Division 16 is participating in the Tomatosphere program. Here is the link to the website. http://tomatosphere.org/ It is a program where we will use “space” tomato speeds to learn about the scientific inquiry and about plants in space. We have two types of seeds (labelled U and T): one type has been to the International Space Station (outer space) and the other has not (control group). We will not know which group has been to outer space until we report the results.
Before doing the experiment, students learned about tomatoes and about plant needs and plant parts.
Germination: the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore (you will see a sprout)
What they learned about tomatoes:
Mateya- tomatoes have flowers
Judah- you can grow a lot of tomatoes in many days
Darian- tomatoes come in different colours
Alma- tomato plants can grow very high
Ojasya- tomatoes go to the supermarket
Question: How does exposure to the space environment affect the number of tomato seeds that germinate (sprout)?
Hypotheses:
– 11 students think that there is no difference if tomato seeds have been exposed to space conditions in germination results
– 2 students think that tomato seeds that have been exposed to space conditions will have better germination results (more seeds germinate)
– 4 students think that tomato seeds that have been exposed to space conditions will have worse germination results (less seeds germinate)
Experiment:
April 25, 2024: Planted 20 seeds total: 10 from group U and 10 from group T.
May 3, 2024: Some seeds from each group germinated. (3 from group U and 2 from group T)