Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
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April 11, 2012 | 11:00 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi All. I am really impressed with the lab reports! Thanks for sharing. I learned a few things about sunflower history and growth from your reports! Clearly you learned a lot and were able to write well about the experiment goals and conclusions. Great work! |
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April 6, 2012 | 11:49 AM |
Dr. Catrina Adams
Looks like you are in the final stages of your projects It’s great to see that teams from your school are wrapping up and posting conclusions. Enjoy the final stages of your project, and feel free to post any final comments or questions you have for your mentors. |
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March 29, 2012 | 10:19 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks again team. I hope you also have a good grade and more importantly I hope that you learned many things about designing and running an experiment, had fun, and are excited for your next science experiments! Good luck! |
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March 28, 2012 | 5:38 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
I don't know wha'ts wrong, but I was trying to upload our final presentation but it won't let me. |
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March 28, 2012 | 1:14 AM |
justino
(Team Member)
I was surprised by the outcome of this experiment, only a few plants even grew at all and they were all very small, the other groups in our class had very tall plants, im wondering if we stunted the growth with over-watering the plants. Anyways i appreciate you helping us Mr. Hoban and good work jenny and Rachael, hopefully we will earn a good grade :) |
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March 27, 2012 | 11:54 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
It was really fun and nice to work with you all! Good finish to the experiment. Here is another lesson, sometimes you have to keep watching, maybe more plants will grow! Patience is very important in science. Is anyone going to keep the sunflowers in their garden? Good observation about the soil "shrinking". This is called soil compaction. The water shifts around the soil particles and over time a pot of soil will become more compact. When planting seeds, many people will push down the soil lightly during the planting and then it should not "shrink" so much. You have some nice observations! Any final questions or observations? I would love to see your final graphs and presentations. Thanks for sharing and working as a good team. Bye! |
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March 27, 2012 | 5:09 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
We got suprised when the sand and soil plant grew because we thought that one wouldn't grow at all, but we think it grew less than the regular soil because the sand made the soil dried. We will upload a presentation about our experiment! The graphs are a great idea! Thank you! |
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March 26, 2012 | 5:17 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
>:) hgf.lerjpoitmg[owetiyj |
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March 26, 2012 | 5:09 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Hello, our experiments with the plants ended on Friday, but we kept the plants and didn't throw them out until today. We didn't water them since Friday, but two new seeds in different pots in the regular soil germinated, but all the other plants died. I also noticed when we first started this experiment, we filled the pots at least 4/5, and about a week later all the pots soil/sand.. decreased? I'm not sure if thats the right wording, but it seems like there was less sand/soil than what we started with. And we're not sure if the seed was meant to grow on a farm, because I saw a few other experiments of sunflowers, and they grew well.. I'm not sure why ours didn't grow that good. I honestly think we still watered them too much, even though we decreased the watering amount by a few mL. I (Rachel) think that I'll try to make a bar graph for the plants height, in the different pots. |
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March 26, 2012 | 12:03 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi! Hi Team! Yes, you are right, sometimes we find that the hypothesis is wrong! We learned a lot though right? We expected the salt to help but maybe it harmed the plants? Sometimes salt makes it difficult for plants to take up water. Maybe in a future experiment you could try different levels of salt and different levels of water. Also the sand plants grew less well than the soil but better than the salt. What do you think of that? Maybe the sand dried out too quickly? I wonder if the variety of seed that you got it meant to grow on a farm, do you think? It would also be interesting to transplant adult plants into these same soils to see if adults have the same requirements as the seedlings! Your two pieces of evidence that I think are supporting are the number of plants that grew and also the height. For both of these observations, the regular soil plants were the top- more grew and they grew on average taller! Do you think you could make that into a graph? I think so. A useful graph might be a pie chart, to show the number of seedlings that grew and didn't grow. And a bar chart for the plant height. What do you think? Or number of leaves. Any of those might make a nice graph. Any other questions? Good luck in your science explorations! Sean PS thanks for uploading a journal, I enjoyed reading! |
