ABSTRACT

I did an experiment to see if there would be a difference between the height of two individual Rye Grasses if I talked to one of them and ignored the other. I did the experiment for a total of ten days. I first put my seeds into cartons and placed bags over them to keep the humidity high. When the seeds began to sprout I took the bags off and began my experiment. I talked to one grass everyday . I would ask "How are you?" and tell him " how good he was growing and to keep it up." I also watered my plants about every two days so they wouldn't dry up. Also, the Rye Grass sat in front of the window and received sunlight every possible day. I found that the Rye Grass I talked to did grow taller than the Rye Grass I ignored. I did a Mann Whitney U to figure out my results. I received a U obtained of 197.5 and a U critical of 72 so I rejected the null hypothesis. This means that talking to my one Rye Grass did have an effect on its height .

INTRODUCTION

In my research I expected to see an increase in the growth of the Rye Grass I talked to. I thought the more attention I paid to the one grass would cause it to grow taller than the grass I ignored. I expected the ignored grass to be smaller and less healthy than the experimental grass since I didn't pay attention to it.

METHODS

I planted fifteen seeds in the experimental group and fifteen seeds in the control group. I watered both the experimental and control group with the same amount of water. I also made sure both groups received an equal amount of sunlight. I talked to my experimental group every day. I would ask "How it was doing." "Tell it how great it looked." and " I would tell it to keep growing and it was doing a great job." I totally ignored the other group of grass. I never said one word to it throughout the whole experiment. I used several apparatuses in my experiment. I used thirty Rye Grass seeds, milk cartons cut in half lengthwise for the pots. Plastic bags to keep the humidity high so the grass would sprout. I bought potting soil to plant the seeds in. I also watered the plants every time they began to look dry.

RESULTS

I did a Mann Whitney U to find the results to my experiment. I received a U obtained of 197.5 and a U critical of 72. Since my U obtained was larger than my U critical I failed to reject my null hypothesis. Since I failed to rejected my null hypothesis I have proven that my experimental hypothesis was correct. Talking to my experimental group has enhanced its growth. As shown in Figure 1 the experimental is taller than the control group.

DISCUSSION

I thought that if I talked to my Rye Grass it would enhance its growth. According to my results my hypothesis was correct. I failed to reject the null hypothesis so paying attention to my experimental group did help it grow taller. Even though I found a positive result between talking to my grass and its height there could be extraneous variables that caused it to grow taller. The seeds could have been healthier in the experimental group or they could have been placed in a slightly warmer temperature. There are several other factors that could have altered the results I received. In this study I performed I found that talking to your grass does result in taller plants.