Education's Journey

Sorry folks...I'm 2 weeks behind on uploading pictures from my camera and getting them on here. This is week 3 in the Science Experiment with growing basil indoors. We took the pictures and measurements on Thursday the 14th.....

The kids really had fun this time. We re-assessed the original hypothesis and re-evaluated what will constitute the "better" growth. Seeing how very different each plant looks, the kids started to wonder if there aren't different types of basil growing. One plant's leaf buds resembled flower buds...even though the kids looked at them with the magnifying glasses, they still think they are leaves....you will have to wait to find out though....

If any one out there reading this knows anything about basil plants, please email me!!! I think for sure we have different types, so would be interested to here if their care is any different. As I do some more research, I will post it.

Here are the pics and measurements:



I told ya, they were having altogether, too much fun!!!

Allen was in deep thought about the big leaves on Plant A.




Not sure if that is camera goofy, or pleasure in seeing the fruits of his labor.....


The plants here are in order, A, B, then C. I tried to get a better picture of how different Plant B's leaves look. The are coming in differently than Plant A. The bunches on each stem are closer together, and come in groups of 6 instead of 4. Plant C has what appears to be both types of the plant. One with the big leaves growing in groups of 4 and one with the larger branches with more sets of 6 leaves.


Plant A: Has 24 leaves total with 4 full sets, and is 6 1/4 inches tall.

Plant B: Has roughly 190 leaves with at least 30 full sets, and is 5 1/2 inches tall.

Plant C1: Had 10 leaves and still no full sets, standing 3 1/2 inches tall.
Plant C2: The leaves were no longer "countable" by normal means...so we estimated roughly 200 leaves and at least 40 full sets.


Unfortunately, we still hadn't gotten to harvesting any of the leaves....and still haven't...But I've got plans for spaghetti and chicken this next week....so there's no a need for the yummy herbs!!!

I asked the kids some questions to help them re-evaluate their original thoughts on the outcome of this experiment. I explained that this is the part of the scientific process we call evaluating the data. Here they are:


If we were in the garden store, which plant would you want us to buy?

Kassy responded the one with big fat leaves because she thinks they will taste better.
Allen said plant C because its so tall...it must be growing better.
Alexa made a great observation. She also chose plant C, but her reasoning was that there were both types of plant, one with tall growth and smaller leaves and the shorter one with bigger leaves...she thinks they will taste differently, so having both makes it a better plant.

All of the kids also noticed that the shorter plants with the bigger leaves have a stronger smell, so they should have a better taste.


We haven't taken any measurements since this update. So the next update will be the last. The plants are now obviously different strands at least, if not completely different breeds. And they have all gotten too big for their current pots...We are now on a mission to find the next experiment....