Science: Problem/Hypothesis/ Conclusion

We have been learning about plants in science and decided to conduct an experiment with bean seeds. Our problem: "Do bean seeds need light to grow?"; Our hypothesis: " Bean seeds do need light to grow"; Our conclusion: " Bean seeds DO NOT need light to grow". We took bean seeds and planted cups filled with potting soil, lightly watered them, and then placed our cups in a place where they received plenty of light and in a box where it was totally dark. We recorded our observations for several days. To our surprise, we found that the bean seeds in the dark GREW almost as rapidly as the seeds planted in the light. The cotyledeon stayed on the stems to provide nourishment for the tiny seedlings. Then it slowly shriveled up when the seedling began to mature. Later we found that the plants in the dark began to grow faster than the plants in the light!!! They were desperately trying to find the light. A very obvious observation was the fact that the plants in the dark were light yellow or white compared to the deep green of the seedlings in the light. Chlorophyll production was noticably different in the two environments.

After completing our observations over nearly two weeks, we made tri-fold displays to show what we had learned. Pierson is definitely proud of his efforts. Good job, Pierson!