Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
Only logged in users are allowed to comment. register/log in
|
| ||
|
April 6, 2009 | 3:59 AM |
PS team
Good bye Thank you to everyone who participated in this inquiry. We hope you are going away with some new insights about how science works, and confidence that you can take on new scientific challenges. There are a lot of fascinating research questions---just waiting for young investigators to join in the fun. Best wishes for the remainder of your school year! Jennifer |
|
|
| ||
|
March 30, 2009 | 10:18 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Conclusion Glad you were able to view it! We had to make it short, and I had to talk pretty fast. Haha. I am now writing my conclusion, and I will post it to the site, and turn it into my teacher for further grading. Thank you so much for all your help Kelly, It was really fun working under your instruction, and we had a great time. So long, The PFN's |
||
|
| ||
|
March 30, 2009 | 5:21 AM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
cool video! Hey PFN's, I was able to view your video today! I love it! Great explanation of your control group and the manipulated group! Hopefully you will have a chance to post your final report before this session ends! I will still have access to the website and I will be available beyond the 'final date' reported by the Planting Science people - so if you have any further questions when trying to discuss and explain your results, let me know! Until next time, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
|
March 26, 2009 | 11:01 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
movie? Hey PFN's, For some reason I can't seem to view your movie file... I am on my home laptop today and I will try again from my lab computer on Monday. It would be great if you could upload your data in a table or graph as suggested by Dr Raven! Sooooo - what's the final answer?!?! Does freezing the seeds affect germination and plant growth?!?! I'm sitting on the edge of my seat here waiting to hear!! :) Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 24, 2009 | 1:18 AM |
Elisha
(Student, The Beans - WSHS_S09_W13 · -1)
did freezing the seed kill the plant or is it still growing? |
||
|
| ||
|
March 22, 2009 | 3:19 AM |
Einstein
(Student, The Einsteins - SCH_S12_B06 · -1)
Hi This is kind of a cool project. |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 11:16 PM |
Dr. Peter H. Raven
(Scientist/Mentor)
Showing dat and progress Good morning plant fanatics- not!, I must say, you're very lucky being able to work with Ms. Gillespie as your mentor. I've been browsing through some of the research projects. Great video! Are you making progress with your research? Can you do browsers like me another favor and put you data as an excel sheet and in a graphical form. You can upload your graph with your images to the right. Go to the Guide to Using A Spreadsheet for assistance. Thanks for your assistance! We all look forward to seeing your progress and final analysis. Peter |
|
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 6:16 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Movie Everyone check out the movie we made! It explains a lot (or sort of). We only had about 30 seconds to talk because of upload size issues. This was our thirteenth try ha ha. |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 5:49 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Updated Info Wow! We looked today for the first time in a while, to see a plant sprouting out of the controlled, and manipulated bottles! So far, 3 seeds from each category have germinated, and 1 from each has started growing. So exciting! It was exciting to start seeing results. |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 5:45 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Kristina Sadly no they didn't really grow at all. Thanks for your enthusiasm though! |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 5:44 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Kristina |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 4:18 AM |
krisicped
(Student, Awkward Turtles - WSHS_S09_W21 · -1)
experiemnt thats a cool idea! did it take longer for the seed to grow after it had been frozen? |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 2:52 AM |
plantbuster15
(Student, Plant Busters - WSHS_S09_W11 · -1)
hey me agian ' hey i read over ur project again........... and wat are the steps.. how did you come up with this idea......... wat do you hve so far????????????? |
||
|
| ||
|
March 20, 2009 | 2:50 AM |
plantbuster15
(Student, Plant Busters - WSHS_S09_W11 · -1)
from t he plantbusters15 hey im brenda im in the group Plantbusters i really think that you idea is kinda of cool keep up the good work |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 19, 2009 | 10:31 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Progress? Hey PFN's, How is it going? Have any of your seeds germinated? I can't wait to see your results! ~ Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 19, 2009 | 8:01 AM |
daisy11
(Student, The Hot Tomatoes - WSHS_S09_W01 · -1)
Hey! Were your seeds thawed in the dark or in light? It might have affected germination. |
||
|
| ||
|
March 14, 2009 | 12:22 PM |
Principal Hitchman
(Teacher)
I think this is a cool study. I know that when I winter over bulbs, I'm keep them in a coo,l dark place. I'm really interested in seeing your results. -Mr. Hitchman |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 10, 2009 | 5:53 AM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great! Sounds like you guys are right on track! Now that you have a bit of time before germination - here's a good thinker question for you: You've predicted that the 'ice seeds' will germinate slower or not at all. What do you know about freezing and how ice affects living tissue? Lets try to think a bit deeper and investigate the big "WHY" question, shall we? Until next time, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 10, 2009 | 5:45 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Hey Yes we had them out of the ice cubes over the weekend, and some plain ones, in separate bags soaking all weekend long. Now they are in blue bottles waiting germination. So now, we make a table, and wait until the seeds germinate. Thank you! |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 9, 2009 | 9:41 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi! Hey PFN's How are things going? Do you have your seeds out of the ice cubes and planted? I can't wait to see your results! Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 9, 2009 | 6:03 AM |
