Byram students join in worldwide tulip experiment

Byram - Third-grade students in Emily Ference’s and Linda Swentzel’s classes have joined a huge continental experiment as field teams for the Journey North Program. The tulip garden program is used by scientists in universities and places around the world to track the changes or effects of the weather on the pattern of growth of these special Emperor Red Tulips. Schools are encouraged to plant a tulip garden, then report when they see the tulips emerge an inch above the soil and when the tulips bloom. The Journey North website frequently lists finding and maps that indicate the results of this project. Students enjoy going to the computer lab to watch the markers on the maps of North America change from a brown triangle (garden planted), to a green square (tulips emerged), to finally, a red dot (tulips bloomed). Many students are surprised by the pattern shown on the North American continent when these plants begin to grow. They also feel important since they are a part of a larger experiment with results that are truly studied by scientists. Ference’s class reviewed the steps in an experiment and wrote data on the experiment worksheet for the tulips. Students will keep this worksheet in their science folder to use for reference in the spring when their garden begins to grow. They will then write their observations and results. This activity makes learning the steps for experimentation memorable because it is a real-life experiment. Students learn about the importance of following directions for an experiment to make sure everything is fair or equal when it is done from place to place. Students made predictions of dates for emergence and blooming. The teachers prepared the tulip bed among the butterfly/hummingbird garden they planted in the courtyard of the Byram Lakes School. Each student examined their own Emperor Red Tulip bulb and planted it in the garden exactly eight inches deep. They recorded the ground temperature. Each month they will measure the temperature in the garden soil. The class created and recorded a second “mini experiment” to see if the size of the bulb planted would make a difference in the size of the flower that blooms. The date of planting and the mini experiment were reported to Journey North. One of the brown squares on the map in N.J. represents the Byram Lakes School’s tulip bed. For more information, visit the Jounrey North website at www.learner.org/jnorth.