Activity 1: Growing Healthy Plants, Part 2
What's underground?
As a scientist, sometimes you study what you can see, like the leaves of a plant. At other times, you study things you can't see directly, like the roots, which grow underground. Unless you pick them out of the ground, you can't see them. But if you do pull them out, the plant will not grow anymore!




In these activities in The Virtual Greenhouse, you have tools to help make observing those hidden things a bit easier. Again, you will grow plants under different conditions and determine what conditions are required to grow the healthiest plants. But this time, you can pluck them out and study them in a lab and not hurt a thing!
Growing plants in flower boxes
You are now looking at flower boxes in the The Virtual Greenhouse. These flower boxes all have different amounts of water. The box at the right has the most water, the box at the left has the least water, and the other three have medium amounts of water.

Your goal: To determine how much water each plant variety needs to grow best.

Instructions: Plant the seeds by selecting the seed packet and clicking inside the flower boxes. Click "Run" to grow the plants. Experiment until you have at least three flowering plants of each variety. Pause the model at any time and click on a plant to learn more about it. In this view, you can see the roots.

Keep in mind: Plants that are in their favorite flower boxes grow to have flowers.


1. Which type of plant grows best when there is lots of water? Plant A Plant B Plant C 2. Which type of plant grows best when there is not much water at all? Plant A Plant B Plant C 3. Which type of plant grows best when there is a medium amount of water? Plant A Plant B Plant C
What did you learn about these plants?

A B C










4. What is the most number of plants you can grow in five years? 5. What strategy worked to get the highest number?
How many plants can you grow in five years?
Now you are going to try something different. Your goal this time is to grow as many plants as possible!

Instructions: In this experiment, healthy plants will produce flowers and then produce seeds. After the flower drops its seeds, the plant dies and then the seeds grow.

Your challenge: You only get five seeds from each packet. Plant the seeds by selecting the seed packet and clicking inside the flower box. When you click "Run" the model will run for five generations and stop.







6. What is the relationship between root size and shape and the amount of water a plant likes to grow in?
Sharing your lab notes
Remember, you are a scientist, and you need to explain what you've learned to everyone else who's interested in the world around us! It's like sharing your lab notes.

So, think about what you know about these plants and how to communicate that to others. Did you realize that science is also about communication?





Write any conclusions you have from this activity.
Conclusions







Congratulations! You're a scientist and you have completed your first set of experiments in The Virtual Greenhouse.