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Hi Michelin, Gabe, and Sam,
Thanks for sharing your experiment plan! And sorry I've been a little slow replying. I'm on spring break this week :)
I know Gabe said you were interested in pH, but this seems like you're testing just the type of liquid plants are being given. There are a lot of differences between your chosen liquids, but probably not a ton of range in pH. That's fine - just be sure you're thinking about your experiment from a broader view than just pH! If you're still interested in pH too, you might try measuring the pH of each of your liquids so you know what they are. Does your teacher have any pH strips you could borrow?
I have two other questions that you should make sure you think about. First, what is your hypothesis? What do you think will happen in the experiment, and why? A good hypothesis is based on what you already know (in this case, what you know about plants and what you know about the different liquids you're using). So what do you think your results will be and why do you think that?
Second, what will you be measuring about your plants? You say you will watch them and gather facts, but it would be good to have a plan ahead of time for what you want to measure specifically. For example, will you count how many seeds germinate and how many don't? Will you measure the height of the plants as they grow? At the end of the experiment, will you pull the plants out of the dirt and weigh them to see how big they are? You can measure more than one thing, if you're interested in more than one thing. And you can also write down observations as you go along, too. For example, if any of them look wilted or if the soil starts to grow mold.
I encourage you to put all of these details in the blue boxes at the top of this page so that it's easier to find and won't get lost as we keep talking back and forth. This seems like it will be a fun experiment - I hope you guys are excited about it! Maybe you'll even get to eat some peas at the end. :) I heard you're planting this week, so good luck!
Nicole
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Liaison Cameron nominated this mentor for thorough and effective communication!
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