Research Page for The Bush School, Team 1

4/27/05 9:34AM - T1: First upload of our journal is complete.
Hello, Team 1- It looks as though you've got a good start to your project, with some background research and starting questions. I am looking forward to seeing where your research goes.
4/29/05 12:00PM - T1(Chris): Our oats experiment did not work out as we planned it would. We only had a few germinate before they all seemed to rot and die. We smelt them and we got the sense that they were fermenting. Some of them also began to mold. Two days ago we set up an experiment using 2 containers of sunflower seeds. Each was filled with 60 seeds, in one the sunflower seeds were peeled of their shells and in the other container they weren't. The ones that still had their shells turned the water a dark green and the one that had surfaced on the top of the water had mold growing on them. In both containers the sunflowers began to sprout.
5/2/05 11:58AM - T1(Chris): What makes oat seeds germinate? In our first experiment we could not get our seeds to germinate and we were wondering how we would get the to germinate.
5/2/05 2:21PM - Dr. Jeffrey Osborn: Dear Team 1: I see that you posted your first journal and I look forward to seeing your data. It is frustrating when your experiment doesn't work at first, but it seems like your second attempt is working better. I do have a few questions for you. What do you mean by "seeds reproduce asexually?" Also, what effect do you think the shell of the sunflower has? Why might the presence or absences of the shell affect germination time?
5/3/05 2:52PM - T1(Chris): We were wondering why our oat seeds never germented we waited 10 days and no oat sprouted. We think that the conditions were wrong for us to grow oats. If you could explain what went wrong we would be grateful. Thank you, Group 1
5/4/05 1:10PM - Dr. Jeffrey Osborn: Dear Team 1: Your oats may have not germinated for several reasons. It is possible that your sample was just not viable. I'm not sure exactly what conditions your oats were growing under, but since you noticed a rotting smell, it is possible that the seeds got too wet. The wrong moisture level would contribute to mold growth and fermentation, two problems you reported. My advice would be to try growing oats under different moisture levels. This auxiliary experiment would help you find out if moisture levels contributed to your oat problem and what the optimum conditions for oats are. Your 'failed' experiment could actually lead you to some interesting new experiments. You could do a a literature search using the Internet and your library to see if you can find tips for oat growers.
5/6/05 9:03AM - Dr. J. Archibald: It's good to see that you have been successful at gathering data for your second experiment. I looked at your journal, and was wondering about the statements you put at the beginning. In addition to Dr. Osborn's question about what you meant by "Seeds reproduce asexually," I also wondered about the statement that, "Seeds are more likely to germinate after traveling a long distance because the animal's digestive track weakens the seed coat." Would that be true for all types of seeds? You follow up with a list of questions, was one of these your original hypothesis? It is helpful to clearly state your hypothesis when doing an experiment, so that you can focus on what you need to do to answer that specific question. We're often interested in general questions, such as "What is important for seed germination?" However, the only way to answer those kinds of questions is to break them down into smaller pieces that can be tested experimentally.