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Science Project
Science Blast
The boys and girls of 5th class have been busy recently completing a science project which tested which soil type would be best for growing lettuce. We tested peaty soil, clay, sandy soil and loam to see which one would prove to be the best. As we predicted Loam provided the best overall results, On Wed 6th March we took this project to Science Blast 2019 in the RDS. We will have a full report tomorrow, but for now here are the pictures from what was an excellent day. |
Progress report 15 days
 Subject A - Peaty soil Leaves are small, there are 4 plants germinated and the highest is 35mm. Subject B - Clay Leaves are medium, height is 45mm and there are 9 plants germinated. Subject C - Chalky soil Leaves are large, height is 50mm and there are 3 plants germinated. Subject D - Loamy soil Leaves are medium, height is 49mm and there are 9 plants germinated. The chalky soil is by far the driest soil and despite a very slow start, the plants are growing the best. It should be noted that many of our plants have stretched and they have very thin stems as they have stretched looking for more sunlight. Some of the plants in the loamy soil have been buried. The hydroponic plants are all growing very well and have not stretched as much. To try and combat stretching we are using jenga blocks to tilt the pots towards the sun. |
Progress Report 8 days
Our plants have grown as follows Peaty soil - 13mm Clay - 22mm Chalky soil - 19 mm Loamy soil - 28mm  |
Progress report 6 days
Our seeds have germinated! As you can see from our picture our lettuce seeds have germinated ovr the weekend. The following is the progress so far Peaty soil - 10 mm Clay - 14mm Chalky / sandy soil - 8 mm Loam - 15 mm It is also noticeable that more seeds germinated in the clay and Loam while there was a poor germination rate in the chalky soil.  |
Sowing the seeds
Lettuce seeds have been planted into the following four types of soil. Peaty soil, clay, chalky / sandy soil and loamy soil. We planted a number of seeds to allow for failure of some seeds to germinate. We watered the pots with the same amount of water. They have been put on the windowsill, next to the radiator.  |
Hydroponics
We also set up an experiment on hydroponics . We started by testing the water. It was quite alkaline so we corrected the PH of the water by adding lemon juice. Then we added the correct amount of nutrients to the water After that we soaked some rockwool plugs overnight in the nutrients infused water. We then placed then into the plug trays. Next we sowed some cress and lettuce seeds into the rockwool plugs.  |
Testing the soil
We started by going to our school garden examining some different soils.We collected some soil samples and classified them inside by doing the following:
 Then we named them sample A,B,C and D. We felt that A was a loamy soil, B was more of a peaty soil, C was a sandy soil and D was a peaty soil. About our soil... Sample A was a light brown colour,smelt like clay,it felt smooth and sticky,we couldn't roll it into a ball or like a sausage,it felt moist,the size of the particles in the soil were small and it contained clay,worms and roots. Sample B was a black colour,it didn't smell like anything,it felt rough and sticky,we couldn't roll it into a ball or like a sausage,it felt moist,the size of the particles in the soil were small and medium,it contained clay,no mini-beasts it also contained roots. Sample C was a gold-brown colour,it didn't smell like anything,it felt rough,you couldn't roll it into a ball or like a sausage,it felt in-between moist and dry,the size of the particles in the soil were medium,it contained clay,no mini-beasts and roots. Sample D was a dark brown colour,it smelt like grass,it felt rough,you couldn't roll it into a ball or like a sausage,it felt moist,the size of the particles in the soil were medium,it contained clay, no mini-beasts and rocks and leaves.  We then performed an experiment by putting each sample into a jar with water and then shaking it to organise the layers.We found out that the heaviest soil sunk and settled to the bottom and the lightest soil floated and lay on the top. |
A first look at the school garden
We went out to the school garden to see how our vegetables, shrubs and flowers were getting on. It was clear to see that it had not been a good year for our vegetable patch. In fact the entire garden was looking far from its best. The pupils were asked to discuss in groups the problems that were affecting the garden. The following are some of the observations that were made:
We formed the following questions
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