ACTIVITY 1: SCIENTIFIC METHOD: EXPLORING MEANS OF SOLVING

SCIENTIFIC
ISSUES

A. Discovery Science
Observation:
During this time of the pandemic, people become fond of gardening due to some reasons like
enjoyment, aesthetic reasons, or to earn an income but due to having limited space people
usually
resort to container gardening or planting using pots. Container gardening became popular
because it
is ideal for those gardeners who have little to no space particularly those who are living in the
urban
areas or those who are just living in a rented apartment. Also, pot gardening is convenient
when we
like to transfer the plant from one place to another. While looking at the same species of
plants
planted on different kinds of pots and those that are directly planted on the soil, I have
observed that
there are differences in their sizes and foliage development.
Hypothesis:
The rate of plant growth varies on different sizes, shapes, and depths of their containers and
those directly planted on the ground.
Experiment:
To test my hypothesis, I would experiment using eggplant to be planted on different sizes,
shapes, and depths of pots and to be planted directly on the ground. There would be two kinds
of pot
shapes to be used, rectangular and circular. Each shape will have three different sizes, small
circular,
and rectangular pots, medium circular and rectangular pots, large circular and rectangular
pots. Predicted Result:
The result shows that the sizes, shapes, and depths of pot containers have a significant
difference in plant growth. Eggplants that are planted on the smallest pots have the shortest
length, lowest foliage development, lowest flowering, and fruit yield. In terms of shape, small
rectangular pots have better plant growth than small circular pots. Then, eggplants that are
planted on medium-sized pots have taller lengths, better foliage development, better flowering
and fruit yield than those that are planted on small pots. Also, medium-sized pots are seen to
have better growth than those that are planted on circular pots. Next, eggplants that are
planted
on big-sized pots have the tallest length among the three sizes of pots, have more foliage
development, and more flowering and fruit yields. The same goes for the big-sized
rectangular
pots like the small pots and medium pots, eggplants that are planted on rectangular plants
have
better growth than circular pots. Rectangular pots were found to be the best and appropriate
for
growing plants. This could be due to the results which have shown that rectangular pots have
increased plant-leaf area and bigger space for the development of roots compared to circular
pots. Lastly, eggplants that are planted directly on the ground have been shown to have bigger
roots, stronger stems, have higher flowering rates and fruit yields compared to the eggplants
that
are planted on pots. Containers carry significantly less growing media compared to the
ground.
This implies that their surface-area-to-volume ratio is much greater, allowing them to heat up
and cool down much faster than the soil. These temperature differences can disrupt plant roots
and hinder overall growth. Nutrient uptake, flowering, and yield all are affected by root
restriction and container size. Hence, the surface area in different containers and the ground
space has a significant difference in the growth rate of plants.