Info
Explore | Outside of school we know that plants need sunlight, water, and oxygen to make food. In class and in background research, we discovered that ryegrass plants have leaves that are green, tough, as well as dark and that ryegrass plants have extensive root systems that are useful for erosion control.... |
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Research Question | We want to test different types of water’s effect on the growth of ryegrass seeds. Our group had discussions to come up with the question. The question fits what we know about the topic because we know that plants need water to grow. |
Predictions | If we plant 10 ryegrass seeds in containers with different types of water, then the seeds planted in regular water will grow the tallest. We think this will happen because plants only use regular water to make food and to germinate. |
Experimental Design | We will cut three 2-liter bottles in half. We will then plant 10 ryegrass seeds in each container. We will use carbonated water, flavored water, and water to water our plants. We will watch our plants every day, and take notes on them. This is our experimental design. |
Conclusion | The hypothesis was if 10 rye grass seeds are planted in containers with different types of water, then the seeds with just regular water will grow the tallest which was supported by our evidence. Evidence showed that bottle A, the bottle with regular water grew the tallest with an average height... |
About this Project | Team spirit - optimism even when seeds didn't start to germinate as quickly as others. Their online communication was great with their mentor and the journals they wrote their observations and findings in were done with great organization. - Nancy Ramig, Teacher |
Updates
Dear Reckless Ryegrass,
High fives in being scientists on this project! You thought critically and were excellent communicators; both VERY important parts of being in science.
Sending well wishes your way and science-on!
Dr. Love
Two Observations
Dear Ms.Love
1) Flavored water has both tall and short rye grass plants.
2) All plants are bending over and clumping together.
Sincerely
Reckless Ryegrass
Dear Ms.Love
The hypothesis was if I plant 10 ryegrass seeds in containers with differnt types of water then the one with normal water will grow the tallest. This was correct and supported by our measurements that we took. In a future experiment, we might want to try a different seed. Another idea for a future experiment on rye grass might be to change the soil types instead of the types of water.
Dear Ms. Love,
Thank you for being our mentor. We appreciated you helping us through the process of our plants. We also learned a lot from you and your questions. To answer your questions, the team thinks that we can make the claim that our experiment was fairly successful. Possible explanations for our results are that the plants that were able to continue growing could be that the species of plant are very resilient. The data we collected and our reasoning with scientific ideas supports our claim by showing that the bottle with the plants that were grown in regular water were the tallest. Future experiments that could be done with ryegrass are growing the plants in different kinds of soil and each bottle being put in different locations so that they could be grown in different amounts of sunlight. Once again, thank you for being our mentor and sticking with us.
Reckless Ryegrass
2 qualitative
1) Bottle C has a finger length between the water and tape. It has the lowest amount of water out of all three.
2)All of rye grass is thriving and growing tall. The ryegrass in the regular water is the tallest.
Answer Questions
1) Some other circumstances where having replicates would be beneficial would be if there was a mistake in the independent variable in an experiment. We decided as a team to just leave and continue with the experiment even with the bottle that got knocked over. Yes, plants are germinating as you tell in the picture. For the 31st measurements, Bottle A in height in mm of germinated plants we have 640 mm. Number of plants growing is 10. The average height is 530 mm. Bottle B- the height in mm of germinated plants is 550 mm. The number of plants growing is 9. The average height is 480 mm. Bottle C- the height in mm of germinated plants is 570 mm. Number of plants growing is 9. The average height is 450 mm.
Excellent job recording your data! Another reason researchers make replicates is to measure variation in an experiment. This also allows statistical tests to be performed on the data evaluate differences, which make the research more robust. I'm glad you decided to still use the bottle that fell over, it appears that it was not so critically affected. If you make a final report, you still might want to mention that the fall occurred.
As you take your final measurements, consider the following:
What claim can we make from our experiment? What are possible explanations for our results? How do the data we collected and our reasoning with scientific ideas support our claim? What future experiments could be done to expand on the results of this experiment? |
Sending you well wishes from a crisp Michigan morning, Dr. Love |
Hi Reckless Ryegrass,
I see you noted that one of your bottles got knocked over. Those sorts of things happen sometimes! One of the things that many laboratories do to buffer for this sort of thing happening is making replicates. Can you think of other circumstances where having replicates would be beneficial?
What did you as a team decide to do about the bottle that got knocked over? Is anything germinating yet?
Also, be sure to take a look at the long-ish response below from October 20 :)
Sending good germination wishes your way and until soon,
Dr. Love
Dear Ms. Love,
Bottle A (farthest left bottle) got knocked over on accident.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Reckless Ryegrass
Dear Ms. Love,
This is a reminder we will not be in school in on Friday.
From,
Reckless Ryegrass
2 Qualtitives
1) The flavored water has a lower level of water in the bottom of the bottle.
