Teach:
Discuss with students plant growth and the elements that a plant needs to grow heartily. Students should answer soil, water, and sunlight. Ask students what would happen if you gave a plant light, but in a different color? Will the plant still thrive? Will it grow more slowly? Will it die off quickly?
Materials:
- Three plants of the same variety
- Watering can
- Water
- Soil
- Three flower pots
- One lamp with a normal light bulb
- One lamp with a green light bulb
- One lamp with a red light bulb
- Notebooks
- Pencils
Procedure:
- Take the three flower pots and add the soil for the plants health.
- Insert one plant into each flower pot and cover it well with the soil.
- Water the plants as plants need water to survive.
- Set the plants far enough apart that they cannot share the same light source.
- Give each plant a letter. Plant A will be the plant that gets a regular light bulb. Plant B will get a green light bulb. Plant C will get a red light bulb.
- Have the students create a hypothesis as to what they think will happen to each plant and why. The hypothesis should be recorded in their notebooks.
- Have the students record the process they are going to use to find a conclusion in their notebooks.
- Set the lamps over each plant and keep the them lit all day, but turn them off at the end of the school day.
- Record in the notebooks what is occurring to Plant A, Plant B, and Plant C. The records should include pictures as well as descriptions. The students should update their notebooks every couple of days.
- Continue the process for a week or two.
Review:
What happened to each of the three plants? Have students write the conclusion to this project in their notebooks. Have them share why their hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
