Yes, that’s the title of Manasi’s Science project – and of course, thanks to my social media blitz, I doubt there’s anyone left who hasn’t heard that her project will be competing in the State Science Fair!! Don’t worry – that’s not what this post is about – I think I’m done being ‘that’ parent!!

So, Science Fair – every year the students of DVMS spend the first 2 quarters of the school year working on a science project. The school hosts a Science Fair in January when all the students present their projects. Last year, 6th grade, Ajey and I really didn’t know what to expect, neither did Manasi – she ended up picking a project recommended by Google to test the level of Vitamin C in fruits. Nothing spectacular, and something that has been done to death by students all over the country!! We did have a lot of fun, though – the experiment ended up being a wonderful family activity!!

This year we were better prepared!! First order of business, of course, was to come up with an interesting project – so we had a brainstorming session to toss around ideas. What can I say – we love science here at the Kulkarni household!! And we stumbled upon what Ajey and I thought was an absolutely incredible project – study the effect of Wi-fi and screen time on plants. Music has been shown to have a positive effect on plant growth – would excessive exposure to screens or Wi-fi have an adverse effect?? Did seem to be relevant, considering that all of us are glued to some screen for a large part of the day!!

To begin, Manasi tested 4 different seeds – the idea was that the seed that sprouted the fastest and grew the best would be used for the actual experiment. The initial 4 in the running were – coriander, mustard, methi (fenugreek) and aliv. This last one is a small reddish-brown seed, and is widely used in India – I have no idea what it’s called in English – but anyone who’s built a killa (castle) for Diwali in India is familiar with this fast-growing plant!! It was water and wait and watch for a few days then – until the tiny little seedlings started showing. Unexpectedly, the coriander seeds did not sprout at all – they must have been in my pantry too long, I guess!! – and the methi grew in long stalks with not many leaves. Ruled both those out, and the final decision was between the mustard and the aliv – and since we were simply unable to find the English name for aliv, mustard it was!!!

So 4 plastic cups filled with soil – and into each went 25 mustard seeds – yes, we actually counted!! Once the seedlings were about 3cm tall, the experiment started. Each cup was labeled – one was Control, one was Music, one Screen and the last one was Wifi. During the day, all of them were together on the window sill, soaking up the weak December sun. At night, from 9pm – 7am, they went into different rooms to be exposed to the different stimuli. The Control stayed where it was, and the ‘Wi-fi’ was placed near our modem. For the Music cup, Manasi played Kenny G’s saxophone on the loop. And the Screen cup was exposed to a video of flashing strobe lights.

Manasi did this diligently for 15 days – not needing to be reminded even a single time. And she was very meticulous – even using a measuring cup to water all the plants exactly the same. As the days went by, she was monitoring the progress, measuring the growth, and taking pictures. The results? Well, after 15 days, the Music cup was flourishing – growing better than the Control. And the Screen? Interestingly, every night, all the little plants in this cup bent towards the screen – even to the point where the stems were breaking. And they were visibly stunted, at least a couple of centimeters smaller than the control!! Although the results were what we expected, it is still an eye-opener that screen time actually impacted the plant’s growth!!!

 

 

So that was the experiment – but that was just the beginning of the Science Fair hoopla. There was a scientific paper to be written about the experiment – complete with Abstract, Procedure, Controls & Conclusions. I really liked how all the teachers at school pitched in with this – scientific procedure, of course, in Science, and then in English, the actual writing of the paper, grammar and so on, and then the Math teacher helping with data analysis and graphs!! Once the paper was written, a tri-fold board had to be prepared for the presentation. Choosing the color scheme, planning the layout, buying the supplies, printing everything and then rehearsing her ‘speech’ – whew!! I think all of us were pretty happy with the final product!!

I’ll be honest – at the school’s Science Fair, I was not really surprised that Manasi’s project was selected to go to Regionals – she really had a great experiment, and she was able to display her findings very convincingly. For the Regionals, the board didn’t have to change too much – but the paper had to be almost completely reformatted – I didn’t really get the emphasis on fonts, and placements of headers – there’s a reason why most editing tools have Auto-format?!! Regionals were at Bradley – and Manasi was a lot more nervous about presenting here than she had been in the school. As for me, I was just happy that she had made it here, what an absolutely wonderful experience!! And incredibly, we get to do it all over again in a couple of months for the State competition!! The Best in Category for Botany was the perfect cherry on the icing!! Well done, Manasi – State, here she comes!!