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March 26, 2012 | 2:06 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Well the result doesn't match our hypothesis because we thought the seeds planted in regular soil watered with salt water was going to grow the tallest didn't grow at all. And we think the reason why it didn't grow was because the salt took up the nutrients that was supposed to to go the plants. The tallest plant that grew was the seed planted in the regular pot because one of the seed grew up to 7.5cm with 2 leaves. and the other seed in the same pot grew 3.5cm. And in the sand and soil pot only one grew and it was 4cm with 2 leaves. The evidence we can put forth about this conclusion is the amount of water we put in each plant. And also the amount of soil..? We have a lab report that's due on Thursday, so Wednesday is the last day to work with you... And I had a question for you... For our lab report we needed to have a graph, but I didn't know what to do it on because we didn't go to the classroom everyday to water the plants at first. |
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March 23, 2012 | 6:08 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
good finish, now lets discuss Good work team, in tidying up the results. It is helpful at the end of the experiment to look at all the data we have collected and put it in one place. First one suggestion for improvement next time.. I think you maybe learned an important lesson about record keeping here! It is important to write in the journal every day, because at the end of the experiment you might not remember the exact days for important events like the day of germination. A good lesson. It is also important to keep these records so you can calculate something like rate of growth, that is how fast the plant is growing. Without knowing the exact day of germination you cannot calculate how much it grew each day. There are several ways to measure plant performance- how tall and how fast it grows. But other than this you did great! A good experiment that has results we can interpret. You can see now it was very important to have multiple pots and multiple seeds!! Can you type up the journal you did keep and please upload? Thanks for the photos! So in the end, I have two questions I will ask and then I can help if you want help... First how would you interpret the results? In other words, what do the results mean for which type of soil was best for plant growth (your original question)? Does this support your hypothesis- your original hypothesis? Second, what is the evidence you can put forth about this conclusion? Hint- There are at least two observations that can support the hypothesis for your data! For watering, do you think it was important to make the changes you made? Maybe it helped having less watering? Next time I will propose some more questions about how we can apply these results to other plants and plan more experiments.. How much more time do you have to communicate on this website? Another week? Great work again it has been really nice working with you guys!! |
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March 22, 2012 | 4:02 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Yes, the one seed that died in the sand germinated... the stem grew out a little bit but it never grew out of the seed. My hypothesis was correct; none of the seeds in the smaller pot grew, and only the plants that were growing kept growing, but noting else germinated. Soil: 2 seeds in the same pot, one of them was 7.5cm today, and the other 3.5 cm today. I think they started germinating on March 14th. Sand: 1 germinated in 1 pot ( the other one that germinated died ), it grew to 4 cm and im not sure when it germinated..... Salt: None grew Changes made during experiment: In the smaller pot, changed amount of water from 15 mL, to 13 mL on March 20th, and in the big pot we didn't change the water amount, but we changed the watering dates from everyday to every other day. |
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March 21, 2012 | 12:36 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi Team! Nice detailed observations, I think that is very good. You have done a very important thing, which is to be clear about exactly what you are measuring, the stem. Details like this help other scientists who may want to replicate the study or do something similar. Can you be more clear about the one seed that died in the sand? Do you mean it germinated and then died? This is an important observation! Thanks for the details about the water, it is good to observe things like this and be flexible with adjusting the treatments. You are doing an excellent job, scientists! Thanks for noting the salt residue. This is helpful to. Think now about whether there might be a level of salt that is too much for plants. What do you think? When you finish your observations, can you organize like this for the final presentation? It will help to tidy up the experiment for anyone who is reading. Soil: Number germinated. Date of each germination. Final height. Sand: Number germinated. Date of each germination. Final height. Salt: Number germinated. Date of each germination. Final height. Changes made during experiment: Date of changing watering schedule, etc. We will then compare the three treatments for these variables to come to our conclusions. I look forward to talking it all over! Sean |
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March 20, 2012 | 4:12 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
