Harry and Harriet
I decided that my variable would be a flower pot. I was curious about whether or not it would effect growing time, and growth pattern (i.e. the way in which the grass grew) What I found was that the grass grown without the pot (Harry) grew more rapidly, but the blades flopped over and mainly only grew on one side of the plastic cup (I'm guessing this had to do with my own personal error when transporting it). Harriet (the grass grown in the flower pot) took much longer to begin to grow, but grew more dispersed and straight up (without flopping). Unfortunately because of my busy lifestyle, I could not foresee some of my last minute travel situations and was unable to keep bringing Harriet and Harry along with me for the ride. After week two they slowly became more and more thirsty. I did try to water them back on one occasion, but then found myself gigging out down in southern Mass for a few days and when I came back they were goners.
I thought this was a great assignment, and I wish my lifestyle at the present moment were more conducive to concentrating my focus on a prolonged activity requiring regulated attention. As you can see from the change in scenery, I even brought these guys on "vacation" with me when I went to New York. That being said, I would definitely conduct this experiment in my classroom. I would have children collect both quantitative and qualitative data. I liked using photos and logging visual changed as a way to collect qualitative- but kids could also draw the plants if a camera wasn't available. To collect quantitative- I would cut strips of construction paper out, have the kids hold the construction paper strips up to the blades of grass, then mark off and cut the strip to match the height of the tallest blade in each pot. Students could then use these strips to create a bar graph. I think it would be interesting to split the class up into groups, and have each group decide on a different variable. That way, after the four weeks, students will have a gradient of outcomes and can inquire why different variables did or did not provide contrasting data.
Here is some of the data I collected from the first few weeks of this experience:
Week 1:
Day 1- Both are the same
Day 2- No Growth
Day 6- Harry has 4 blades of grass growing in the portion of the pot farthest away from the window
Harriet has no grass yet, but I see small capsules of some sort
Week 2:
Day 2- Harry is growing quickly, but still only on one side of of pot.
Harriet has only a few, very short blades of grass
Day 6- Harry's blades are significantly longer than Harriet's, but are still only growing on the side of the pot furthest away from the window.
Harriet's blades are finally growing upright. They are more dispersed than Harry's. They have yet to grow taller than the pot. The bottom half of most blades seem to
be a brownish/reddish encasing... very strange.
Week 3:
Day 1- Harry's blades are starting to grow so tall that they are falling over. Still mostly on one side of the pot.
Harriet's blades have finally grown tall enough to be higher than the pot! They are much more dispersed than Harry's and are growing straight up.
I thought this was a great assignment, and I wish my lifestyle at the present moment were more conducive to concentrating my focus on a prolonged activity requiring regulated attention. As you can see from the change in scenery, I even brought these guys on "vacation" with me when I went to New York. That being said, I would definitely conduct this experiment in my classroom. I would have children collect both quantitative and qualitative data. I liked using photos and logging visual changed as a way to collect qualitative- but kids could also draw the plants if a camera wasn't available. To collect quantitative- I would cut strips of construction paper out, have the kids hold the construction paper strips up to the blades of grass, then mark off and cut the strip to match the height of the tallest blade in each pot. Students could then use these strips to create a bar graph. I think it would be interesting to split the class up into groups, and have each group decide on a different variable. That way, after the four weeks, students will have a gradient of outcomes and can inquire why different variables did or did not provide contrasting data.
Here is some of the data I collected from the first few weeks of this experience:
Week 1:
Day 1- Both are the same
Day 2- No Growth
Day 6- Harry has 4 blades of grass growing in the portion of the pot farthest away from the window
Harriet has no grass yet, but I see small capsules of some sort
Week 2:
Day 2- Harry is growing quickly, but still only on one side of of pot.
Harriet has only a few, very short blades of grass
Day 6- Harry's blades are significantly longer than Harriet's, but are still only growing on the side of the pot furthest away from the window.
Harriet's blades are finally growing upright. They are more dispersed than Harry's. They have yet to grow taller than the pot. The bottom half of most blades seem to
be a brownish/reddish encasing... very strange.
Week 3:
Day 1- Harry's blades are starting to grow so tall that they are falling over. Still mostly on one side of the pot.
Harriet's blades have finally grown tall enough to be higher than the pot! They are much more dispersed than Harry's and are growing straight up.
