Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
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November 22, 2011 | 10:59 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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November 18, 2011 | 6:13 PM |
janieh
(Team Member)
video Here is our video presentation :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC--hH0yC1o&feature=feedu |
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November 17, 2011 | 5:57 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
You're welcome I hope you had fun |
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November 16, 2011 | 1:28 PM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Thanks! Thank You for being our Mentor for this Project! YOu helped us a lot!!!!! |
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November 10, 2011 | 6:48 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
independent variable. It still is not clear what the independent variable is. Is it the amount of light or is it the type of light? It looks like both were varied, so I it won't be possible to know if effects on the plants were because of the amount of light they received or because of the type of light they received. |
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November 8, 2011 | 8:23 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Experimental Design If you look at our Experimental Design, we explained how we changed the Independant Variable. |
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October 28, 2011 | 1:35 PM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
measurement Will the plants (or bits of leaves) be in the different lights when you measure photosynthesis, before you measure photosynthesis, or both before and during measurements? |
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October 28, 2011 | 8:03 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Hi! We have set the light sources. One group is in the sunlight, one group is under a sun lamp, another group is under a strobe light and another group is in the dark. |
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October 26, 2011 | 7:44 PM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
project I'm not so sure. I think it sounds like that is beyond my expertise (and that of most people, at least so far). Although I have put genes from one organism into another before, I was using bacteria, and it is much easier to such things with bacteria (I did it in my high school classroom, actually). Moving beyond bacteria would require expensive facilities and equipment. I probably need to stick to the basic plant science and whatever teams I get assigned to, but thanks for thinking of me. I think the more interesting aspect of doing things like what you've mentioned are thinking about the reason why it might be done and the social impacts it could have, if it were currently possible. What would you think if you saw saw someone had made photosynthetic humans on the new (beyond first impressions)? Think about the debates people are having now about genetically modified foods. Anyway, we should stick to photosynthesis for now. How did you end up setting up your various light sources? |
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October 26, 2011 | 7:55 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Project! Hi, we will give you the data soon. We have a question. After this we are doing a project called Explorer Vision. You have inspired us to do a project on human photosynthesis. We were wondering if you could mentor us during the project. We are trying to change the genetic makeup of a cell to make so it will allow chloroplast to come in. |
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October 25, 2011 | 5:20 PM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great I look forward to seeing your data! Dan |
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October 25, 2011 | 8:25 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Meausrement Hi! Our measurement went great. We used the baking soda method and they all photosynthesis. We are recording our data. We have also started growing our plants under various light sources. |
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October 22, 2011 | 8:23 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
photosynthesis How did your measurements go? |
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October 19, 2011 | 7:51 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Measuring Photosythesis We are actually learning about photosynthesis today and are measuring tomorrow |
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October 18, 2011 | 3:37 PM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
photosynthesis. Great! How did you decide to do it? |
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October 18, 2011 | 7:52 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
photosynthesis We are going to measure the photosynthesis tomorrow. |
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October 11, 2011 | 5:51 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
How's it going? Did you get what you need to measure photosynthesis? I uploaded a picture of a cool plant I saw a month ago growing in the mountains about 16,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America. It relates to what you're doing, because the spines on the cactus actually block some of the sunlight, but the sun is more intense that high up, and there is more harmful U.V. radiation, so a little shade might be good. The spines probably also insulate the cactus, because temperatures fall below freezing every night. Cool plant! You are growing plants in the classroom, but remember that plants grow in all kinds of environments and have all sorts of ways of dealing with their environments. Dan |
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October 4, 2011 | 11:45 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
