Garden in a Bottle
Introduction
Garden in a Bottle is a great Science and Engineering Practices lesson. This simple lesson can be adapted all the way from providing a model for watching seeds sprout to creating investigations on how plants grow, plant parts, environmental factors on growth, and production to the higher level of hydroponic gardening. It is an environmentally-friendly lesson providing opportunity for re-using plastic bottles as well as a way to bring agriculture into the classroom for students from early childhood through middle or even high school.
STEAM Connections & Kentucky Academic Standards
NGSS
Life Science: Ecosystems, Structure & Function, Inheritance of Traits - 3-LS1-1, 3-LS4-3, 4-LS1-1, 5-PS3-1, 5-LS1-1, 6-LS2-3, 7-LS1-4, 7-LS1-5, 7-LS1-6, 7-LS1-7
Engineering & Design
Materials
Plastic bottles (16 ounce or larger works fine). Cut about 1/3 from the top to form a funnel shape that fits into the bottom.
Cotton string – cut in lengths to reach from top to bottom of bottle
Natural cone shaped coffee filters (or newspaper or strong paper toweling)
Quality planting soil
Water
Seeds
Photos of how to build the system is on page 91 and also on the web site.It may be helpful to enlarge it on a whiteboard or screen.
Procedures
Begin by discussing what plants need to survive. Share with students that there are other ways of growing plants than the traditional way of planting seeds in the ground.
Share that each student is going to create a growing system that can be used indoors to start the life cycle of a plant from a seed. Depending on the type of seed planted, the plant may be able to grow to maturity. However, most plants grow best when they have plenty of soil, light, water and space. The system we are going to build is to demonstrate how seeds germinate and begin to grow or even for growing some herbs such as parsley to maturity.
Give each student a pre-cut bottle, length of string, and coffee filter.
Have students cut or tear a small hole in the bottom of the filter and feed the string through it. (The string should reach all the way to the bottom of the bottle.)
Fill the coffee filter about 2/3 full of potting soil. Wrap any excess string around inside the filter as it will help distribute the water to the seed/plant.
Plant two seeds (beans are recommended as they are easily germinated and grown) in the potting soil at the correct depth on the seed package.
Fill the bottom part of the bottle about half full of water.
Place the top part of the bottle, with the string hanging down, into the bottom part. (Refer to the image to the right.)
Sprinkle water on the soil to get the system “primed” and working.
Place the bottle in a sunny location.
Tell students they will not need to water the soil from the top after this.
Conclusions
Follow up with a discussion about how the system works. Ask students how they think the plant will get water?
Do a small demonstration about how water moves through materials through the process of absorption.
Place a clear container of colored water on a table in front of the class. Fold a paper towel into a strip. Put a small amount of plain water into another container. Place one end of the paper towel strip into the colored water and the other into the container with just a bit of plain water. Observe the colored water moving along the paper towel into the plain water. This is the same process that will occur with the planting bottle.
Digging Deeper
A great follow up lesson would be to experiment with different types of seeds and plants to determine which will grow to maturity in such a setting. Two-liter bottles would be best for this extension as it provides more growing medium for the plants.
Another interesting extension is to cut the tops off vegetables (which of course, can be eaten as a snack by students), such as carrots, celery, radishes, and planting those tops in the soil to grow another plant from the cutting.
Encourage students to create their own Garden in a Bottle garden ideas and share them with the class.
After seeds germinate and begin to grow, they can easily be transplanted from the bottle growing system to the garden.