| Lab Name |
Using sensors to Using sensors to optimize seed germination conditions.
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| Subject Area |
Biology, Math
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| Grade |
9
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| Topic |
Scientific inquiry – germination experiment
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| Experiment Title |
Using sensors to Using sensors to optimize seed germination conditions.
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| Hardware |
COSMOS Toolkit, IoT Nodes with sensors (i.e., temperature, humidity, polluting dust, luminocity, CO2)
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| Software |
COSMOS Toolkit Framework, Chronograf.
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| Number of Sessions to teach the topic |
1-3 sessions (1 weeks project)
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| Educational standards to be addressed |
NYS Core Curriculum
- Key Idea 3
The observations made while testing proposed explanations, when analyzed using conventional and invented methods, provide new insights into natural phenomena.
- Key Idea 5
Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life.
NGSS
- HS-LS1-2
Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
- HS-LS1-7
Use a model to illustrate that aerobic cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy
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| COSMOS concepts to be used for the lab |
Real-time data, Chronograph formatting of results allow students to better understand how a rise in temperature (to an extent) leads to an increased respiration rate through accelerated collisions between molecules.
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| K12 Educational Goals (How the educational goals are achieved through teaching using the experiment, how the topic is connected to the COSMOS concepts used) |
Students will be able to explain how temperature, oxygen (soil depth), water (humidity) are so important to the seed germination process.
They will develop a number of research-related skills (i.e. assessing Chronograf results and problem-solving experiments).
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| Short Description and Walk-through of the experiment |
- 1st Experiment:
- Day 1: Review with students, what steps an investigator follows during scientific inquiry of a biological phenomenon. Review basic, generic information on germination conditions for any plant.
- Day 2: After 10-15 minutes have been spent discussing how a seed germinates into a plant, allow the student to assemble into teams
and discuss which variables to use in their experimental design (i.e. temperature, fertilizer, soil wetness, seed depth, atmospheric humidity, seed spacing, light exposure). Student teams re-convene to fill out a proposal form explaining their controlled experiment and materials list.
- Day 3:Pending approval of their experiment, student teams assemble their pot (germination experiment).
- Days 4-10 (every day)Days 4-10 (every day) student teams attend to their plants’ needs; use temperature and humidity sensors to quantify environmental conditions. They measure and record stem length and localized atmospheric CO2 concentration. Student teams upload their germination conditions and growth parameters onto a designated Google drive spreadsheet “1st Experiment”.
- 2nd Experiment:
- Day 11The 1st experimental data will be used by student teams to re-design their protocols; do not tell them that the plant is Brassica rapa. Even though researching the primary literature is an important part to problem solving, you want students to observe data and create their own protocol and not blindly copy someone else’s suggestions. For the best germination results: Lights on all the time and 5–10 cm from growing tip, room temperature ~22°C), soil moist with water all time (reservoir system), 1 oz fertilizer (Osmocote NPK pellets @N/14, P/14, K/14).
- Day 12Pending approval of their 2nd germination experiment, student teams assemble their new pot (germination experiment).
- Day 13-18 (every day) Student teams attend to their plants’ needs; use temperature and humidity sensors to quantify environmental conditions. They measure and record stem length and localized atmospheric CO2 concentration. Student teams upload their germination conditions and growth parameters onto a designated Google drive spreadsheet “2nd Experiment”.
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| Testbed mapping of the experiment |
Testbed nodes-sensors can provide real-time data on temperature, humidity, and CO2 and help manage certain fragile or threatened ecosystems.
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