Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am having trouble finding sources for this project. Could you please help me out. Thanks

If you haven't found a project exactly like the one you want, make your own!

Take a look at the resource "Preparing Experimental Procedures for a Science Fair Project" (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... dure.shtml). In short, you'll need to get some pepper plants and some bean plants, grow them side by side and see which grows faster. What things will you keep constant? What things will you be manipulating? If you keep everything the same on all the plants except for the type, how will you tell which grows faster? If you write up a description of a project to test the growth rates of both pepper and bean plants, ask your science teacher whether you've devised a workable experiment. Be sure to identify the materials you'll need, the constant variables, the independent variable and the dependent variable. Write up a step by step procedure. It doesn't have to be as detailed as some of the ones we have here, but enough so that your teacher sees that you have a plan.

Perhaps you've seen plants grow in a garden outside. This is an uncontrolled environment, but if they get the same amount of water and sun each day, do some grow faster than others? How do you know? Can you think of a way to make a little garden inside, control all of the variables (water, light, etc) yourself and make those measurements scientifically?

Thank you so much. I will take your advice.

Hi there,

The previous expert give you some great advice. I would like to add that you should find out the amount of time it usually takes for pepper and bean plants to grow up and look at that in the context of how much time you have before your project is due. If there is still enough time for the plants to grow up and for you to gather data before the project is due, by all means do it! If the amount of time it takes for the plants to grow is pretty long relative to how much time you have before turning in your project, I would suggest to find some other plants that are faster-growing. Nevertheless, it's great that you're coming up with your own questions that interest you. That's part of the fun of doing science--being able to try to answer something that you really want to learn more about!

Connie