Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
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November 22, 2011 | 10:53 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 21, 2011 | 9:25 AM |
stephen3
(Student, The Rocken Seeds - LZMS_F11_W07 · -1)
Hi teenage mutan nigae turtatles I'm a kid at middle sschool south and I read yours and it was very nintresting it sound like you worked very hard. GOOD JOB |
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November 19, 2011 | 4:12 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
What great answers. I had a great time as a mentor. Please share my wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in your group and class. Feel free to contact me again if you have plant biology or general biology questions. Elizabeth Waters |
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November 19, 2011 | 3:37 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Thank you for being our mentor, my group and i have learned alot about how experiments work, germination, and plants overall. You did a wonderful job giving pointers and answering our questions and leading us to discover more things by asking us questions too. And to answer your last questions i would say that the advice i would give is to experiment with how much water to give the plants, how to deal with weekends, and how many seeds to use before your actual experiment starts.And to not assume anything before the project is done, because your results might surprise you. And if i was continuing the projest i would want to answer what was in the potting mix that helped madk the radish seeds grow the fastest and longest? And how much water could each soil hold for a certain amount of time? Thank you again so much! It was fun and i learned alot :). |
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November 18, 2011 | 5:20 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
I read your powerpoint document. I think you did an excellent job! Good work. I was wondering if you served as a mentor for another group doing the same or a similar project what advice would you give them? If you were continuing this project was new questions would you try to answer? In other words do the results of your study lead you to ask new questions based on your findings in this study? EW |
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November 15, 2011 | 4:18 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Cotyledons and Leaves Wow lots to look at and think about. Seeds have two embyronic leaves or cotyledons. Plants are referred to as either Dicots or Monocot. Monocots like grasses have only one cotyledon. Dicots like radishes have two cotyledons. These cotyledons or early leaves are important but they are different from the later leaves that grow on the plant. I think what you are seeing is the first true leaf. Perhaps your text book has information on this. If you or your teacher needs help getting more information on cotyledons and leaves please let me know and I will find some good resources on the web. EW |
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November 15, 2011 | 10:51 AM |
raphaelredninja
(Team Member)
hey its maddie! we have uploaded a new picture of our plants for you to check out...they have been growing and progressing a ton and we are happy to see that our loam soil has finally sprouted!!i have made an observation that we are now seeing a third leaf sprout from our radish's but its not like the other two... its fuzzy and more defined.... do you know why? |
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November 13, 2011 | 2:27 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Thank you about the comment before, and I'm very happy that our laom has finally sprouted! But since the sand has a new sprout we have decided to just keep measuring the main/ first sprout because if we took the average it would throw of our data, because we never accounted for another sprout in past measurements. so we will just be measuring the first srouts in each cup, but taking notice of the second in the sand. |
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November 11, 2011 | 1:56 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Great- I am looking forward to seeing more of your data. orangeninja11's comments are right on target. Keep up the great work. EW |
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November 11, 2011 | 8:46 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
Today when we got out our plants, we noticed our sand sprouted its second seed! We also noticed our loam finally sprouted! We took more data and watered them again today! |
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November 10, 2011 | 6:26 PM |
blondie16
(Student, Two girls and a Billy - CCH_F11_W10 · -1)
this experiment looks to be progressing very well. I have never heard of loam, very creative. Your pictures and great and same with the data table. hopefully it all works out for you guys on just using the 2 potting soils. |
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November 10, 2011 | 4:54 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Your Questions, I think that the potting mix would help the plant grow faster because it has more nutrients in the mixture than just regulare sand does. And how we could experiment on this is by putting different amounts of fertilizer, manure, wood chips, compost, mosses, maybe stones and gravel, or different amounts of silt and clay. But i can't figure out why the seeds didn't sprout in the loam soil. Because we embibed them, but maybe they didn't survive the repotting into the new cups from over watering our first ones. So maybe we drowned them in the first cups. Or they could just be bad seeds, even though we had three. I think it is interesting that only one of the three in the other soils sprouted too. So we are going to just go on with our experiment and see the results between the potting and sand soils. |
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November 10, 2011 | 4:24 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
HI I looked over the data table. Thanks for uploading it. Here are some questions for the group: Why do you think the plant in the potting soil would grow faster than the plant in the sand? What future experiments could you conduct to figure out the cause of the different rates of growth in the different soils? What might explain why the seed did not germinate in the loam? Keep up the great work! |
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November 10, 2011 | 11:16 AM |
brooklynvb23
(Student, Two girls and a Billy - CCH_F11_W10 · -1)
I really like how you guys have a step by step procedure of what you are doing. It helped me understand what you guys are exactly doing. Also, how you compared the three different soil types was good to show in a picture! |
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November 10, 2011 | 10:16 AM |
blueninja1206
(Team Member)
The loam soil still hasn't sprouted, we dont think that it is going to sprout before the end of our experiment. We will go on doing our experiment as we have been and let you know if anything else occurs. |
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November 9, 2011 | 8:40 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
ok, thanks for telling us. I have observed that the water drains faster from the pottong mix faster than the sand and the loam soils. And that the sand soaks up the water alot faster than the other soils. Also the Loam soil sorta bubbles and fizzes when you water it. We have posted the growth of the stems in out data table. |
