Last Hurrah with Plants
Ooops, please don’t hate me for being so late! We’ve been a little bit AP crazy on this end, and had a vacation week I worked. Did I mention that MAY 9th IS MY TEST DATE?!?!!?! That came a little bit quickly. But I haven’t been exactly good with dates lately so…
Okay, how about I get on track? With transpiration! (See what I did there? He he!)
This week we performed our last class laboratory and reviewed some concepts that I learned in Biology my sophomore year. So what transpired? We looked at transpiration rates in various plants! Thus being said, this was a Numero Dos, Tres, Cuatro, and Cinco week.
I really enjoyed being able to adjust this experiment instead of everyone doing the same way. This way we were able to evaluate and compare our own experimental design to that of the other groups. In my group we chose to use Heuchera Carnival to investigate the effects of heat and light on transpiration rates in the plant, (hey, look, it’s Numero Tres!). We found that under light and heat there was an increased rate of transpiration, but the statistical T-test said that we couldn’t rule out that it wasn’t due to chance occurrence. Numero Cuatro told us our hypothesis was right, but Numero Dos told us it was wrong. Which was a bummer because common sense, you know? If the sun is out and is evaporating the water out of plant cells, you’d think the plant would transpire more quickly to replenish those water levels. But, math, so bleh. We used the right math, it just gave an answer I didn’t like. Science Numero Dos at work here!
Yes, Jack, too true. Based off our quantitative data, we had to ask ourselves what the fudge went wrong, which, again, is Numero Tres. It really comes down to time and sample size. We were short on both, so that would mess with the data a bit. If we had increased sample size we would have better overall data to go off of, and if we increased time we would likely have seen a greater net difference in transpiration rates. And *wa-lah!* you have Numero Cinco. A laboratory really does help show the connections between the Science Practices, doesn’t it?
I feel pretty confident going into AP review/test time. This year has really been a chloro-blast, and I was glad to share my geekiness and adventures with you guys! I may add another final blog to wrap up everything, but in case I don’t, let me leave off with this. Heading into this class I was a bit worried that after a year-hiatus from Bio I wouldn’t have the same passion that I found my Sophomore year. I now know that it’s still there, if not only strengthened by the experiences I have had. This being my Senior year, in less than three months I’m packing up and heading to a new school to continue my education in a subject I love. I know that not everyone achieves that in his/her life, so I am extremely thankful to my Bio teacher for the guidance and patience she has given me, (and Lord knows there’s been plenty of that!) I hope that anyone who has read my journey will find his/her own passion, and will be able to pursue it. It’s an amazing feeling.