Hydroponic Garden Inspires Inquiry

Thanks to a Boost Grant from the Melrose Education Foundation, students in grade 5 at the Horace Mann School are collecting data, monitoring growth, and developing responsibility as they care for plants in their classroom. With a new classroom hydroponic garden, teacher Elizabeth Collier uses hands-on garden lessons to enhance the grade 5 science curriculum, developing her student’s understanding of the water cycle, impact on our environment, and living organisms and food webs. 

As is the point of science exploration, things do not always happen as expected. And this is the magic of innovation and exploration in our classrooms. Since the hydroponic garden was installed, student learning has thrived. Would you believe, some of the strawberries students planted in their classroom garden didn’t grow at all. Other plants sprouted but green algae formed in the cells. As this was observed, students discussed what was happening in live time and determined the scientific action needed to remedy the situation. Using engineering inquiry, students decided to clean out the cells and start over, this time changing the variables with the amount of fertilizer and type of plants. Experimenting with growing in their classroom led to questions and a deeper understanding of real world implications. Does fertilizer from lawn runoff get into our water system? If so, what is the impact? Can it cause the same results we saw with our classroom strawberries, but at a large scale with algae in lakes and streams? And what can be done about it? 

Maybe the next Melrose Ed Foundation grant will support these same students when they get to middle school to study algae in Ell Pond. They could partner with the city to support the work happening to improve the health of this important ecosystem right in the center of our community. This is exactly why the Melrose Ed Foundation supports innovation, exploration, and opportunity in education. The Ed Foundation is grateful for the support of so many in this community whose donations make grants possible. And as always, the Melrose Ed Foundation is proud to support the educators who bring learning to life in their classrooms every day.