Boost your fifth-graders' understanding of how plants and flowers draw water up from the base of their stem through to their leaves using capillary action. Have students place two identical drinking glasses beside one another so they are almost touching and fill seven-eighths of each glass with regular tap water. Fifth-graders should add 10 drops of red food coloring to one glass using a medicine dropper. Lay a carnation flower flat on a chopping board and cut its stem in half along the length, so the stem is now made up of two strands, before providing it to the student. Instruct the young scientist to submerge a stem strand in each glass, making sure the carnation receives natural light and stands upright with the flower at least an inch clear of the top of the two glasses. Students should observe the changes in their carnation three hours later; the half of the carnation in the red-colored water will have started to turn a reddish pink color.
To conduct this experiment, your fifth-grader will need to set up four plants in identical conditions. Encourage your young scientists to think about how they can control the variables during this experiment, such as placing their plant pots on the same windowsill so they receive the same light and atmospheric environment. Fifth-graders will fill identical plant pots to the two-thirds level with damp potting soil before planting two or three seeds a half-inch beneath the soil's surface. Instruct students to label their four pots as follows: control; 25/75; 50/50 and 75/25, based on the percentage of detergent and water. You should supervise students as they make up detergent and water mixtures, ensuring they measure accurately so the detergent solutions are 25 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent detergent and 75 percent, 50 percent and 25 percent water, respectively. Have students water and observe their plants once each day to measure height and width; rate plant health from 1 to 10.
Set up two identical aquariums or 1-liter water tanks with two cups of algae in each so your fifth-graders can assess the impact of acid rain on health of algae. Fill the 1-liter tank with distilled water before allowing it to sit for at least 24 hours and adding the measure cups of algae only after this time. Get students to label each of their containers: one as a control, which they will simply leave as water, and the other as the acid condition. Inform young scientists that they must add a medicine dropper filled with acetic acid (pure vinegar) into the acid condition container once each day. Students should also observe the algae in the container once each day, before concluding the experiment after at least two weeks, straining away the contents of the bowl but keeping the algae to study using a magnifying glass and compare for general health.
Instruct students to conduct an experiment investigating the effect of saltwater on plant life through this experiment. Students must set up four plants in identical conditions, exposing plants to the same atmosphere and providing plants with the same volume of liquid each day. Have students provide one plant with distilled water only, as a control, while the remaining three plants should be provided with half a measure cup of distilled water with 1, 2 and 3 tbsp. of salt dissolved in once each day. Encourage students to provide a clear set of line graphs for plant height, width and health on a scale out of 10 once they have concluded their project after at least two weeks of study.