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Student Exploration: Growing Plants
Directions: Use the Gizmo to set up each experiment listed. Then complete the data tables to show your results. Draw a
conclusion based on your data.
Experiment #1: Which type of plant grows the tallest?
Independent Variable: the type of plant (tomato, bean, or turnip)
Dependent Variable: how high each plant grows in centimeters
Constants: the amount of light (3 light bulbs), the amount of water (50mL), the type of soil (normal)
Tomato Plant Bean Plant Turnip plant
Height of Plant
_____cm ______cm _______cm
(after 50 days)
Conclusion: In this experiment I was testing ________________________ to determine the _____________________.
The plant that grew the tallest was _______________ it grew ___________. I kept the following the same in the experiment
___________________________________.
Experiment #2: How does the amount of light affect the mass of tomato plants?
Independent Variable: the amount of light (1 bulb on, 2 bulbs on, or 3 bulbs on)
Dependent Variable: the mass of each plant in grams
Constants: the type of seed (tomato seed in each), the amount of water(50mL), the type of soil (normal)
Low light Medium Light High light
(only 1 bulb lit) (only 2 bulbs lit) (all 3 bulbs lit)
Mass of Plant
_____grams ______grams _______grams
(after 50 days)
Conclusion: In this experiment I was testing ________________________ to determine ________________________.
The tomato plant had the most mass when __________________________________________________________. The
mass was___________. I kept the following the same in the experiment ___________________________________.
Experiment #3: How does the type of soil affect the size of the leaves of a turnip plant?
Independent Variable: the type of soil (soil only, fertilizer, or compost)
Dependent Variable: the size of the turnip leaves (small, average, or large)
Constants: the type of seed (turnip only), the amount of water (50mL), the amount of light (all three bulbs)
Soil Only Soil with Fertilizer Soil with Compost
Size of the leaves Small Leaves Small Leaves Small Leaves
(after 50 days)
CIRCLE the leaf size Average Leaves Average Leaves Average Leaves
Large Leaves Large Leaves Large Leaves
Conclusion: In this experiment I was testing ________________________ to determine ________________________.
According to the data collected, soil only has ________ leaves, soil with fertilizer was _________ and soil with compost has
__________. In order to determine this, I had to keep
_______________________________________________________________ constant in the experiment.
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Experiment #4: How does the daily amount of water affect how tall a bean plant grows?
Independent Variable: the daily amount of water (10 mL, 20 mL, 30mL, 40mL, 50mL, 60mL, 70mL, 80mL, 90mL, or
100mL) Note: Since you can only test 3 pots at a time, you’ll have to reset and repeat the experiment a total of 3
times to get all of your results.
Dependent Variable: the height of the bean plant
Constants: the type of seed (bean), the type of soil (normal), the amount of light (3 bulbs)
Show your data by creating a bar graph.
How does the daily amount of water affect the height of a bean plant?
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Conclusion: In this experiment I was testing ________________________ to determine ________________________.
According to the data shown in the graph collected, ________ of water daily makes the bean plant grow the tallest.
Another interesting conclusion from the graph is ________________________________________________________. In
order to determine this, I had to keep _______________________________________________________________
constant in the experiment.
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Experiment #5: Create an Experiment of your own!
Question (what do you want to find out?): ________________________________________________
Independent Variable: CIRCLE ONE.
the amount of light (1 bulb, 2 bulbs, or 3 bulbs)
the amount of daily water (Choose only three water amounts, between 0 mL and 100 mL)
the type of soil (soil only, soil with fertilizer, or soil with compost)
the type of seed (tomatoes, beans, or turnips)
Dependent Variable: CIRCLE ONE.
the mass of the plant (in grams)
the height of the plant (in centimeters)
the size of the leaves (small, average, or large)
the color of the plant (yellowish green or green)
Constants: List three.
1.
2.
3.
Data: Record it in the table.
Conclusion:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Answer the assessment questions on the GIZMO site.
Write your score here: ____________
