A science summative assignment, where students need to make a lab and an experiment, interests 6th graders and makes them learn about plant transport and the scientific method.

The science project teaches the middle school students the basics about scientific method and plant transport. Students use celery and colored water to see how plant transport works. The project, due next week, allows students to have more time to try the experiment and have fun.

“We are testing if celery absorbs water, we will add food coloring and peel the celery to see if it has absorbed the water. The main goal is to see how plant transport works”, Emiliana Gomez, 6th grader, said.

Plant transport system is like the human circulatory system, it transports all things a plant needs to live. Students are looking for Xylem and Phloem, these being the ones that transport water and, were the sugar and nutrients go through.

“Plant transport is the method that the plant uses to transport water and nutrients. Xylem, transports water, and phloem, is where the sugar goes through, both are what we are looking at”, Veronica Armstrong, 6th grade Science Teacher, said.

6th graders do the experiment many times changing the variables. They are changing the amount of water, amount of salt and amount of sugar. This helps them have a more complex table in the lab, or basically, have more recorded information.

“We are seeing what will happen if we put different amounts of salt in the water, and also we are going to try to reduce the water and then try with more water to see what happens”, Daniel Villa, 6th grader, said.

The steps before the experiment need to be followed strictly, based on the scientific method. The steps need to be written down and explained, every group needs to make every step for the project.

“We need a procedure, a process, and we have to design an independent, control and dependent variable”, Gomez, said.

Students need to do tables, notes and charts about every variable they change and everything they literally do. This helps them keep on track and focus every time they get lost.

“The notes, the tables and the charts are definitely the worst part of all”, Martin Vasquez, 6th Grader, said.