Microgreens Plan Crop 2

Now that we have grown and harvested our first round of microgreens, we need to begin the process of testing ideas with evidence. In lab we will discuss what we learned from the first round and 

• develop a hypothesis (idea or explanation) of what will maximize and increase growth of the microgreens. 
• create an experimental design and plan for testing that hypothesis
• Each student will write up and submit answers to the following questions

1. From the class discussion, what are 3 different explanations for why some people's plants grew more than others? 
2. What is the class hypothesis for round 2 of microgreens growth?  State this clearly in one sentence. This should look something like this: 
   • '' We will increase crop yield (plant growth) by doing XYZ,  because ________ ."
3. What are our predictions and expectations based on this hypothesis?
   • Please state as an  If---- then---- statement.
4. What is independent variable ( also known as experimental variable)  we will be working with? This is the variable that we predict will make a difference in the growth of the microgreens. 
5. What is the dependent variable we will be measuring? This is what we measure at the end of the experiment to determine if or experimental variable made a difference/our hypothesis was correct.  
6. Describe the experimental treatment. What did we do to our experimental clamshells? 
7. What is our sample size for the experimental treatment? Control treatment? This will be the number of clamshells per treatment
8. What actions are we taking to reduce confounding factors? Be specific:- this is all the ways we reduced bias by making sure that the experimental and control treatments were the same except for the experimental variable. 
9. How will we analyze the data? 
   • What statistics will we use? (from in lab discussion)
   • How will we visualize the data? (from in lab discussion)
10. What materials do we each need to gather in order to plant? 

Demo/Example 

1. Different Hypotheses: Singing increases plant growth; Happy plants grow faster; Breathing on our plants makes them grow more. 
2. Class Hypothesis: We will increase crop  yield by singing to our plants, because extra CO2 from our breath will help with photosynthesis.
3. Prediction: We predict that if we sing to some plants and not others, then those will grow faster and bigger. 
4. What is independent variable: Our experimental or independent variable is singing. 
5. What is the dependent variable we will be measuring? We will be measuring the height of microgreens in inches grown in each clamshell.  
6. Describe the experimental treatment. We will sing to the plants 10  minutes every day. There will be one soprano, one alto, one bass singer. We will sing the same song and be 5 feet from the plants.
7. What is our sample size for the experimental treatment? Control treatment? 10 clamshells for each treatment 
8. What actions are we taking to reduce confounding factors? We will all stand the same distance from the plants, sing the same song, using the same singers each time. 
9. How will we analyze the data?  We will calculate and average and then graph that using a bar graph. n)
10. What materials do we each need to gather in order to plant? Seed, soil, clamshells, paper towel, singers.