Group+Comments

When we first started this project, we thought that the plant receiving the light from the yellow filter would grow the most because yellow light seemed to be the most similar to natural light. Throughout the experiment, we began to see results that differed from our hypothesis. In our own classroom we could explain to the students how it is acceptable to have a hypothesis that is proved wrong, and thats how they learn things. Other ways I would use this experiment in my own classroom would be to change the variables given in the experiment. You could also have your students measure the effect of the quantity of light. They can measure how much light is used with the plants, and how much their plants have grown. Another extension of this experiment could be changing the type of plant that is grown. - Courtney Lambertson

Our original hypothesis for this project was that the plant with the yellow filter would grow the most because we thought that since yellow is closest to natural light, it made the most sense. Looking at the pictures that were taken over the course of the project, we can see that our hypothesis is not true. This would be a great project to use in an elementary school classroom, and can be easily modified. For use in an elementary school class, you could omit the filters and just show the students how plants grow towards sunlight using the shoebox and cutting the holes in zig-zag directions. Also, you would use only one plant. This will teach students how plants need sunlight to survive and grow, and how it is impossible to do so without sunlight. -Kerry Bolembach

After looking at the photos I was shocked at how fast the plants grew. I think it is interesting that the plant with the blue filter grew the most. Courtney posted information she found after the experiment was completed about filtered lighting. It is under the research page of this website. It stated that blue light affects plant growth the most. I would have never expected this. Our hypothesis was that the plant with the yellow filter would grow the most because it is the closest to natural light. I believe doing this experiment in the classroom will get children interested in the experiment because I feel most children would not predict the blue filter as the one that would grow the most. Children will be interested in finding out how their predictions are not always correct and why. Courtney and Kerry wrote great comments about how to use this experiment in their actual classroom. - Catherine Fleming

First of all I would like to thank my group members. We meet in class and at the library; created our power point presentation together at the computer lab; and everyone listened as well as gave their own opinion on our project. The first thing I want to mention is our prediction about the amber light filtered plant would do the best, was not only wrong, but the opposite was true, it thrived the least. I was very surprised that that the blue filter almost overtook the natural. Courtney actually found some research on using a blue light filter that supported what we experienced. Things I would do differently: 1) not use potting soil with Miricalgro or any other fertilizer mixed in with the soil. The reason why is that there is no way to tell if the fertilizer is distributed evenly. Some plants might have an advantage if they had more fertilizer, or do worse if there was too much; 2) I would line up the light wholes. This project was done in winter. There wasn't as much light provided for the plants if we had done this in the spring time. We knew that the plants would seek light, so why rest that? The filter was the unknown factor in our experiment, not lining up the wholes only reduced the amount of light reaching our plants and made the experiment go slower. The thing I liked most about our experiment is this web site. It's something i hope to use in the future when I'm a teacher. - Joe Troshan Looking at this project, I will admit that our hypothesis was wrong. The reason why I thought that the yellow filter paper was closest to natural light, but that was wrong. Courtney did some research and found out that the blue filter paper plant will grow the best after natural light. As an elementary school teacher, I would make sure that this project would accommodate all my student's needs. Kerry has stated how a teacher could modify the experiment to make the experiment more simply for those students with special needs. One way that a teacher could modify the lesson for those students that are gifted/talented is have the student's grow more plants with more filter papers and have the student's make more holes in the shoe boxes, to see what plant will grow the fastest and what filter paper is closest to natural light. The students could also do research on what filter paper would be closest to the natural light and why. Those are just some accommodations that could be done for those student's who are gifted and talented. As a future educator, I would do this experiment in the classroom. --- Kimberly Ostrander