As part of the Rocket Science campaign from the RHS Gardening for Schools scheme, Brackenfield School in Harrogate is taking part in a very important scientific experiment.
Brackenfield have been asked to grow some Rocket seeds that have been all the way to space and back, and to grow some Rocket seeds that have stayed on Earth, to see if there is any difference.
The Infant Department at Brackenfield have started the experiment and will record and report the results over the next six weeks. They firstly watched a recording from British Astronaut, Tim Peake and then set off on their experiment. The seeds which had been divided into red and blue packets; 100 blue packet seeds, and 100 red packet seeds were sown in soil and then put into individual cells, each with a numbered label.
The experiment had to be randomised, and anyone who has ever had 60 children sow 200 tiny seeds in 200 soil cells with labels will know how random that is! The trays of seeds are being kept on windowsills in the infant department and will be watered using exact measures of water. All germination and growth will be recorded. But, no one knows if the Blue or Red seeds were the ones that went into Space!
Head of Infants, Mrs. Moon, described this experiment as a fantastic way to start the term:
For the children to know that some of these seeds have been in space with our first British astronaut and to be part of this fascinating experiment is really exciting.
The children were even able to watch British Astronaut, Tim Peake carrying out experiments on the space station, including watching water in zero gravity!
Headteacher, Pat Sowa, was also delighted with this special start to the term:
This experiment has been truly inspirational.
We now have even more budding scientists and astronauts at Brackenfield!
Our very special thanks to our gardening expert, Carolyn Rothwell for her valued input.