We are going to finish growing the plants this week Friday. I don't think anymore seeds will grow in the big pots, but im not sure about the small pots. |
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March 20, 2012 | 4:10 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Hi Mr. Hoban, So far in the smaller pots none of the seeds grew, but in the big pots, two seeds in the same pot for regular soil grew up to 7cm and 3 cm, and in the saltwater none of them grew, and in sand one of the two seeds in the same pot died, and the other living one grew to 2.5 cm. The soil and sand are very moist, we decided to water them every other day. I honestly think that we are watering the plants a little too much still because after we water the plants, the tray is about 1 cm flooded from the bottom. I think that soil takes about 1 minute to absorb the water completely. We are measuring the stem, by the way. In the saltwater pot, one of it has this yellowish looking splotch thing, and im not sure if its mold, or salt residue, but the salt residue that I do see is white and doesn't look like the yellow splotch. |
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March 20, 2012 | 4:35 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks team! Let us also make some observations of the soil. What do you see differently about the soils now? Do you see any difference between the salt and regular watered soil? What about the sand? Do you see differences in how long it takes the water to go through the soil? How does it feel to the touch? Have a good week! |
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March 20, 2012 | 2:20 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
I will take more pictures tomorrow and upload it. The plants are all gree and I think these green sprouts are leaves, but that is only for one of the plant. |
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March 18, 2012 | 11:03 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks for the update team! What do the new plants look like? What color, do they have any leaves? Check them out closely! I can't wait to read about it. Have a good week. |
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March 18, 2012 | 3:55 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
For the new plants, we watered it 15mL for each of the spots, but we changed it to 13mL starting from today. |
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March 18, 2012 | 3:54 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Today one of the pot with regular soil has 2 plants growing. One of them are 5 cm and the other one is 2cm. One of the pot growing in sand and soil has one seed growing, and it is 1cm. The pots with saltwater soil, the seeds are not growing at all. |
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March 18, 2012 | 3:53 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
We think we're watering the smaller pot seeds too much so we lowered the water amount to 13 mL. |
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March 18, 2012 | 5:28 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks team! The photos look great! I can see the difference in the sand and soil. All looks really well, let me know how this week goes! What do you see on Monday? I was just wondering, do sunflowers grow where you are? What made you choose them for the project in the beginning? They are really amazing when they are full grown, they can be so tall! A very beautiful plant. Well, have a good week! |
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March 17, 2012 | 5:45 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
For the new plants, we are only watering 15mL for each of them. |
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March 16, 2012 | 12:37 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks team! I look forward to seeing pictures and reading your journal. Let me know how it goes. What did you decide for the new amount of watering? Be sure to record in your journal. How much time will you have for your project? Good luck! |
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March 15, 2012 | 10:23 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
There will be 36 seeds planted in the smaller trays. Because 2 for each kind of soil/sand, which is 6 trays, times 6 spaces in each tray so 36 seeds. |
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March 15, 2012 | 12:32 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi Team, thank you for the update. I think this is a good lesson for young scientists. We have to remember patience and to not be discouraged! Like I said, you can expect 5 to 10 days from planting until the seeds germinate, so sometimes we just have to wait! So keep an eye on your original pots, I will not be surprised if you see some more plants :) It is also a good lesson that there is a lot of variation for when the plants germinate, some come out faster than others. Pretty neat, right? For the new pots, remember to keep a good record in your journal! As a scientist we must keep good records with as many details as possible, so that others can interpret our results and also re-do the experiment if it is ever needed. I think you have two trays per treatment (so six trays?) and then each tray has six spaces, so 18 seeds total? Please let me know if that is right. Again, do not give up on those old seeds. I am glad you are being adaptable, it is important as a scientist to be able to be flexible, but also keep in mind the original goal. Great job, and Good luck! |
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March 14, 2012 | 4:19 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Also, the smaller pot/tray has 6 spaces per tray to put the seed in. 2 trays filled with sunflower seeds in each space. 2 trays per type of soil/sand. |
