Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
- 👶 Small parts
- 🧼 Wash your hands after
- 🚫 Test food is not for eating
My hypothesis
If I change how warm the place is where the beans sit, then how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four will ______, because ______.
You fill in the blanks. Think about how the tiny parts inside a seed get their work done, and what cold does to them. A guess is a good because: the test finds out.
Change, measure, keep the same
CHANGE
how warm the place is where the beans sit: In the fridge, On a room shelf, On top of the fridge
MEASURE
how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four, in beans sprouted, of 5
KEEP THE SAME
- the same kind of bean, soaked overnight
- five beans and a damp towel in every bag
- every spot dark, inside a paper bag
- counting at the same time each day
Scientists call the thing you change the independent variable and the thing you measure the dependent variable. The things you keep the same are the controls: if one of them changed too, you wouldn't know which change made the difference. Try each of the 3 levels 3 times.
What you need
- Dried beans from the grocery bag (pinto, lima or kidney): 45, all the same kind
- A big bowl: 1, for soaking
- Plastic bags: 9 zip bags
- Paper towels
- A paper lunch bag: 3
- A thermometer (digital, or the red-liquid kind)
- Water from the tap
- Masking tape, to mark lines
- Crayons or markers
Steps
- Soak 45 beans in a big bowl of water overnight.
- Fold a damp paper towel into each of nine zip bags.
- Put five soaked beans on the towel in each bag, and zip it almost shut.
- Put three bags in each of three paper lunch bags, and label them fridge, room and top.
- Put one lunch bag in the fridge, one on a room shelf and one on top of the fridge.
- Never put the beans near an oven or a heater, because too much heat can spoil them.
- Leave the thermometer at each spot for ten minutes, and write down the temperature.
- Every day, add a few drops of water to any dry towel, and tell a grown-up if a bag smells bad.
- Every day, count the beans in each bag with a little white root poking out.
- On day four, write each bag's count in your table.
- Keep counting until day seven, to see if the cold beans ever wake up.
- Find the mean count for each spot and draw a bar graph.
- Wash your hands after touching the beans, and never eat them.
Every step is one you can do yourself, with a grown-up nearby. Write each number down straight away, in the table below, so nothing is lost.
Your results table
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
I changed: Where the beans sit I measured: how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four (beans sprouted, of 5)
| Where the beans sit | Try 1 (beans sprouted, of 5) | Try 2 (beans sprouted, of 5) | Try 3 (beans sprouted, of 5) | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In the fridge | ||||
| On a room shelf | ||||
| On top of the fridge |
MY GRAPH (a bar graph: where the beans sit along the bottom, beans sprouted, of 5 up the side)
What I noticed: ______________________________________________
From 4th grade, add the tries for each level and divide by how many there were: that's the mean, and it goes in the last column. Then draw a bar graph, one bar for each thing you tried.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
If I change how warm the place is where the beans sit, then how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four will ________________, because _____________________________________________
| I CHANGE | I MEASURE | I KEEP THE SAME |
|---|---|---|
| Where the beans sit: In the fridge, On a room shelf, On top of the fridge | how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four (beans sprouted, of 5) |
|
What I think will happen, in my own words:
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
My hypothesis was ☐ right ☐ partly right ☐ not right.
I know because my numbers show:
What surprised me, or what might have gone wrong (7th and up):
Next time I would test:
Idea: Change a second thing: add a fourth spot, such as a cool windowsill, and graph the beans sprouted against each spot's measured temperature.
Why it works
A seed wakes up through lots of tiny changes inside its cells, and these go faster when it is warmer. In the cold they slow right down, so a root may take a long time to appear. Too much heat can hurt a seed, so most do best somewhere comfortably warm.
Going further (7th and up): Change a second thing: add a fourth spot, such as a cool windowsill, and graph the beans sprouted against each spot's measured temperature.
Board layout
- ❓ Question (10 × 8 in): Do seeds sprout faster somewhere warm?
- 💭 Hypothesis (10 × 9 in): If I change how warm the place is where the beans sit, then how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four will ______, because ______.
- 🧺 Materials (10 × 12 in): 9 things: see your list.
- 🪜 Steps (22 × 9 in): 13 steps, three tries at each level.
- 📊 Results (22 × 16 in): Your table (Where the beans sit down the side, tries across) and your bar graph.
- ✅ Conclusion (10 × 14 in): My hypothesis was right / partly right / not right. I know because…
Materials to list: Dried beans from the grocery bag (pinto, lima or kidney); A big bowl; Plastic bags; Paper towels; A paper lunch bag; A thermometer (digital, or the red-liquid kind); Water from the tap; Masking tape, to mark lines; Crayons or markers.
Bring photos or drawings of your test. Nothing wet, hot, powered or alive on the table.
This project at your grade
| 1st–3rd grade | Tries: three at each level (one is fine at a first fair). The table: levels and tries, numbers or pictures. The graph: a picture, or a simple bar graph. The conclusion: what happened, in their words. |
|---|---|
| 4th–6th grade | Tries: three at each level. The table: units in the header and a mean column. The graph: a bar graph, or a line for a number that grows. The conclusion: right, partly or not, and the numbers that show it. |
| 7th grade and up | Tries: three or more at each level. The table: a mean for every level of both tests. The graph: a graph with two lines or two sets of bars. The conclusion: the numbers, what might have gone wrong, and a next question. Second variable: add a fourth spot, such as a cool windowsill, and graph the beans sprouted against each spot's measured temperature. |
From 4th grade up, the table gets a mean column. See every project for 3rd grade, or print a blank results table.
What a judge will ask
- What did you change, and what did you measure? I changed how warm the place is where the beans sit and measured how many of the five beans have sprouted by day four, in beans sprouted, of 5.
- What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? I kept the same kind of bean, soaked overnight and five beans and a damp towel in every bag the same, so the only difference was how warm the place is where the beans sit.
- How many times did you test it? 3 times at each of my 3 levels.
- If you did it again, what would you change or test next? I'd add a fourth spot, such as a cool windowsill, and graph the beans sprouted against each spot's measured temperature.
Make it yours
Keep this project on this device and Peabody counts down to your fair day, with a plan for each day. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Try next
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