Chorleywood Primary School (CWPS) and Christ Church C of E are two of 10,000 schools nationwide taking part in a UK-wide live science experiment launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency. The mission is to grow and observe seeds that have been into space that have been held in microgravity for 6 months, under the charge of British ESA astronaut Tim Peake and compare them with some grown on earth
CWPS children are led by School Gardening Coordinator Claire Davies
“100 rocket seeds and 100 normal seeds were sent to us on 18 April and all had to be planted on the 19th and 20th”“ says Claire, “We fill in our observations on a chart. Each cell is labelled and monitored blind so we don’t know which is which. We rotate them 180 degrees every 2 days in our greenhouse. We have to water them to the same level in every single cell and calculate the percentage that germinate. We then record growth progress, noting the height and number of leaves on set days, then on Day 35 record the percentage alive. We are all very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science!”
Christ Church are equally as fired up
“After all the data has been collected, the results will be analysed by professional statisticians and leading scientists from the RHS and European Space Agency will interpret the results and draw possible conclusions.” says Yr 2 Teacher Linda Godbold
“ We are hoping the experience will encourage our children to be involved in further planting at school and home and deepen their interest in horticulture, plant science and the space industry as a whole.” adds Yr 2 Teacher Mrs Harrison
Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience