Young Scientists At Work: From A Bean Seed to a Seedling

Our young scientists have been hard at work. Last week, they researched what a seed needs to germinate, and discovered that they need air, the right amount of water, light, and the right temperature. Armed with this information, they planted their seeds in a ziploc bag with a wet paper towel, and hung the planters in the windows by the art room so they would get some natural light. Several of our young scientists predicted that the seed would germinate, but others were doubtful that it would grow without soil. Their observations, questions, and conclusions have been a great learning opportunity over the past seven days.  

Some of the bean seeds must have had exactly the right amount of light, water, air, and the right temperature, because they began to sprout within several days. Others weren't so lucky, but their conclusions were equally as valuable. One of the students, before we began, wondered if a dry bean seed would grow more quickly than a soaked bean seed, so we set that experiment up as well.  Their surprised looks when they saw the seed turn into a seedling within five days was priceless.

Furthermore, early this week, we discussed variables in relation to our germinating seeds. What in our investigation stayed the same (constants)?  What is the one thing we could change to learn more about germinating seeds (independent variable)?  What, if we conducted this investigation, would happen if we changed that one thing (dependent variable)?  Students began designing their own experiments to test their questions, and will begin to implement their new investigations later this week. You'll have to ask them about their question and their hypothesis. Stay tuned if you want to learn more about our explorations as young scientists.