Does Music Affect Plant Growth?

Summary

Research houseplants. Research types of music. Choose 4 types of music to play to 4 plants. Observe. Did any of the plants do better than others?

Materials

Access to Pioneer Library or other Internet access. Digital camera. Power Point. Create a graph. 4 Wisconsin Fast Plants or other. 4 tape players or CD players. 4 types of music. Light source for plants. Inspirations.

Background for Teachers

Ideas for websites to research plants and types of music. Kidsconnect or sites on UEN.ORG, others. Idea of what plants grow quickly and easily indoors. Rough idea on how the project will work and intended learning outcomes

Student Prior Knowledge

Students need to learn how to do internet research. Students need to learn how to create a bar graph with paper and online. Students need to learn how to use the digital camera and how to download the images onto the computer. Students need to learn how to use Inspirations and how to import their data into Power Point. Students need to learn how to record their voices and music to go along with their presentation. Students need to learn the importance of observing and recording scientific information to be used in a science experiment.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to collect, read, record, represent, and interpret data using graphs and charts. Students will be able to use technology tools for individual and collaborative communication and publishing activities. Students will be able to describe interaction between living and nonliving things in a small environment and observe and record changes.

Instructional Procedures

1. In lab, introduce students to internet research and websites. 2. Have students research houseplants and write 1 or 2 things they learned about a particular plant. 3. Have students research types of music. Have them pick a genre and write 1 or 2 things they learned about that type of music. 4. Have each of the 4 groups choose one type of music they want to play to their plant. Then each group will do a report on their type of music. 5. Teach the scientific method, and show examples of science projects and the different sections. Help students make and educated prediction on which plant will grow best to which kind of music. 6. Teach students to use digital camera. Students will photograph, observe, record, and care for their plants each week for a period of approximately 8 to 10 weeks. 6. Teach students to use Inspirations so they can organize their data on plants, music, etc. 7. Teach students to use a graphing program (maybe the Create A Graph website) to create a bar graph of the plant growth. 8. Teach students to download the images they took of the plants. 9. Teach students to use Power Point or other Presentations software. Each group will combine all of their information into a presentation, with recorded explanations and music.