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Grow It 3-5 / Week 05 / Friday
5/6
Week 05 · Leaves and Food from Light

Friday

Reading plant data
// How plants make their own food
⏱ about 15 min

Friday: Reading Plant Data

Rocket peeks at his two beans. "The shade one is taller! So shade is better!" he shouts.

Raven looks closer. "What do you notice about its stem and leaves?"

Nova hovers near the Shade cup. "Taller is not always stronger," she says. "Check the color and the thickness."

Rocket studies the thin, pale stem. "Hmm. Maybe not."

Practice with made-up numbers

These are made-up practice numbers, not a real experiment.

Read the table, then answer the questions.

DayBright stem (cm)Shade stem (cm)Shade leaf color
Day 166green
Day 389light green
Day 51012pale
READ THE PRACTICE TABLE
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
In the practice table, how tall was the Bright stem on Day 5?
In the practice table, what happened to the Shade leaves?
Practice table: how many centimeters did the Bright stem grow, Day 1 to 5?
WHY THIS EXERCISE10 minus 6 is 4 centimeters.

Taller is not always healthier

When light is too low, plants can grow weak, pale, spindly shoots.

Spindly means long and thin.

So a tall, pale plant may not be a healthy plant.

So scientists look at more than one kind of data.

StatementTrue or false?
The tallest plant is always the healthiest.?
Low light can make shoots weak and pale.?
Scientists can use color as data, not just height.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEHeight, color and thickness together tell the story.
STEPS OF OUR FAIR TEST
  • ?Ask a question.
  • ?Make a prediction.
  • ?Change only one thing.
  • ?Measure and record data.
  • ?Compare the results.
WHY THIS EXERCISEThese steps help scientists trust their results.
Try it
Measure your real Bright and Shade stems.
Write the numbers and leaf colors in your table.
Do your real results match the practice table? It is fine if they do not!
Safety first
Handle the cups gently.
Wash your hands after touching soil.
For a grown-up
Tomorrow, help your child graph the data on paper.
Real results may take a week or more to show a clear difference. Keep both plants going.
Draw a bar graph of the Bright and Shade heights in the practice table.

Data champions! Tomorrow is Grow It Day. Your family will graph and compare the test.

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