The Windowsill Jungle

Students' bean plants have truly been a welcomed pop of life and colour in the classroom. It has also created quite a jungle on the windowsill! With room at a minimum, our large bean plants went home on Wednesday to continue growing  in students' backyard or on their windowsill.

Before our bean plants could go home, we had to make our final comparison between our bean plants and those grown under altered conditions, as an experiment. Prior to planting our bean seeds, students decided that for best growth, plants need air, water, sun and soil. To test this, we decided to grow our bean plants with those ideal growing conditions, but to also grow plants without one of those elements.

The result were interesting!

The bean plant on the left is my bean plant, grown with the "best" conditions. The others were grown (from left to right) with no sun, no soil, no water and finally, no air.

Students made the following observations:

No sun:

-grew quickly

-stem is white

-has very few roots, roots are thin

-has no leaves

-roots are no longer absorbing water

-soil was very wet

-plant not anchored to the ground

No soil:

-grew much slower than our bean plants

-now as tall as our plants

-same number and size of leaves

-same colouring

No water:

-soil is loose and dry

-seed is unchanged since planting

No air:

-soil is VERY wet and puddled on top

-seed did not grow or sprout

-it STUNK!!

Conclusion:

Plants will not grow without air or water. For best growth, plants need air, water, sun AND soil.

Hope families enjoy the bean plant!

~Ms. Burland