The Biggest Tomato Project
The students in Mrs. Balling's Living Environment classes designed experiments to see which group could grow the largest tomato plants by Memorial day. The students were given the same materials ("4th of July" tomato seeds, potting soil, and newspaper pots.) They then had to work in groups to design an experiment where they would manipulate one variable to study its effect on the growth of a tomato plant. The students not only set up the experiments but they took measurements of their plants everyday. This experiment reviews the content needed for one of the most common types of questions on the NYS Living Environment exam every year. The students will then sell any healthy plants to recover the money needed to keep the experiment going (and growing) for next year's students.
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A flyer for the Tomato sale (coming soon)
How the experiments were conducted:
The students were given an article to read about the largest tomato ever grown and brainstormed about the conditions that would produce the largest tomato plant. They worked in groups and designed an experiment to test one of those variables. Some of the variables that were studied were: Miracle grow, gatorade, vitamins, peat moss, melons in the soil, sand, and pebbles in the soil.
They set up a control group for their experiment ( a group which is treated under normal conditions)
{control group}
They also set up many plants in their experimental groups all of which had various amounts of the substance they were studying.
{exp group 1} {exp group 2}
The students then measured the plants every school day to see if there was a difference in the heights of the tomatoes in the groups. The student groups then reported their results to their classes and designed new experiments.
This experiment gives the students the ability to better answer questions that are very common on the regents exams. Here are some questions that were on previous NYS regents exams:
Home, Introduction, Pictures of our classroom, Open House, The Living Environment, Unity and Diversity, Scientific Method, Nutrition, Transport, Reproduction and Development, The History of Genetics, Modern Genetics, Biotechnology, Evolution, Ecology, Human Impact, End of the Year Review, Previous NYS Regents Exams, The Biology Film Festival, The Biggest Tomato: Experimental Design Project, Reviewbook ordering information, Extra Credit, Earth Science, About Mrs. Balling, Praise for Mrs. Balling, Miscellaneous, Fun Links, All Podcasts, The Biology Film Festival, Krazee Kraft Club
Last Modified on 5/13/2008 2:34:48 PM
