🍅 Tomatosphere! 🍅

 Today was an exciting day in Room 208! We planted Space Tomatoes! :)

How might someone plant a space tomato?

Here's our planting method:

As part of a 'blind test,' we planted two types of seeds - one from a control group and another from a group of seeds that went to space on Blue Origin's New Shepherd Space Flight. We each planted 2 seeds - one from each seed group. The groups this year are "Q" and "R" but we don't yet know which letter belongs to what seed group (hence the blind test). After planting our seeds, we placed our peat pots in mini-greenhouses (seedling trays with humidity covers), away from direct sunlight and cold-air drafts in order to provide ideal growing conditions.

We will make daily observations every day for the next 30 days. Our daily observations will include writing the date, the day of the experiment, the time of the observation, the temperature of the class and how many seeds from each group have germinated. It is expected that the seeds will start germinating between days 5 and 7, meaning we should start seeing tiny stems and leaves as early as Tuesday or Wednesday!

As the experiment continues, we will discuss the need for collecting this type of data as it pertains to humans colonizing Mars. We will also be discussing the Scientific Method and learning how to: write detailed hypotheses, analyze and graph our collected data and represent our findings in well-written conclusions.

At the conclusion of the experiment, we will be submitting our results to Tomatosphere, and at that point we will discover the identities of the seed groups!

Participation in this month-long experiment will not only help Canadian scientists address the question of how we supply space exploration missions with life support requirements, it may also inspire us to pursue studies in Science and Technology as our space scientists and Mars explorers of the future. 

Pretty cool, right? 🍅

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AGENDA

1. Ask me about our Tomatosphere project! What did I name my tomatoes? What are my predictions about which group of seeds may have been to space?

2. Think about my own hypothesis - what do I want to explore/observe about our tomato plants? - Come ready to share and write your prediction in class tomorrow (Friday).

3. Read, read, read! :) jeunesse.short-edition.com