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March 14, 2012 | 4:19 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Also, the smaller pot/tray has 6 spaces per tray to put the seed in. 2 trays filled with sunflower seeds in each space. 2 trays per type of soil/sand. |
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March 14, 2012 | 4:15 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
We decided to not start all over, because we are going to keep our original plants, but we are going to plant new sunflower seeds in smaller pots... The smaller pot/tray is about 2 inches width and length. We'll keep to our plan and plant them in the regular soil, saltwater, etc. Hopefully they will all grow! So we will be comparing which pot does the sunflowers grow better in.. But I think that the reason why the sunflower seeds in the big pot aren't growing is beacuse we are watering them too much, so I think they're.. dead. So we won't water the new sunflower seeds too much like we did with the big pot sunflower seeds. |
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March 14, 2012 | 4:00 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Do you think it will be okay if we start all over? We will just plant the seeds again in a smaller pot... We think other plants are dead, because we only have 1 plant growing, but there was another plant growing in the pot with soil and sand, but we planted it under the soil again because the whole seed that was growing was outside of the soil. |
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March 14, 2012 | 3:54 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
I would go home and upload the pictures. We do have a journal we keep track of. Question: If all plants grew the same height, that means we watered the plants with a good amount of water. If no plants grew, that means the amount of soil was too less, or too much. And the amount of water was too much, because we think we are giving too much water so not a lot of plants of growing.... |
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March 13, 2012 | 11:29 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Ok thanks team. If you are able to, can you upload your journal here? It would be very useful for me to read. Let me know if anything new is happening, very excited! Keep up the steady progress. Now it is the time of the experiment where we wait, and think about what the results might be. Here is a question for you: what would you conclude if all the plants grew the same height? What would you conclude if no plants grew? Just some things to keep you thinking! Let me know if you have any questions for me! Bye! |
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March 13, 2012 | 10:27 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
We haven't numbered the pots, but we labeled which ones are in regular soil, and so forth. And I believe Jenny is keeping a journal, but I don't think we have recorded all the dates we watered the plants... |
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March 13, 2012 | 9:32 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great work, keep it up! Thanks team! Glad to hear one has germinated. What does it look like? If you can, please describe, it is good to practice your observation skills. From what I have read, it takes 5 to 10 days for sunflower seeds to germinate. And you want to keep the soil moist, but not too wet. It should not be like mud, or the roots cannot take hold. I cannot wait to see the pictures! Are you keeping a journal? I suggest that you write down each day that you are able to water, and days you are not, and any other information. Have you numbered the pots? Often we number the treatments and plants so we can say pot 1 of the sand treatment, one germination, and things like that. If you are keeping a journal like this, let me know and I will read it! Things are going well, keep up the interesting observations. Good luck! |
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March 12, 2012 | 5:35 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Hi Mr. Hoban, its been about 5 days since we planted the sunflower seeds, and one seed from the mixed soil and sand germinated. We will try to water the plants everyday, but we didn't get the chance to water it yesterday. Hopefully all the seeds will germinate! And we will also try to upload some pictures later. |
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March 12, 2012 | 2:51 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
good question Hi Jenny Rachel and Justin! Good question about watering. That is a difficult one. We have to remember that the amount of water a plant will need depends on its size, the temperature of the room (evaporation!), and the soil type. I suppose it also depends on the size of the pot. So it is a tough decision! If it is not difficult for your teacher, maybe it is best to water everyday. Can you upload some photos of the experiment? Then maybe I can advise better, seeing the size of pots, etc. For the salt, great. The simple answer about concentration is to just divide the grams of salt by the amount of water, which is 17.5g/55mL, this will give you the number of grams in each mL of water. Does it make sense? I think that should be good for your teacher, let me know! Good luck this week! Great questions. Do you see any observations yet? Will you keep a daily journal? I will be glad to read it! Bye! |