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November 8, 2011 | 3:55 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks for the pictures, things look great. It is always exciting to see those shoots coming through the soil. My students are also working on germinating seeds- finding the right conditions for different species. One thing that is very important is to write down not just the numerical data but your other observations. This helps you to interpret your results. That it, if you measure the height of the plant- also note if one plant is curled- so it is hard to measure. Or possibly, another plant is a lighter or darker green, if you see this write this down in the journal or notebook. Observations are just as important as the numerical data. When I was in high school my teacher told me that a good experiment answers one question but raises ten more. Once you have answered that one question. What other questions do you have and what types of experiments could you do to answer the next question. |
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November 8, 2011 | 10:18 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
We just posted up a new picture of our experiment. We poked three holes into the botton of each cup of soil, we then placed each cup into there own petri dished to catch the water that comes out. |
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November 8, 2011 | 10:10 AM |
blueninja1206
(Team Member)
The seed are just below the surface. today the sand and the potting mix both sprouted. we are taking your advice and are going to use the draining system and still water it every other day with 50mL. |
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November 4, 2011 | 4:13 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Do the pots have any holes at the bottom so the excess water can drain out? I think watering every other day is a good idea but if you still have problems with standing water you may need to use a container that can drain. It is expected that it will take a few days for seeds to germinate. Are the seeds just below the surface of the soil or on top of the soil? EW |
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November 4, 2011 | 11:28 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
Hello! It's Nicolette! Today in class we didn't see any growth occure yet, we will check again on Monday! |
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November 3, 2011 | 3:25 PM |
paigegogreen
(Student, Super Seed Growers - CCH_F11_W09 · -1)
This an amazing experiment, cant wait to see the results! |
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November 3, 2011 | 2:38 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Checking up Hello it's Hannah, like sean said we have replanted our seeds and we hope that watering them every other day with the same amount of water from before will work better. we are about to go into a weekend, so i hope by when we come back monday we will see a sprout. talk to you when there is more happening with the seeds! |
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November 3, 2011 | 10:24 AM |
shortandsweet11
(Student, Super Seed Growers - CCH_F11_W09 · -1)
To. N.S.M.H :) You guys are on the front page, congrats! Great project and good questions to your mentor :) |
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November 3, 2011 | 10:08 AM |
blueninja1206
(Team Member)
This is Sean,When we came in today we noticed that there was still water from the day before. So we decided to take the seeds out of the soil and completely replant them in knew soils so that they dont drowned. we are also going to water them every other day instead of everyday but with the same amount of water. Do you think that this will help? |
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November 1, 2011 | 5:21 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing your data. I liked the information in the Journals: Is a seed alive? Growth is a great sign of being alive but seeds are still alive even before they germinate. There are other examples of this in nature. For example, some bacteria form spores that exist in a resting state. Ferns and mosses also make spores. EW |
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November 1, 2011 | 9:34 AM |
raphaelredninja
(Team Member)
hello this is maddie. today we got our data table set and are ready to be collecting data. we have now have begun to start planting our seeds and will be watching them grow for the next 14 days. be sure to check in on our data table as we will be filling it up with our data we have collected! |
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November 1, 2011 | 9:29 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
Hello! This is Nicolette, today we are getting our data tables put together, let us know if its put together correctly. We are also going to start our experiment today by planting our seeds into our different soils, sand, loam and potting mix. Tomorrow we will take our first measurments! |
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November 1, 2011 | 9:25 AM |
blueninja1206
(Team Member)
hello this is sean, today we uploaded our data table if you would like to look and see how we are collecting our data. today we also planted our seeds. |
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October 27, 2011 | 4:13 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
I think for the weekends you should measure on Monday and then when you plot it or if you determine growth per day just remember that those measurements are for three days of growth not one. In graduate school students have to go in every day for these types of exp. But it is fine that you will not measure on the weekends. EW |
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October 27, 2011 | 10:25 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Hello it's Hannah. yes we are going to grow the plants for 14 days. we are going to take measurements everyday, but we aren't sure what to do about the weekend. how will we be able to see how much they grew each day? and how we are going to measure growth is by stem length after they have sprouted. does this seem like a reasonable set up? |
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October 26, 2011 | 4:15 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Experimental diagram Your diagram looks good. You will grow the plants for 14 days. How often will you examine the plants for growth and what will you be looking for? What I mean is how will you evaluate growth? Some possibilities are: days to emergence from soil, number of leaves. You should have a plan for what you will measure and how often you will take those measurements. |
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October 25, 2011 | 5:56 PM |
Kim Parfitt
(Teacher)
The experimental set up diagram is in the data files section and named madisondiagram.pdf |
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October 25, 2011 | 5:09 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Thanks for the update. I will check back in a few days to see if you have any news. EW |
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October 25, 2011 | 10:27 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
