Agricultural lab: how do beans grow best?

🎯 Aim

To investigate how light, water and compost affect the growth of bean plants, and to model growth with an S-shaped (logistic) curve.

You will learn to

• Identify independent, dependent and controlled variables.
• Calculate means and growth rates from repeated measurements.
• Compare conditions using a graph.
• Fit a mathematical model to data and use it to predict.

🧭 What to do

1. Move the Day slider and watch the four groups of plants grow.
2. Look at the table for each condition: 5 plants were measured every 3 days.
3. Answer the questions on means, growth rates and variables.
4. In Make a mathematical model, choose a condition and move K, r and t₀ until the mean error is small.
5. Compare the K values: what do they tell the farmer?
6. Write your conclusion and download your lab report.