Cockle Bay School Enhancement Plans

Feedback from Karyn Hoksbergen, Research technician (Mycology), Landcare Research

Hi scientists from Cockle Bay School. I’m privileged to be asked to comment on your enhancement plans! I can see that the message from last year has been well and truly learned i.e. the need for including a Control as part of your experiments!

Edison Quadrat Enhancement Plan

Scientists Olivia, Danielle, Sara (Year 4)  (Jaimee absent)
Question
How are we going to make the soil more fertile?
              
Quadrat Research
Our quadrat is down the bank in the Junior school playground along the back fence. It is on uneven ground.  It gets sun in the afternoon but is mainly shady.

Soil type: At the top it was sandy but when we dug deeper it was loamy soil.

We found;

A grass root
Worm holes
Lots of hard rocks
Ants
Some soil had holes in it so could have been grub holes or worm holes

Hypothesis
We think the leaf mulch will make the quadrat more fertile.

What we want to do to enhance our quadrat
Once we have cleared the dead weeds that are on the top of the soil then the first stage will be to water the quadrat. This will make the soil more moist.
We want to encourage worms so we will add manure and leaf mulch to the quadrat.
 We will divide the quadrat into four . One area will be the control, one leaf mulch, one will be manure one area just watering.

Feedback from Karyn Hoksbergen, Research technician (Mycology), Landcare Research

Hello to Olivia, Danielle, Sara and Jaimee. You have thought about your experiment in depth. You will need to consider how to keep the ‘water only’ on that part of your quadrat. Will you place the mulch and horse manure on the surface of the soil (good), or will you mix it in with the soil with a gardening fork(better)? If you mix it in you would need to dig up the control and watered parts of your quadrat to make it the same treatment all over the quadrat. Make sure you write down (record) everything you do, and then you can check back if you have any problems later! Have you thought about how you will measure the success of your experiment?An example could be “We will dig up each part of the quadrat after 4 weeks and 8 weeks andcount the number of worms in the top 20 cm of soil”. Good luck!

Einstein Enhancement Plan

Scientists: Jackson, Ben, Anthony (Year 4)

Question:
How can we make such an infertile quadrat more fertile?              
Quadrat Research
 Our quadrat is against the wall of Room 30 and gets sun just about all day. It is a corner against a retaining wall and the building.

Soil type is very dry clay. It was very dusty with rubbish and stones on the surface.

We found:
Rubbish
Rocks
Ants 
dead kikuyu
hard clay

Hypothesis
 If we add lots of water the clay will become more fertile.

What we will do
We will water half the quadrat every day and then leave the other half as it is to see if just watering makes a difference.

Feedback from Karyn Hoksbergen, Research technician (Mycology), Landcare Research

Hi to Jackson, Ben and Anthony. As with Edison group, you will need to consider how to keep the ‘water only’ on that part of your quadrat. How are you going to measure the fertility of your quadrat? Will you count the number of worms in the ‘control’ and ‘experiment’ parts of your quadrat? Maybe you could plant some pieces of kikuyu in each part of your quadrat and measure the new growth that happens in 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Make sure you write down (record) everything you do, and then you can check back if you have any problems later! Good luck!

Newton Quadrat Enhancement Plan

Scientists Katelin, Molly, Nicole, Kiara, Rhian (Year 4) 

Question
Which weedkiller will kill all the kikuyu grass the fastest ? 
              
Quadrat Research
Our quadrat is down the bank in the Junior school playground along the back fence. It is on uneven ground.  It gets sun in the afternoon. It is covered in weeds and we need to get rid of the weeds before we can do anything else.

Soil type: Very dry clay covered in weeds, mainly kikuyu

We found;
Lots of dried grass
Kikuku
One long grass sprout

Hypothesis
We think the salt water will work the best.

What we want to do to enhance our quadrat  
We will divide the quadrat into thirds and spray one third of the quadrat with very salty water and the other third with baking powder mixed with water. The last third will be the control.

Feedback from Karyn Hoksbergen, Research technician (Mycology), Landcare Research

Hello to Katelin, Molly, Nicole, Kiara and Rhian. I can see some budding chemistry scientists in this group! I need you to clarify – will you use baking soda or baking powder? It’s important that you decide which one. Will you spray once or more than once? How much salt and baking soda/powder will you dissolve into water? Your teacher will help you measure using, for example, a teaspoon and a measuring jug to keep the quantity of salt or baking soda in the same volume of water . I think that you will need to add the same volume of plain water to your control. How will you measure if your experiment is successful? Will it be when all the grass is brown? Make sure you write down (record) everything you do, and then you can check back if you have any problems later! Good luck!

NB/ Have you thought about what will happen with the quadrat when you have finished your experiment? Only a few plants like salty soil to grow in!!!!

Pasteur Quadrat Enhancement  Plan

Scientists Andrina, Lybarti, Annelise, Emma (Year 4) Annelise absent for photo

Question
What can we add to the soil to improve the quality of the soil and encourage worms back into the soil ?            

Quadrat Research
Our quadrat is down the back of the new Room 30 and along the back fence. It is on uneven ground.  It gets sun in the afternoon. It is very dry and dusty with a few weeds and roots and dead leaves.

Soil type: Very dry and dusty with sand on the top.

We found;
Weeds
Clay balls
Red ants
Moths around the quadrat
Moss at the fence end of the quadrat

Hypothesis
We think the leaf mulch will make the soil more fertile.

What we want to do to enhance our quadrat We would like to start by watering our quadrat every day and then adding some leaf mulch to one half to see if there is any change.

We will make the quadrat into thirds and put on one, on another and leave the last third as a control.

Feedback from Karyn Hoksbergen, Research technician (Mycology), Landcare Research

Hi to Andrina, Lybarti, Annelise and Emma. To clarify, I think you are dividing your quadrat into thirds, keeping one as a control, adding leaf mulch to one third and adding just water to the other third. As with Edison and Einstein groups, you will need to consider how to keep the ‘water only’ on that part of your quadrat. How are you going to measure the fertility of your quadrat? – see Einstein group. Make sure you write down (record) everything you do, and then you can check back if you have any problems later! Good luck!