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March 11, 2012 | 8:12 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Do you think we should water our plants everyday? We have biology class every other day, but we can tell our teacher to water the plants for us. |
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March 11, 2012 | 3:21 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
We measured the salt with a scale. We water all plants with 55 mL of water. For the salt water solution, we add 17.5g of salt which is 14 mL of salt. |
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March 7, 2012 | 9:52 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi Team, I was thinking again about the concentration. It will be important to weigh the salt. Do you have a small scale in your classroom, that can weigh the salt? Let me know! Bye everyone! |
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March 7, 2012 | 9:47 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great idea for the sand, that is necessary to keep it from falling out of the pot. Great job being inventive. We often have to change our experiments a bit from our original plan. Good work. For the salt solution, I can help you with this. Have you learned about "moles" in chemistry? It is a way that we measure chemicals, a way to count actually all the atoms in whatever chemical we are interested in. If you are using salt from the chemistry lab it will have something called "molar weight" written on the bottle. See if you can find the molar weight of salt (chemical name NaCl) and then I will help you with the calculation. It is a good idea because in chemistry and also plant biology we do need to use these kind of measures. Good luck today, talk to you again soon! |
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March 7, 2012 | 4:09 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Our biology teacher told us that for the saltwater we need to know the speicfic amount of salt solution or something like that, but how are we supposed to figure it out? |
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March 7, 2012 | 3:50 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
We decided to mix half sand and half soil, soil put in to the bottom of the pot, and sand on top because if we just put sand, all the sand will fall out of the pot through the holes and the seed won't grow. |
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March 7, 2012 | 3:29 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Our group decided to have 9 pots in total with 3 seeds in each of them because our teacher said that, that will be better. |
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March 7, 2012 | 3:21 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
We are starting our experiment today! We are keep track of our plant by using a science journal. |
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March 7, 2012 | 5:26 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi team! Sorry for the delay! Yes, I think holes in the pot to let the water come out, and also to plant in pots so you can watch them grow after the germination. Good luck! And thanks Daniel for filling in, I appreciate it! Any other questions team? Have a nice week, Sean |
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March 7, 2012 | 12:14 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Well we are just trying to see which plant will grow the tallest in 2 weeks so we think planting the sunflower seeds in a pot is a better idea! Thank You! |
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March 6, 2012 | 5:28 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
answers to your questions Hi, I'm Dan, another scientist working with your teacher. You asked: 1)We have a question for you. Should be poke small holes under the cup for our plant? Yes, that would be a good idea. Otherwise the roots might not grow very deep or die. 2) Will it be better to plant the sunflower seeds in a pot or a plastic bag wrapped in a wet paper towel? This depends on what you want to measure. If you want to measure only germination, the bag with a paper towel should work fine, but if you also want to measure something having to do with plant growth after germination, you should plant in pots. We'll see if Sean agrees. Good luck! |
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March 5, 2012 | 4:18 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
We have another question to ask you! Our Biology teacher just told us that if we're looking for seed germination, then it would be better to plant the seeds in a plastic bag with wet paper towel. Will it be better to plant the sunflower seeds in a pot or a plastic bag wrapped in a wet paper towel? |
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March 5, 2012 | 4:09 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
For the experiment... We have a question for you. Should be poke small holes under the cup for our plant? Some people said that it would be better to poke holes under the cup so the water can go through.. |
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March 5, 2012 | 4:02 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
We received six seeds today. I think we will plant them maybe next class, but we are not sure yet. We will tell you when we start our experiment. |
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March 1, 2012 | 11:49 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
good luck! Thanks guys! It is so great to see you all active and excited, a new message every day! Good luck with planting and watering the seeds, and keeping them with plenty of light. I hope they give interesting results and help us to answer the question about sandy and salty soil! Good luck, Sean |