2) All types of ryegrass are all growing plants that are both short and tall.
Yes! Way to go with labeling everything!
Dear Ms. Love,
We are here to answer your questions. To begin, we chose to water our seeds with sparkling, flavored, and regular water because we were all curious to see how carbonated and flavored water would effect, or help the seeds grow, compared to how normal water would. Next, in order for a seed to germinate, it must have water, sunlight, and oxygen. Additionally, yes, an ungerminated seed will be included in the average of all ten plants. This will affect our results because it will reveal to us what type of water is helping the plant grow, according to the ungerminated seed and the type of water it is in. To answer your last question, yes, we have considered the reasons why it is so important to explain our experimental set up in such detail. It helps us as well as you to understand how the experiment will be working. We hope we answered all your questions.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Reckless Ryegrass
Hi Reckless Ryegrass,
It is wonderful that you have thoughtfully considered the questions and put answers together. You chose to use the different waters that you did because you were curious, and that is a VERY good reason to do so! Have you thought about other reason why people chose to do experiments? One of them is to help solve problems. So, for example, some parts of the world have limited access to fresh water. Maybe they have access to ocean water, though, so designing an experiment about how water and water with varying levels of salt in them might help inform them about how they can use the resources they have well. Can you think of a problem that has to do with water and plants? These are just ideas to consider when doing cool experiments like you are doing You've got a good set up going, this is just to give you ideas about how people come about putting experiments together.
Also, you're right in that writing out a description of the methods and materials helps me and you understand how the experiment will be working. When scientists publish their research they have to do this too! And a big reason for that is reproducability. Can you think of an example of why other scientists would want to reproduce some else's experiment?
I am excited to hear how your plants germinate and grow. When will you make your first measurements? Have to checked to see how long rye grass takes to germinate?
Sending happy germinating wishes your way,
Dr. Love
Dear Ms. Love,
To set up our experiment, we had to get 3 2-liter bottles, without caps. Then we got 3 caps with a hole in the center. We then got a piece of cloth and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Next, we pushed the cloth through the hole in the cap until it was about half-way through. We then cut the bottle in half and screwed the cap on. Then we filled up the bottom half of the bottle to a certain line with different types of water. Next, we poured dirt into the top half of the bottle, put the seeds in and covered them with dirt. Last, we put the top half of the bottle in the bottom. That's how we set up our experiment.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Reckless Ryegrass
Okay, wonderful! This is a good description of your methods - your 'how to' of your experiment. Have you considered why it is so important to explain this in such detail?
Also, be sure to check out the post below :)
Sending good vibes,
Dr. Love
Dear Mrs. Love,
Observations:
1.) Qualitive (description)
A) Soil is dry and crumbly
B) Bottle with regular water has most humididy
2.) Quantitive (numbers)
A) We have 2 1/2 inches of water measured in hieght
B) We have 4 inches of soil measured in height
Dear Mrs. Love,
Observations:
1.) Qualitive (description)
A) Soil is dry and crumbly
B) Bottle with regular water has most humididy
2.) Quantitive (numbers)
A) We have 2 1/2 inches of water measured in hieght
B) We have 4 inches of soil measured in height
Dear Reckless Ryegrass,
What a cool group name! Alliteration is one of my good friends too I live in Michigan, so we are not too far away from each other. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I can be curious so I am very glad to be here with you in your curiosities!
I am glad to hear you are considering variables that might affect the plant growth, and controlling for those variables the best you can. AND you have correctly identified the independent and dependent variable - that's amazing! You stated a hypothesis. Is there anything that you can't do?!
How did you decide to choose to water the seeds with flavored water and sparkling water?
Also, before the plant is able to gain measurable growth, the seed has to do something quite cool. Germination! What has to occur for a seed for that to happen? In terms of your experiment, consider how you are going to account for any seeds that do not germinate. Will an ungerminated seed be included in the average of all ten plants or not? Whichever way you chose, how might that affect your results?
Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
Dr. Love
Dear Ms. Love,
If 10 ryegrass seeds are planted in containers with different types of water, then the seed planted with just water will grow the tallest.
IV: Sparkling water, flavored water, and regular water
DV: The height measured in millimeters (mm)
6 controlled variables (CV):
There will be the same amount of liquid, amount of soil, sunlight, container, amount of time between each watering, and the same type of soil.
Hope to hear from you soon
Reckless Ryegrass
Dear Ms. Love,
We are the team Reckless Ryegrass. We go to St. Michael in Orland Park, Illinois. The members of our team are R.J., Charlie, Gretchen, and Sofia. We are all in the sixth grade. The plant that we will be working with is Ryegrass. We will investigate on how much sun or water will effect the seed.
Hope to here from you soon,
Reckless Ryegrass