The Process

Part 1

• First you will be put in a group of 3 to 4 pupils. Being with some of your classmates will help you discuss and decide how you are going to design your experiments.

• Use this planning sheet to help you decide what to include in a fair test, and how you are going to carry it out. Read what some of your classmates think before you start.

John says . . .

'I think washing up liquid in the water will make the cress grow clean and healthy.'

Jill says . . .

'I think water already has good stuff in it for plants.'

Jo says . . .

'I think if bleach gets in the soil it will kill the plants.'

Here are some Web Sites to help you with your research. It might help if you wrote some notes as you explore.

1. This is just an Information Sheet explaining what Organic means..

2. Growing Plants . . . This is an excellent site for information on 'Helping plants grow well'

3. Plant Explorer . . . This site will give you a lot of good information about how plants work, with lots of images that might help you to understand things. Lots of good activities to do at home in your garden or in a greenhouse.

4. Go to the library or find information from the newspaper, or anywhere else. Mum and Dad will help you here.

Part 2

Now that you have got some information from the Websites and elsewhere, and have made your plans for the experiments, you are nearly ready to start the exciting bit! Before you begin though, think about these 3 things:-

1. You now know what makes plants grow healthily, but there are lots of pollutants in the air, soil and water around us. What do you think will happen if you put some of these pollutants in the water given to your plants? Will they grow as well as the plants given ordinary clean water?
   What can you use as pollutants? (The thoughts of the children above will give you some clues?) Write some notes about your own thoughts, and what you think will happen. Your teacher will help if you are really stuck for ideas.
2. Try to make certain that your design is a 'fair test'. Click here if you want to see a planning sheet.
   
3. Remember the safety symbols and when to take extra care especially with bleach.

Here is a Safety Sheet which may help.

Part 3

Now on to the experiment:-

Decide how often you are going to record and take photographs of your plants. The recording sheet suggests Day 1, Day 7 and Day 14, but you can make your own decisions. To add a little detail to your photographs, write a brief description of the changes that you have noticed e.g. leaf colour, size of leaf, length of shoot, flower size etc..

Now write a conclusion to explain what you found out, and how you might improve your experiment next time. This conclusion will be useful when you come to write your letter to the manager of the supermarket, and can be included along with your Digital Plant Diary.