Farmer John

Recently my friend, Farmer John, called me. We were talking about his farm and he explained to me that his irrigation system for his farm was recently shutdown due to a problem with the freshwater source. Farmer John explained that he would not be able to use the stream water he had been relying on due to low water volumes from the dry summer. He said he could only take some water from the stream as other wildlife like salmon depended on it to swim to their spawning grounds. Farmer John said the state is only allowing him to capture a small amount of water. He's worried about the crops he's planted. However, I told him why not use some of the saltwater from the ocean nearby. I said, "You could mix it with the freshwater you're allowed to harvest and conserve your freshwater and grow your crops!" I told him we've been experimenting with different levels of salinity. We could study the problem and share our findings. I said, "We'll find the range of tolerance for the crops." He said, "That would be great!"

Well, you guys have heard the story. Now, we need to think about the experimental design. Let's review what we did yesterday.

First, what predictions do you have for the seeds in the different cups? Remember we have cups with 0, 1, 2 and 4 scoops of salt per 1000 ml of water for irrigation.

Yamilet: "I think that the one with zero will have more growth than the cups with 2 and 4 scoops of salt."

Elizabeth: "She took mine."

Chris: "The cup with zero scoops of salt will grow."

Haylee: "I think that 1 and 0 will grow, but 2 and 4 will not because there's too much salt."

Estefani: "The cups that have 2 and 4 they have too much salt. I don't know if some plants have salt."