Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
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April 25, 2011 | 7:49 AM |
Dr. Catrina Adams
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. Please come back and visit the PlantingScience Research Gallery Archive anytime to view this project in the future. You can search the Archive by key word, team name, topic, or school name. Good bye for now. Warm regards, The PlantingScience team |
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April 21, 2011 | 7:26 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great Poster! Dear Mark, Wyatt, Stephanie, & Nathen, Your research conclusions are awesome! You were very thorough in explaining how your results support your conclusion, but also did a good job in pointing out possible errors. I think any group of scientists could look at what you did and try to replicate the experiment in a more sterile environment to see if they get the same results. Your poster looks very nice, too. I have made posters like that for experiments I've done, which I then presented at scientific conferences. Conferences are fun ways to meet other scientists, and get feedback and ideas from them, and see what kinds of work other people do. Sometimes they are even in fun places, so you get to travel to other cities too :) I hope you had a good time with this project. I wish you the best of luck in the last couple months of the school year! Ms. Kilroy |
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April 20, 2011 | 12:45 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Because we couldn't find soil which was going to be our original pollutant, but we had to change to sugar. |
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April 18, 2011 | 1:56 PM |
alealejanderorules
(Student, The spanish inquisition - CH_S11_F13 · -1)
Question Why use sugar as your pollutant? |
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April 18, 2011 | 1:31 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Sugar as pollutant @Dominike, the spores germination stopped completely when we adding sugar into their dishes. So it slowed the process alot. |
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April 18, 2011 | 1:05 PM |
dn121468
(Student, 2HOT4U - CH_S11_F08 · -1)
Dominike Did contaminating the spores with sugar help the spores germinate or did it slow downt the process? |
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April 15, 2011 | 2:03 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Data @marlykaziahh, The data we are taking is time it takes to germination. |
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April 15, 2011 | 1:56 PM |
marlykaziahh
(Student, The Knights That Say Ni - CH_S11_F12 · -1)
What data are you taking? Time? Number of spores? |
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April 14, 2011 | 6:09 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Good Job Hi team, I think you have enough evidence to say that your hypothesis was supported--adding sugar as a pollutant promoted the growth of a fungus that took over. This is exactly what can happen in nature--have you ever seen ponds that are covered in a green scum? That is because pollution (like nitrogen from lawn chemicals) gets into the water and promotes blooms of algae. Then because the algae takes over, nothing else is able to grow in the pond. That's what your polluted dishes remind me of. But it's also important to consider other reasons why you could have gotten the results you did. If the sugar was not sterile, it is possible that some bacteria or fungal spores from the air got on it when you added it. So make sure you point out possible other explanations in your conclusion--and if someone were to repeat the experiment, say what they could do differently to show for sure that your hypothesis is supported. Ms. Kilroy |
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April 13, 2011 | 2:05 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Pre. Conclusion Our hypothesis was supported because the development of the spores stoped when we added our pollutant(sugar). The spores development completly stoped when we added sugar into our dishes. Bacteria was grown when the pollutant was introduced into the dish, and it completly overcame the spores. The spores development didn't go past germination, so your hypothesis was supported. |
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April 13, 2011 | 2:03 PM |
torturousowl184
(Student, The Spotted Dinosaur Riders - CH_S11_F11 · -1)
Research Predictions Your research prediction doesn't necessarily say what sugar will do to its life cycle, whether or not the relationship between the sugar and the timing of developement is directly or indirectly proportional. It's just a little vague. |
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April 13, 2011 | 1:41 PM |
sbb
(Team Member)
yes, sugar is the only pollutant. we have two plates in our control group and two plates in our variable group. |
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April 13, 2011 | 1:20 PM |
ikirian
(Student, Holy Igneous High Inquisitors - CH_S11_F09 · -1)
Are you only testing with sugar being the only pollutant? In addition, how many plates are in your control or variable group? |
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April 13, 2011 | 1:15 PM |
nate7
(Team Member)
we are certain it is fungus because our teacher told us that is was contaminated with bacteria and fungus. |
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April 11, 2011 | 1:11 PM |
arrowtail
(Student, The spanish inquisition - CH_S11_F13 · -1)
Fungus? Are you certain the "fungus" is really fungus? Could it not be new spores that are just now developing? |
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April 11, 2011 | 12:58 PM |
wyqtt
(Team Member)
Spore Update Our spores that have the sugar (Polluted) in with them seem to not be growing,they are infested with fungus and still spreading. Our control group is growing as expected but with very small traces of a green fungus. This fungus does not appear to be affecting the group negetively |
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April 6, 2011 | 2:03 PM |
marlykaziahh
(Student, The Knights That Say Ni - CH_S11_F12 · -1)
Make sure you are more specific in the future then words like "get" or "take" |
