Eco Committee

The pupils of Fyvie School are currently helping Tim Peake, the astronaut, with a science experiment. We’ve been sent 2 packets of rocket seeds to grow – a red packet and a blue packet. One packet has been to space – but we don’t know which. The pack that has been to space has been looked after by Tim Peake in the International Space Station, orbiting the earth at 17,000mph.

We’ve planted 200 seeds (100 from each packet) and all the classes and nursery are helping look after them and count, measure and record things for European Space Agency and the Royal Horticultural Society who are running the experiment.

We’re doing this to help scientists find out whether they might be able to grow food in space in the future. Now astronauts only have freeze-dried food so it would be good if they could have fresh food. They don’t know if the lack of gravity in space will have an effect, or whether the radiation in the International Space Station will make a difference to how the plants grow.

Gabe in P4/5 said, “It’s fascinating because we don’t know what might happen. We might get a mutant plant.” Emily in P5/6 felt that it was very hard to tell which was which at the moment because the reds and the blues are growing the same although some haven’t grown yet so it’s a mixture. Maybe as the seeds grow a bit more we might see more of a difference between the reds and the blues. Later in the year we’ll be told which pack is the one which has been to space.

Orla in P3 has been writing about it: They went up to space. We don’t know if the red packet or the blue packet went up to space. I think blue.  The eco committee ones are growing fast. We had to get little tubs and put soil in them. We picked cards out to see which class would plant which seeds.  Then we planted the tiny rocket seeds. They are about 1mm. Now we have to water them if they’re dry and turn them round so they all get light.  The seeds are all growing. Some don’t look very healthy. We check them every morning. Some days we have to count how many blue and how many red there are and we will have to measure how to tall they are.