captainspaz
(Student, Thee Wild Things o_0 - MMS_S09_W17 · -1)
what the heck sam don't do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
||
|
| ||
|
March 9, 2009 | 5:50 AM |
captainspaz
(Student, Thee Wild Things o_0 - MMS_S09_W17 · -1)
good? i thought mrs ham said it would be normal |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 5, 2009 | 9:45 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
frozen seeds I love the picture! Your seeds look good and frozen. Thanks for the clarification on your soaking procedure, I did miss that! While discussion boards like this are great, sometimes its easy to miss things. Sorry about that! Next, lets start thinking about making some predictions. What is your hypothesis? How do you think the freezing will affect the germination and growth of those seeds? You had mentioned that you thought sunflowers were naturally found in hot climates and might not encounter freezing conditions 'in the wild'. If this is the case, how do you think they'll handle your ice treatment? A few technical points/questions that I may have missed: Make sure to record how many seeds germinate each day and then after they are in the soil - how are you going to measure growth? Shoot height? weight? Are you going to measure growth each day or just their final height/weight at the end? Great job! Until next time, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 5, 2009 | 7:59 AM |
Drewsy
(Student, Spores - MMS_S09_W28 · -1)
hey that's me and chelsea's question lol |
||
|
| ||
|
March 5, 2009 | 5:49 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Soaking Ok now i get what you mean. Yes, we have been planning all along to place them into an incubator made of a propel bottle, with a paper towel, and put water into it. We are going to announce the seeds officially germinated when there is a root coming out of the seed. I will post a picture of what the ice cube tray looks like later. Thank you |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 4, 2009 | 11:01 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Starting your experiment Well, not cleaning the seeds shouldn't hurt them, but not soaking them might cause some not to germinate at all. All seeds need water to break dormancy - sometimes there is enough water in the soil to do that, but by pre-soaking them, you would be insuring that all received an adequate "WAKE UP!" signal! If you've already frozen the seeds, let them break open naturally - less chance for something to go wrong :) You guys are doing a great job! You are thinking through things like a true scientist! I can't wait to see what happens! Keep me posted! Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 4, 2009 | 6:06 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Cleaning the seeds We got the seeds from the PlantingScience website, so our teacher is assuming that they are pre-cleaned. However, we like the idea of breaking some open before freezing, so that we can see if there are differences. Because of the time constraints we cannot soak or clean them. Should we break them open after they freeze? or let them do it naturally? thanks, the pfn's |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 3, 2009 | 11:15 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Cleaning and Soaking Before you start your experiment you need to make sure you have clean seeds. You don't want any bacterial or fungal hitchhikers on the outside of your seed to muck up the experiment! Mix 1 tablespoon bleach with 2 cups water and swish your seeds around in that solution for about 5 minutes. Remove the seeds and run regular water over them to wash the bleach off. Then you need to soak the seeds to break the dormancy period (here's a great link explaining it better than I could: http://www.sproutpeople.com/grow/soak.html). I think sunflower seeds only need to soak for about an hour to break dormancy, but some seeds need to soak overnight even! Do your sunflower seeds still have the shell on them? It would be a good idea to crack that off (carefully!) before soaking and planting. It is only a hard cover to protect the actual seed and doesn't serve any function once a seed has germinated. Speaking of breaking dormancy - I just got a great idea!! It might be really interesting to freeze one set of seeds before the soaking (before breaking dormancy) and freeze a second set of seeds after soaking (after breaking dormancy) to determine if the timing of a freeze event matters! This is actually a very big deal right now with all the research going into climate change affects on vegetation and farming! How early can a farmer plant their crop (to get the longest possible growing season) without risking a freeze event in the early spring! You can investigate whether the timing of a freezing event matters in the early stages of sunflower plant growth! Let me know if you have any other further questions - you guys are doing great! Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
March 3, 2009 | 6:22 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Word Document We decided on Sunflower seeds, and are using soil for our growth medium. We have a water schedule, just one cup of water, per day. What is pre-soaking or cleaning? Does this affect the seeds? Just something to look at, we uploaded a word document that you might want to take a look at. It has some info on it that might be able to tell you more about our plan. Sunflower seeds usually have a hot climate, right? Do you think that this seed choice will have an exciting outcome? Thank you, PFN's |
||
|
| ||
|
|
