NEWTONS
Group members: Shannon, Grace, and Tamsin
State of quadrat now?
It has got lots of rubbish and polluted
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
1) We will pick up rubbish because it’s polluted
2) We will water the ground because it’s very dry and not growing
much
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
The amount of rubbish in the soil and how it has grown plants or
insects
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
A good idea but you have to think
about making sure you're doing a fair test. How will you know your
results were down to the changes you made and would
have occurred anyway?
The Louise’s
Group Members: Georgia, Sophie and Louise
What state is our quadrat in now?
At the moment, our quadrat has very dry soil. There are currently
no worms living in our quadrat.
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
We are going to remove the bad soil from half of our quadrat, and
put in some nicer, healthier compost, produced by the year 7’s at
school.
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
We should measure how many worms there are living in our quadrat.
Even one worm will be an improvement to its current state.
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Nice! A good improvement
plan, a fair test and a clear idea of what you'll measure. Good luck.
The Kings
Group Members: Katala, Chelsea, Cate, Hilary
What state is our quadrat in now?
-no worms
-dry
-crumbly
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
Add compost
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
-the worm & bug population
-compost
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Another good idea, but you
have to make sure you are doing a fair test - your plan doesn't have a
control to compare your compost results with.
Frankensteins
Group Members: Mereana , Bronwyn , Fern , Nicola
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
Plant a white rata and water it every day in half of the quadrant
so it may improve the soil as it was dry.
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
How much the plant has grown and if it’s made a difference to the
soil and see if the soils not as dry.
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Sounds good, will the rata be
in the middle of the quadrant or only on the watered side. How will
choice that effect your experiment?
Able
Group Members: Brynee, Eilish, Alisha and Liana
What state is our quadrat in now?
The dirt is very crumbly
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
Add water to one of the squares so that the dirt gets all moist
For another square add worms as there isn’t much bugs in our metre
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
If the soil is still crumbly and if our changes have made a
difference.
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Cool, it's not quite clear
from your report if you are leaving some of the squares in quadrant as a
control which you'll need to do to make a fair test. How will you know
if your change have made differences (will you count worms, measure
something about the soil...)
Henry Ford
What state is our quadrat in now?
Moist because of rain, but still crumbly
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
Plant a Chilean Bellflower over half the quadrat. We will water it
once and leave it to grow. We will leave the other side unchanged.
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a
change?
Measure the plant to see if it’s grown and if there’s any
difference
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Good to see you've thought
about how to make a fair test. How are going to measure the
difference between the planted and unplanted side of your square?
Little Einsteins
Group members: Millie, Karorangi, Ruby, Tae-Ana
What state is our quadrat in now?
Dry and crumbly
What can we change to make the quadrat better?
We are going to put water on the soil because we think that since
the soil is so dry it affects what lives there. We think that if there
is more water in the soil, it will get moisture so more bugs can live
in it which means that we will have more success. We are going to
water it every science lesson for consistency.
What should I measure in two weeks to see if there is a change?
The amount of bugs.
Expert feedback from David Winter, zoology PhD student at Otago University:
Some nicely thought through
hypotheses, well done. Now, think about how you can make it fair test -
if you find more bugs after you water your square you want to know it
was because of what you improvement and not just by chance!