking about a project or experiment to work on?

I look forward to working with you on your project!

Jennifer

Hello team, Nice to catch you there. I hope you are enjoying this semester and can't wait to discuss your project. Good luck to you all!

In today's class, we learned that agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants in agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, recreation, and land restoration. It is important because it provides farmers with agricultural information about how to grow and care for plants and soils in certain environments. We also learned that an ecoregion is a major ecosystem defined by distinctive geography and receives uniform solar radiation and moisture. Climate affects plant growth because there is certain variables that make plants grow. Considering how climate can change randomly like extreme weather, extreme temperatures, decrease in water availability and changes in soil. These factors can affect a plant’s growth. The stressors of a plant are abiotic stress and biotic stress. In order for a plant to grow it needs sunlight, water, and air. Sunlight is how a plant get its food through a process called photosynthesis. Water is the most important factor in what a plant needs to grow. A plant also needs nutrients to grow healthy. 

My name is Alejandro. I'm a senior at Watsonville High, and my favorite classes are science, math, and history. In my free time I enjoy playing sports, reading, and being outdoors.

hi! my name is julie and im 17 years old and a senior at watsonville high and i dont have a favorite class but on my free time i like to exercise

Hi! My name is Brenda. I am a senior at Watsonville High School. I don't have a favorite class. In my free time, I like to hangout with friends and listen to music.  

Hi, my name is Nadia. i am 17 years old, i am a senior at Watsonville high school. i was born in Mexico but raised here in Watsonville my whole life. I am a visual learner , i think when seeing things in action help me learn faster. one of my favorite subject has to be anything that has to do anything science.

Welcome to your PlantingScience project page!

Welcome to this community of plant researchers. As your team plans and conducts your own research project, you will be mentored by a scientist. The mentor's role is to encourage and guide you through the process of scientific discovery. The more you share your ideas and research information online, the more your mentor can help. You can also find out more about your mentor. What is their research about? Why did they go into science? What do they like to do when they are not working?

You may also hear from this classroom’s assigned scientist liaison. Liaisons work with several mentors and help make sure the conversations are going strong. They may also offer some extra advice or encouragement.

Two resources can help you get started:

• Student Roadmap
• Plant Investigation Toolkit

Best wishes as you start this scientific journey. We are all pleased to share this experience with you. Have fun!

To set up your project page:

• Choose your project team name. Need inspiration? Visit the project gallery to see other student teams.
• Upload a photo or avatar for your team.
• Introduce yourselves to your scientist mentor and get the conversation started!
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