NASA Hydroponic Systems Project

NASA Student Science Design Team An Extracurricular Activity

Johnson Elementary Magnet for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 5th and 6th

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Science Design Team OUR INVESTIGATION

ABOUT US

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OUR VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM WITH NASA Exit

STANDARDS

About Us:

The entire team was notified of a special opportunity: The 2009 NASA Explorer School Student Symposium Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas

About Us:

Required a scientific investigation Required a virtual presentation with NASA engineers.

Required a lot of outside classroom work.

Only (4) students accepted this challenge!

Aaliyah

Onjalise

6th Grader

6th Grader Michael

Malik

5th Grader

5th Grader

But……… only (2) can attend.

And here we are……

……ready to compete at the virtual symposium.

Conquest

Investigating Hydroponic Systems

Mission Our mission is to investigate plant growth in hydroponic systems.

Our Investigation

Project Description

Preparation Steps

Our Data and Conclusion

Citations and Resources

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Project Description Content Area: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Project Groupings: Teams of 2 Description of Product using Technology: Students are studying use of hydroponic systems for future lunar habitats.

Hydroponics is a a technique of growing plants in nutrient enriched water, without the use of soil.

The students decided they wanted to test which type of simulated sunlight will be best for hydroponic plants: direct simulated sunlight versus reflective simulated sunlight. They decided on a hypothesis based on their knowledge of plant growth and their need for sunlight. The team then designed the simulated sunlight environment with sunlight lamps and tested their hypothesis. They obtained their data by recording and charting the growth of the plants for 16 days and stated their findings.

Our Question Will hydroponic plants grow better under direct simulated sunlight or reflective simulated sunlight?

Our Hypothesis Hydroponic plants would grow better under direct simulated sunlight because when the sunlight beams down on plants they conduct photosynthesis.

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Preparation Steps Making the hydroponic container

Preparation Steps Making the wick that is needed for transporting water and nutrients

Preparation Steps Preparing the container for planting.

Wick Hydroponic System Potting Area Perlite

Wick Water w/ Nutrient

Hydroponic System under Direct Sunlight Lamp

Hydroponic System under Reflective Sunlight Lamp

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Our Data

Boys’ Table & Graph

Girls’ Graph

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Our Data

Direct Simulated Sunlight - Plant Growth

Day 2 - 4

Day 1

Day 5-8

Day 9 - 12

Day 14

Reflective Simulated Sunlight - Plant Growth

Project 3

Day 1 - 5 Day 6 - 8

Project 7

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Day 9-11

Project 9

Project 10

Project 11

Day 12-14 Project 12

Our Observations The lettuce and radish plants grew much faster and taller under direct simulated sunlight. The spinach grew twice as tall under reflective simulated sunlight. The pinto beans was unable to grow under direct simulated sunlight, but grew very well under reflective simulated sunlight.

Under the direct simulated sunlight the perlite show evidence of burning in the middle of the potting area.

Then on Day 16 all the plants died under the direct simulated sunlight, while the reflective simulated sunlight plants were still living.

Our Conclusion From their observations, the students concluded that all the plants would grow better under reflective simulated sunlight oppose to direct simulated sunlight, but at a slower rate Students were concern with the validity of their test due to the fact they were unable to check their plants on their plants everyday due to teacher’s absence and multiple field trips. Therefore they want to repeat the investigation to compare the data results to ensure validity of their data.

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Our Virtual Symposium

Michael discusses how the perlite showed evidence of burning under the direct simulated sunlight.

Our Virtual Symposium

Aaliyah and Onjalise present their findings.

They discuss the importance of the astronauts having a additional source of food.

Our Virtual Symposium

A panel of NASA Engineers ask a variety of questions to the student science team about their hydroponic investigation.

Our Virtual Symposium The NASA Glenn Research Formal Educators congratulate the Johnson Team on a superb presentation.

Here the team stands with their team’s supervising teacher, Mrs. Reba Gordon Matthews.

Mrs. Matthews is the school’s NASA Explorer Team Leader.

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Why should we study Hydroponics?

For future missions and possible lunar settlements.

Will you be there?

And the winners are………!

Malik

Michael

5th Grader

5th Grader

For the 2009 NASA Explorer School Student Symposium NASA Johnson Space Center - Houston, Texas April 28 – May 2, 2009 Main Menu

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Science Standards 5th Grade - Life Sciences

5th/6th Grade- Standards 2: Plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. As a basis for understanding this concept: 2a: Students know plants use carbon dioxide (CO2) and energy from sunlight to build molecules of sugar and release oxygen.

6th Grade - (Ecology) Life Sciences 5: Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept: 5a: Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs.

Science Standards 6th Grade - Investigation and Experimentation 7: Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful I nvestigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

Students will: 7a. Develop a hypothesis.

7b. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.

7c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.

7d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.

7e. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.

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Technology Resources •Promethean Board

•Classroom Network Printer

•Tanburg VideoConference Unit

•NASA Curriculum / Websites •Epson Poster Maker Printer

•Epson Projector •Flashdrive •RedCat Amplifier •BrainPop Subscription •Teacher Laptop •Digital Camera •Computer Lab Computers •Rolling Computer Tables

Our New Words Hydroponic Perlite Simulated Symposium Virtual Videoconference

Citations Dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com/ FactMonster Dictionary - http://dictionary.factmonster.com Hydropnics Experiments for Kids -

http://www.hydroponics101.com/sw63175.asp

Hydroponics - Space Settlement Relevance http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/teacher/lessons/contributed/t homas/hydroponics/hydroponics.html KidsGardening.org - Exploring Classroom Hydroponics http://www.kidsgardening.com/hydroponicsguide/hydro1-1-intro.asp NASA Quest - Activity 3 -Hydroponic Systems http://quest.nasa.gov/smore/teachers/act3.html Perlite Plant Guide - http://www.schundler.com/outdoor.htm

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Questions

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