Teach:
Tell students that it is a common practice for gardeners to use a fertilizer. One of natures fertilizers is horse manure. Explain to students that they will begin an experiment that will test whether plants grow the best in regular soil or with fertilizer. Students will also see if a plant will grow with just the fertilizer and no soil.
Materials:
- Three flower pots
- Soil
- Flower seeds
- Horse manure
- Plastic gloves
- Water
- Measuring cup
- Notebooks
- Pencils
Procedure:
- Tell your students that they are going to grow three plants. One will be grown with regular soil, one with regular soil mixed with manure, and one with only manure.
- Have students create a hypothesis as to which plant will grow the best and why they think so.
- Small groups will work the best for this activity. Students fill one flower pot 3/4 full with regular soil. They plant four to five flower seeds in the pot. Make sure that they use the same amount and type of seeds in all three pots.
- Have students fill the second flower pot with a mixture of soil and horse manure. Plant four to five flower seeds in that pot.
- Have the students fill the third flower pot with only horse manure. Plant four to five seeds in that pot.
- Use a measuring cup to water the plants. For accuracy in the results, make sure all three plants receive the same amount of water.
- Place the pots in a sunny location. Make sure all three pots receive the same amount of sunlight.
- Check the flower pots every few days and record the results in notebooks.
Review:
Discuss with the children what happened to each of the three plants. Have them write the conclusion to the experiment in their notebook. Their conclusion should list why their hypothesis was right or wrong. Students should come to the conclusion that either soil works the best on its own or with the help of some manure as fertilizer. The last possible conclusion would be that plants would grow the best in just manure.