Seed Germination Experiments

You will be investigating how different environmental conditions affect the germination of a seed. With only the materials provided on the list, for each question develop a hypothesis and an experimental design to test your hypothesis. You will then set up your experiments and take data over a week long period.

Materials:

bean seeds (soaked overnight), paper towels , water,
baggies (for storage of seeds, window with sunlight,
drawer (dark), ziploc baggies, weak acid solution, refrigerator

Questons: (Choose 2 of the questions to investigate)

How Does Acid Affect the Germination of a Seed?
How is the Germination of a Seed Affected by Air?
How is the Germination of a Seed Affected by Sunlight?
How is the Germination of a Seed affected by Flooding?
How is the Germination of a Seed affected by Temperature?

Report

On a separate page, write your report that answers the questions. Your report should include:

1. The Question
2. The Hypothesis
3. The Experimental design (how you set it up)
5. Data table(s)
6. Conclusions

Lab Report Rubric	Excellent 3 pts	Good - 2 pts	Needs Work - 1 pt
Question/Hypothesis	written as a complete sentence, question is restated as a prediction that can be tested	Unclear phrasing, does include at least one question and answer	question is not answered, hypothesis not stated in a way that can be tested
Design	the procedure will accurately test the hypothesis, can be followed easily, materials listed or described	procedure does test the hypothesis, parts are unclear or may not fully test, some materials are listed	procedure likely will not test the hypothesis as stated, procedure unclear, materials not listed
Data	Clearly shows the all results of the experiment and includes a time frame, descriptors and any quantitative data taken, well organized,	Shows some results with some time frame and descriptors, organization lacking or hard to follow	results missing, hard to follow, only addresses part of the experiment, lack of organization
Conclusions	Summarizes the essential data used to draw conclusions; conclusions follow data (not wild guesses or leaps of logic), the experimental question is answered	Summarizes data, answers some of the experimental questions, includes a reference to the data	Does not answer question or summarize data