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March 1, 2012 | 12:03 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Well we do not have any questions to ask right now and we are starting our experiment next week so we will take pictures of how we did the layout of our project! If we have any questions, we will ask you right away. Thank you! |
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February 28, 2012 | 11:16 PM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Ok, good luck team! I am glad to talk so much. Are there any questions you have for me today? Can you take pictures of your plants so I can see them as they sprout? Bye for now! |
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February 28, 2012 | 3:43 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Amount of salt We will plant the seeds maybe an inch apart from each other. The plants will be growing next to a window with plenty of sunlight. For the salt water, we will add half a teaspoon of salt into the water! And if both seeds sprout, then we will measure the taller one. |
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February 28, 2012 | 1:41 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Nice detail! Great work team! I am glad to see you working hard and thinking like scientists. Yes, three pots for each of the three treatments (we call the soil, sand and salt the experimental "treatments") is very good. And two seeds (spaced apart from each other) in each pot is good. What will you do if both seeds sprout? This might happen and so you will want to think about if the plants are interfering with each other. If the pots are big, and the seeds not next to each other, the plants will probably not interfere, but if they are too close, they could be stealing water or nutrients from the other, or their roots might interact. What do you think? Competition is a very important part of an early plant's life, so it is something we should think about. Let me know if you have questions about it! Very good design I really do not have much to say! Glad you are watering consistently, measuring each day, etc. Will the plants be growing in the window or under a grow light? Under enough light and if it is warm enough they should sprout and grow a little in two weeks! Good luck team have a great week! Good job also writing your hypotheses clearly. How much salt will you put in the salt water? Remember that even though some plants are more tolerant of salt, too much salt will kill any plant. So probably best not to use many spoonfulls :) |
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February 27, 2012 | 10:23 PM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Prediction and Designing for our question! 1) We think adding salt to the water is a better idea for the sunflower growing in salt water. 2) We will use three pots and maybe plant 1 or 2 seeds in each pot just incase one of the seeds die. Prediction: Sunflower planted in sand- We think the sunflower planted on regular sand will be the least tallest because regular sand doesn't have rich soil like the regular fertilized soil. So it maybe the 2nd tallest in 2 weeks. Sunflower planted in saltwater- We think sunflower planted in salt water will be the tallest because the sunflower being planted into regular soil will have salt which might make the soil be more rich and fertilized. Sunflower planted in fertilized soil- We think this sunflower will grow the 2nd tallest because the sunflower is just being planted into regular fertilized soil. Design- 1. We will have 3 pots for each type of the soil we are going to use. 2. In each pots, we will plant 2 seeds and will water the sunflowers half a cup everyday with all the same amount of water, but for the sunflower being planted in saltwater will have salt added into the water with just regular soil. 3. We will keep a journal to write what happended everyday and how much water we put in, how much it grew, and if there are any leaves growing. 4. After 2 weeks our results will come out! (Do you think 2 weeks is too short for a plant to grow? If not then we will just go with 2 weeks!) |
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February 27, 2012 | 6:51 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi Team! Nice question!! It is very scientific one because we know a little bit about the sunflower, that they can tolerate different environments. Two short suggestions (1) Think about how salty for the salty soil. And how will you keep the soil salty? You might try instead adding a bit of salt to the water for this particular experimental group, instead of adding salt to the soil? What do you think? (2) Think about how many flowers and how many pots you will use. The interesting thing about sunflowers (and plants in general!) is that there might be lots of variation between individual plants. So it is certainly best to have as many plants as possible. Any ideas about how many you would like? Good job also already choosing something to measure (height), an important part of science is knowing what to measure and height is a good indicator of plant success! You might also measure size of leaves, which could indicate how healthy the plant is. Lastly you will want to record the day that each plant pokes itself above the soil. And you have set a time frame. Great work!! Any questions for me? Remember to keep a regular watering schedule. Ok bye! |
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February 26, 2012 | 3:46 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
Question.... Which environment can a sunflower seed grow the tallest in 2 weeks? In sand, regular fertilized soil, or salty soil? |