Hi! It's Nicolette and Sean, we haven't started our experiment yet but we have the whole idea ready. We are excited to get this experiment going so our research question can be answered! |
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October 25, 2011 | 10:22 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Checking up Hello it's Hannah, just telling you that we haven't started on our experiment yet. We are still getting all the details planned out. And that we have a new file uploaded about the set up if you want to take a look at it. And will talk to you later when we have our final details and are ready to start the experiment. |
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October 22, 2011 | 4:57 PM |
Kim Parfitt
(Teacher)
experimental design diagram TMNT please upload your experimental design diagram in the journals section...if you upload it under team member 3 then it won't delete your journal2 upload. Remember, the more information you give your mentor the better. |
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October 20, 2011 | 2:18 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Exp. plan Great- I am looking forward to hearing how it goes. |
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October 20, 2011 | 10:38 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Seeds Hi it's Hannah, so we think we are going to just use radish seeds, thank you for your imput! we are goin to have a final research question and prediction by the end of today. and we are going to start on the design of the experiment. |
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October 18, 2011 | 4:53 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Seeds HI, That is fine that you dont have lima beans. Radish grow quickly. They might be your best bet. I can not say that the others wont also grow quickly but I have used radish and barley in my own classroom experiments and they have both worked well. |
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October 18, 2011 | 11:17 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Experiment Hello it's Hannah. we are thinking of keeping experimenting with soil. our question would be, what soil do lima beans grow best in? our hypothesis would the loam soil, because it has all the ingredients that lima beans grow best in. but our teacher doesnt have lima beans but said she can probably get some. but if we can't here are some of the other seeds we have radish, corn, buckwheat, mung bean, alfalfa, barley, green bean, sunflower, and red clover. so if we can't get ahold of lima beans, which one do you think would grow the fastest? |
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October 16, 2011 | 8:10 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Experiment plans Hi, I think your choices of soils are very good. I think that you might get better germination if the seeds are in the middle of the beaker. Once the seed germinates growth should occur quickly and you will see the shoot above the soil. If you plant the seed one fingertip below the top of the soil you should get good germination. Just be sure to add sufficient water. I hope your games went well. |
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October 13, 2011 | 8:11 PM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Hi it's Hannah again. Yes, we are looking at different soils and seeing how it affects seed growth. We were thinking of using loam soil, sand, and regular planting mix. And we were thinking of using lima beans as our seed. But we wanted to monitor growth by germination and length of the stem when it sprouts. If we planted the seed on the side of the beaker would we be able to observe germination? Or will that hinder the growth if it was pressed against the glass? And I have a volleyball game tomorrow and saturday (hopefully we win!) so i won't be able to discuss more with you until monday. But i hope this information will help you get a better picture of what our experiment might look like, and am looking forward to getting it started! |
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October 13, 2011 | 6:13 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
What kinds of soil to use Well are your goals to look at how the differences in how well plants grow in soil or something else about soils? If you want to look at the impact of soils on plant growth a good idea is to look at two soils that are very different. For example you could look at sand and a rich potting mix with lots of organic material (dead plants). Does this help? |
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October 13, 2011 | 11:13 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Hello again, it's Hannah and i'll be communicating for our team today. So we were thinking about different experiments and we would like to experiment with soil. But we arent sure exctley what different soils to use. |
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October 11, 2011 | 5:56 PM |
Dr. Elizabeth Waters
(Scientist/Mentor)
Introduction HI, I am a scientist mentor. I am a faculty member in the Biology Department at San Diego State University. I am very excited to help you with your Botany project. I love plants and I teaching. I am here to answer your questions and provide help and feedback. I will check the site every to reply to your questions. Dr. Elizabeth Waters |
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October 6, 2011 | 11:03 AM |
blueninja1206
(Team Member)
Hello, my name is Sean and i am a junior at Central High. I play volleyball and i have a job. Our botony class is studying about seeds. We have already learned about the process of germination by growing spores. |
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October 6, 2011 | 11:00 AM |
purpleninja8871
(Team Member)
Hello! My name is Nicolette and I am a Junior at Central High. In my Botany class we have already grown spores into ferns so we already have some knowledge about germination and that process. We are now continuing reasearch about seeds. |
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October 6, 2011 | 11:00 AM |
orangeninja11
(Team Member)
Hello :) Hi my name is Hannah, and I'm a junior at Cheyenne Central High . We have already learned about c ferns, so we understand germination and the process of the alternation of generations. We are now transitioning into seeds. I don't know alot about them, but will try to learn as much as possible. If you want to know more about me i play volleyball and the cello, and my education is very important to me. Can't wait to work with you! |
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October 6, 2011 | 10:59 AM |
raphaelredninja
(Team Member)
HELLO! (: my name is Madison, you can call me maddie.I am a junior and go to central high school. I am not really interested in seeds or plants... but am looking foreward to doing some research with you guys! we have already grown c ferns and studied germination, it was pretty cool, but am looking foreward to studying something new. i find interest in photograhy, art, soccer, and tennis (: when i go to college id like to study physical therapy and be a physical therapist for children. anyways im hoping this research will turn out fantastic and am looking foreward to communicating with you guys! -Maddie |
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October 4, 2011 | 12:27 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. Elizabeth Waters from San Diego State University. 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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