low-tech way to measure photosynthesis and other questions/suggestions I don't know where you might find a porometer, unless someone there has connections with someone working at a nearby college or university, but you don't have to have one. There is a low-tech way to indirectly measure photosynthesis, if you have a hole puncher to punch holes out of your plant leaves, baking soda, water, liquid soap, and plastic syringes (with no needle) and maybe a few other things: You or your teacher can find details on this method under the "Plant Themes" tab on the Planting Science website. After clicking "Plant Themes", click "Photosynthesis Investigation Guide). Basically, you would be punching discs out of leaves and racing the light treatments against each other. If you do the above, think about what you would be directly measuring...it also says in the guide. That would be your dependent variable, if you used this method, and you would assume that it is related to photosynthesis. I wasn't really sure about the control group. It seems to me that specifically what you are changing is how constant the light is, so you are comparing no light, on-off-on-off light, and constant light (sun and sunlamp). Having the sunlamp and sun both at the same time allows you to control for something...the effect of ___________. So, either the sun or the sun lamp is one of the controls. In experimental groups, you are adding or taking away one thing at a time in comparison to the control, so you can isolate the effects of everything. But you are right, light is the independent variable and photosynthesis (or what ever you measure in place of it) is the dependent variable. Consider whether anything other than how constant the light is might be different among your light types. Will the plants all be the same temperature, or is one of the lights hotter than another? If you see differences, you want to be able to say the light caused them and not something else. Temperature may be less of an problem, if you use the hole punch method for measuring photosynthesis. I noticed in your predictions, that not all the groups with different light will be in the light the same amount of time. Why? You want to be sure you can know that the light rather than time in the light is causing what you see. Good Luck. Let me know, if you have any questions. Sorry I gave you a fill in the blank question...I just couldn't resist. Dan |
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October 3, 2011 | 8:16 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Answers to your questions! Hey Dan! Our hypothesis statement is: If plants are exposed to different types of light (strobe light, sun lamp, sun, and darkness), then the rate of photosynthesis will be affected. We want to use a porometer to measure the rate of photosynthesis, but we cannot find one, do you have any suggestions about where we could get one, or what other instrument we could use? We are going to use 3 plants per light source. The independent variables are the different types of light. The dependent variable is the rate of photosynthesis. The controlled group are the plants, peas. The experimental group is the plants that are not exposed to sunlight. Thanks, Blair, Janie and Emily |
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October 3, 2011 | 6:04 AM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
a few things to consider Good morning 3 Peas in a Pod. That sounds interesting, and it is relevant for plants generally. The type of light not only can affect photosynthesis, but also whether or not seeds for some species grow. I have a few questions for you to think about getting started. You may have thought about some of these already: 1) What are the reasons why you suspect that the type of light affects plant growth? Are there some types of light that you predict will be better for plants--do you have any hypotheses? One thing I do when I ask a scientific question is write down my prediction (hypothesis), and then I list all the reasons I can think of for making that hypothesis. 2) How are you going expose plants to different types of light? Do you have a way of blocking some colors (wavelengths) of light and not others or adding just one type of light at a time, or will you use different types of light bulbs? 3) If you change the light for a group of plants, what will you compare them to? Are there controls? 4) How many plants will you use for each type of light? 5) How will you measure photosynthesis? 6) Are you growing the peas from seed? How old will the plants be? Okay, that was a lot of questions, and I haven't even had my coffee yet. I am writing a proposal for a project right now, so I might be in the habit of making long lists. Let me know what your ideas are, or if you have any questions about my questions. I am excited about this project, because I think we'll see plenty of differences and have plenty to talk about. Have a great day! Dan |
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September 30, 2011 | 7:59 AM |
blairb
(Team Member)
Hello Dan and Dr. Adams! We are seventh graders from St. Rose of Lima Academy! We are super excited to get started on this new science project! Our group name is 3 Peas in a Pod because we are growing sweet peas. Our question is: How do different types of light affect the rate of photosynthesis of sweet peas? Thank you for helping us with this amazing project! We cannot wait to work with you. |
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September 29, 2011 | 1:51 PM |
Daniel Carter
(Scientist/Mentor)
Hello! Hello, You can call me Dan. I think plants are very interesting in general, and that is a lot of why I'm in graduate school. I study how communities of plants respond to their environments--especially drought and other conditions that are expected to be associated with climate change. I also love to garden, and I probably spend as much time in my vegetable garden or putting native plants into our landscape as I do studying. I was a High School Biology teacher for a few years before coming to graduate school, and there is a good chance that I will go back to it, so I'm looking forward to being involved with this. Just let me know when you have some research topic ideas. |
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September 29, 2011 | 1:09 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 Daniel Carter from Kansas State University Division of Biology. 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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High Mountain Cactus (3 MB)