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April 6, 2011 | 2:02 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Sugar We believe that adding sugar to our sporse will slow down germination, we saw that there was bactria growing in the dishes that had recived sugar in them compared to the ones that did not. The sporse didnt look like they germinated. |
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April 6, 2011 | 1:58 PM |
nate7
(Team Member)
Spores Today we took a look at our project and in the polluted dish there was bacteria growing. We didnt see any germinated spores in that dish but in the non-polluted dish we saw the spores that germinated. |
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April 4, 2011 | 5:20 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Sugar Hi team, I think adding sugar is an interesting experiment, too! When you predict that it will "affect the timing," do you think the spores that receive sugar will germinate earlier or later than the spores that don't? And why? What did the spores look like when you sowed them? Good luck, Ms. Kilroy |
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March 30, 2011 | 1:48 PM |
sbb
(Team Member)
Change In Plans Instead of using fertilizer as a pollutent we used sugar. The reason for this was because, fertilizer wasnt available. |
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March 30, 2011 | 12:47 PM |
nate7
(Team Member)
Project we are going to measure growth as time until germination because we're trying to see if it effetcs the amount of time the spores take to germinate with pollutant present. |
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March 30, 2011 | 6:02 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Fertilizer Hi team, Your procedures look good! You are right that fertilizer run-off can act as a pollutant. It will be interesting to see if the amount of fertilizer you chose to use acts as nutrients (helps the spores) or as pollutants (harms the spores). Can you put something in your Research Predictions about what you think might happen? Also, how are you going to measure growth? Are you going to measure height, or time until germination or when you see the first leaf, or what? Good luck, Ms. Kilroy |
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March 28, 2011 | 1:46 PM |
wyqtt
(Team Member)
about the fertilizer We decided on fertilizer as a contaminant because in farmland fertilizer is often caught up in run off from fields which can often act as a pollutant in other areas. |
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March 24, 2011 | 8:29 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Procedures Hi Mark, Wyatt, Stephanie, & Nathen, I looked at the group procedures you posted. They look pretty good! Do you think you could put that information into your 'research question' and 'experimental design' above? I am curious as to why you decided to use fertilizer as a pollutant, and how much fertilizer you are going to use. Pollutants can be chemicals that aren't normally found in the environment, or they can be excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (fertilizer). Ferns need these three important nutrients, but excessive amounts can cause damage. So if you want to test adding fertilizer as a pollutant, you have to think about how much you are going to add. It would be a good idea to look at the fertilizer packaging to see how muck nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) is in it. This is often given as three numbers, in the order N-P-K. Let me know about the fertilizer, and good luck getting started, Ms. Kilroy |
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March 21, 2011 | 1:08 PM |
nate7
(Team Member)
Hello, My name is Nathen i enjoy playing sports and like to try new things. Im looking forward to start our project and you helping us out Thanks |
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March 21, 2011 | 1:06 PM |
sbb
(Team Member)
Hello, Im Stephanie Im looking forward in starting a project and having someone with expirience helping us. Thankyou |
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March 21, 2011 | 1:02 PM |
wyqtt
(Team Member)
whatsup errybody Hello my name is Wyatt im special.:) haha just kidding i really like meeting new people and i think its fun so i thought id introduce myself thanks for bein a mentor and have a nice day and im excited to start our project |
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March 21, 2011 | 12:54 PM |
m1995
(Team Member)
Hi, I'm Mark. |
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March 21, 2011 | 4:11 AM |
Hayley Kilroy
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hi team! I am looking forward to "meeting" you here online, and working with you as you plan & do your research project. My name is Hayley Kilroy, and I work in an ecology lab at the University of Connecticut. Most of what I do has a conservation aspect. One of the projects I work on is comparing the traits of invasive plant species and native plant species, so that we can try to control the invasive species and protect the native plant diversity of New England. Before I came to Connecticut, I got my master's degree in Kansas, where I studied tallgrass prairies. Prairie once covered the Midwest, but now it's mostly gone, so it's important to understand what's left so that we can preserve it. I think it's really cool that you are going to learn about the life cycle of ferns. That's something I knew nothing about until I was in college. I hope you also enjoy learning lab techniques. Although I do most of my research out in the field, I collaborate a lot with scientists who do lab work. The more I work with plants, the more I'm amazed that the patterns I see across the landscape--in forests, prairies, ponds, etc--can be connected to processes that happen at the cellular or molecular level. So it is good to look at things across all scales. Are you getting ready to sow spores? Let me know if you have any questions about spores or about lab techniques! Welcome, Ms. Kilroy |
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March 7, 2011 | 1:35 PM |
Heather
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 Ms. Hayley Kilroy from University of Connecticut. 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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