March 1, 2009 | 11:06 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great Question Hey PNF's, I like your research question! The handling of seeds between growing seasons and just prior to germination is a huge research question for agronomists (plant scientists studying economically important crops such as corn and soybean) even today! Here are a few things to think about: 1. What species are you using and what do you know about that plant's natural habitat? i.e. is it a plant found in tropical zones or is it more hardy? does this plant encounter freezing naturally? if it does or doesn't - how might that affect the outcome? 2. Are you planning on cleaning and pre-soaking the seeds before or after the ice treatment? When will you clean and soak your control (room temp) seeds? 3. What kind of growth medium are you using? soil? a petri dish? 4. Do you have a watering / fertilizer schedule set? I look forward to hearing more about this as you go! Please keep asking me questions - you guys are doing a great job! Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
|
March 1, 2009 | 10:59 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great Question! |
|
|
| ||
|
February 27, 2009 | 6:19 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Research Question Hey Kelly, Glad to hear from you. We decided on the question 'Will freezing a seed in an ice cube, and melting it affect the germination time and/or plant growth?' Our experimental design goes a little like this; Freeze seeds inside ice cubes, and after melting, place those seeds, and regular room temperature seeds in their pots. Record how long it takes each kind of seed to germinate, and if they grow at all. We are excited to try to freeze the seeds inside the cubes. It seems sort of fun to try and get it right in the middle of the frozen block of water. We plan on using trials of 7 regular seeds, and 7 ice cube seeds, so that we come out with a correct answer. Do you have any questions or concerns about our plan? We would appreciate your input. When looking at what you said about choosing only one variable to alter, it seemed like our plan will work, because there aren't too many chemicals in water (at least we think). Thank you! The PFN's |
||
|
| ||
|
|
February 27, 2009 | 12:18 AM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Research Question Hey PFN's, You can just call me Kelly - that's fine :) Thank you for asking. Developing a sound research question is an integral part of any great experiment! Its great you are putting so much thought in to it! There are a few key things to keep in mind when formulating your research question: 1. Plants are not humans. While this might seem a little simple - it is key! Plants require different things to live than humans and different factors affect growth of plants. When doing an experiment on plants - think like a plant not a human! Can you alter something that is required for growth? Is there something that you think will hinder plant growth that you could test? 2. Think simple. You can only draw intelligent conclusions if you are testing one single variable. A lot of times students want to test Gatorade or some cleaning solution as a 'fertilizer', except those solutions are full of a lot of different chemicals! How would you ever piece apart which one the plant is responding to?! So, think like a plant and alter ONE variable that you think will affect growth. Here's a great wikipedia page that outlines the basic requirements for plant germination (which, by the way, is different than plant growth). Maybe this will give you some jumping off points: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germination#Requirements_for_seed_germination Good luck! I can't wait to hear about your ideas! Best, Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
February 26, 2009 | 6:15 AM |
ilmoRECS
(Team Member)
Dear Kelly Hello from Marshall Middle School! Glad to be doing this experiment with your guidance! My name is Joel. What would you like us to refer to you as? We are thinking of a few different research questions, such as; Will a seed still germinate after being frozen in an ice cube, then melted? Or, What is the effect- if any- that Ethos, or Smart Water will have on a plant versus regular water? These are just a few of the questions we came up with. Hope to hear from you soon, and thanks for your time and effort. Sincerely, Plant Fanatics- Not! |
||
|
| ||
|
|
February 25, 2009 | 11:11 PM |
Ms. Kelly Gillespie
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hello from your Scientist Mentor! Hello PFN's! My name is Kelly Gillespie, and I am going to be your online scientist mentor for this session. I am so excited to work with you! Before we get started, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I research the effects of pollution on crops: from what’s going on with the plants' genes, to how that influences the plant cells individually and how those cellular changes affect whole plant yield and crop production. Our research group utilizes the only open-field research station that exposes these crops to the predicted atmosphere of the future. Here is our lab’s website if you would like to see a bit more about what we do: www.life.uiuc.edu/ainsworth Now I’d like to hear about your research project! What is your predicted hypothesis? How are you going to test it? I am here to help you develop answers to these questions. Feel free to use me as a sounding board for any ideas that you might have! My goal is to encourage you to think critically about your work and challenge you to become better scientists! I look forward to hearing from you! Kelly |
|
|
| ||
|
|
February 25, 2009 | 7:45 AM |
PS team
Welcome! I am happy to welcome you to this community of plant researchers. Your team has the opportunity to communicate directly with a scientist who will help you focus your ideas as you develop your research question and experimental design. Your scientist mentor is Kellie Gillespie from the University of Illinois. Please introduce yourself and post some possible research topic ideas to get a conversation rolling. Best wishes as you embark on this scientific journey. We are all pleased to share this experience with you. Have fun! Jennifer Potratz |
|