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February 23, 2012 | 3:06 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hello Justin, Rachel and Jenny I am really glad to hear from you all! So you are all freshmen? It is an exciting time in school, especially in biology classes. Lots of new things to learn! I hope you like your school. A great question about sunflowers! I can tell you a few things. Sunflowers are in the plant family Asteraceae (the daisy family), which contains other flowers you might know such as Echinacea (it is in some teas). The flowers in this family are very beautiful, aren't they! Are they GMOs? Currently, I do not think they are grown on farms, but they have been created in laboratories. For about ten years, scientists have studied whether GMO sunflowers would be a good idea, for example resistance to herbicides. However, scientists have shown that pollen from GMO sunflowers could pollinate wild sunflowers, which would very much change the wild sunflowers. Many scientists consider this dangerous for the environment. So for now, I do not think GMO sunflowers are available. I hope that was helpful! Please ask me more, I am glad for your curiosity. One interesting thing about sunflowers is there are many wild species of sunflower- some grow in sand, others in salty soil- they exist in many different environments! Maybe that will be an idea for an experiment? Another interesting thing about sunflowers is that their leaves turn towards the sun, to get the most energy throughout the day! Good luck! Sean |
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February 21, 2012 | 11:07 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Question.... Hi Mr. Hoban my team and I decided to study sunflowers, and we were wondering if sunflowers are genetically modified (GMO)? |
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February 20, 2012 | 4:04 PM |
justino
(Team Member)
From team el mundo de amigos. Hello I'm Justin, I'm a 9th grader at Seoul American High School, im the unofficial team leader of the group. It is a pleasure to meet you and I look foward with working with you in the future. |
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February 20, 2012 | 3:57 PM |
rgy
(Team Member)
Hello Mr. Hoban! Hello Mr. Hoban! My name is Rachel and I am a freshman at SAHS! I can see that you have already met my other teamate, Jenny. You will be seeing my other teamate soon.. I am very excited to be investigating germination and seedling growth! I'll be looking forward to these few weeks of experimenting! |
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February 20, 2012 | 1:19 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hello Jenny and El Mundo de Amigos! Hi Team! Thank you for introducing yourself Jenny, I am excited to learn about you all. It is a nice name you have chosen- it means °the world of friends," is that right? I am very glad to work with you to perform an interesting experiment. I am ready to help you with planning whenever you are ready. Please share your exciting ideas. I like being a scientist because there is always more to explore. I also like sharing what I learn with my friends. It is exciting to walk in the woods or in the park and tell a friend about the nature that we see. That is my favorite part, sharing some knowledge about the world. Also it is challenging for my brain and I like challenges! Talk to you more soon, Sean |
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February 19, 2012 | 4:18 AM |
jjr
(Team Member)
Hello Mr. Hoban! Hello Mr. Hoban! My name is Jenny that's a freshmen in SAHS. I have 2 other team mates! I am so glad and excited to have a mentor!!! I like science because we can do a lot of experiments. I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse.. And my favorite plant is the sun flower! Our team will try out best!!! |
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February 17, 2012 | 12:24 PM |
Dr. Catrina Adams
Welcome! I am happy to welcome you to this community of plant researchers. Your team has the opportunity to be mentored by a scientist to help you develop and perform your own research project. The mentor's role is to encourage and guide you through the scientific process of discovery. The more you share your ideas and research information online, the more your mentor can help. Your scientist mentor for this project will be Dr. Sean Hoban from Universite Josef Fourier. Please introduce yourself and post some possible research topic ideas to get a conversation rolling. These resources are available to help you get started: Thinking Like a Scientist / Working Like a Scientist Designing Experiments Guide to Using A Spreadsheet Best wishes as you start this scientific journey. We are all pleased to share this experience with you. Have fun! Sincerely, The PlantingScience team |
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February 16, 2012 | 3:16 AM |
Sean Hoban
(Scientist/Mentor)
Greetings! Hi Team! My name is Sean, and I join you in this project all the way from Italy! I am working with a team here to promote the use of science in how endangered species are protected. I enjoy hiking in the forest and looking at mountain plants. My favorite plant is probably the redwoods of California, the tallest tree in the world. What do you all like about science? What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you have a favorite plant? I will enjoy getting to know you and helping you to learn the most possible from your experiment. Welcome and good luck! |
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