Your marching orders!

This project is all about teamwork and using good observation skills. You will be working in groups of four, which you were assigned in class. You should meet with your group during science time at least once a week to exchange photos and make group observations!

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

In your groups, decide how much water you will be giving each of your plants. Each child will have one CONTROL plant receiving one cup of water every two days. One of the plants will receive more than the "CONTROL" amount while the other plant will receive less. Decide among your groups which child will provide what amount of water. The choices are:

2 cups
1.75 cups
1.5 cups
1.25 cups

(CONTROL = 1 cup)

.75 cups
.5 cups
.25 cups
0 cups (NO WATER GIVEN)

Caring for your Plants:

1. Each person in your group will be responsible for three plants. Each person, choose one plant and label it "CONTROL." This plant will be the one you measure your other two plants against. Then label the other plants with the amount of water you will give each. (For example, if Clara will water her plants with 2 cups and .5 cups, she should put "2" on one cup and ".5" on another cup)
2. Place all three plants on a windowsill next to a closed window where they will receive plenty of sunlight and be protected from the elements (so that if it rains, this won't change your results!). Place a plastic tray below the plants to catch any excess water.
3. Give your CONTROL plants one cup of water every two days. On the same days, give the correct amount of water to your other two plants. (HINT: It should be written on the cup!)
4. Every Friday, take a picture of your plants using a digital camera. Then post the photos on the Shutterfly account that has been prepared for your group. Label each photo with your name, the amount of water the plant receives, and the date. Here is the link to the group shutterfly account:

Click here for the Shutterfly site or copy and paste the link below:
http://kdclassplantlesson.shutterfly.com/

5. Every Friday, take a few moments to write in your online journal entry. You will describe each plant using as many of the five senses as you can. Create a journal entry using Google Docs, and allow all of your classmates to see your journal. If you have questions about this, please consult Miss Darnell. To access a sample journal entry, go to:
Click here for the Google Docs site or copy and paste the link below:
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1K_ylhW6XBfbXx0d3i-hgQ8YGS8VbJDuoQvW2lY1_Cs0&hl=en&authkey=CLnaxp4E

6. After 5 weeks, we will meet in groups and talk about the experiment. Based on your findings and suggestions, your group will write a page-long paper answering the following:

a. Based on your experiment, what is the ideal amount of water to feed a lima bean of this size when it is under these conditions?
b. How did you arrive at this conclusion? Use your photos and journal entries to show me your decision process.
c. What problems are there with this experiment? What would you change, if you were going to do this experiment again?

These papers will be due after the winter break.