Group 4- Blog

Group 4 is an essential part of IBDP journey for grade 11 students, it is a requirement as well as a cofounding variable to work as a team and use our creative skills to find a solution to a problem that is given to us. The challenge given to us was to create a greenhouse model which would then be modified later into existence. I worked with a team of 6 in biology and our goal was to find the optimal conditions that could have been used in creating this greenhouse by uing different plant types, soil types, PH, Pesticides, Fertilizers and well as different types of composts.

Through our journey in biology we focused on using different plant species and tried three types of compost to find which works the best, we also researched in depth on the purpose of the greenhouse, it’s needs and requirements, species of plants, structure of the greenhouse (drainage system) and finally the ingredients of the soil used (manure and fertilizer).

After some of our failed experiments with different composts, we decided to work with natural compost and our goals were to minimize and utilize waste, use the waste to create compost with the final goal of having completely organic plants grow in the greenhouse and across the school, promote an environment friendly mindset in the student body and promote goals of “Green Pathways”. 

Our initial planning focused on 5 things. First, the plant species where we looked at its climatic conditions, edaphic factors and to what extent is it economically viable. By choosing Areca Palm, Devi’s ivy/money plant, Madagascar periwinkle, Sword fern, Song of India and Snake plant we started discussing how by using these plants we could create a compost that could go from inorganic to organic.  I with 2 other members of my group researched about these specific plants by looking at their functions and reliability to grow and sustain themselves in a climate such as the greenhouse. We also focused on looking at how the greenhouse could promote the growth of these with the bigger goal of functioning as a medium to help the idea of “Green pathways.” We later looked at the inter/ intraspecific relationships between these plants, the rotation of species and finally the most effective soil type.

One of the most important part of our group 4 project was also to understand and learn how we ourselves could create organic compost by using waste for which we did research and understood the four materials required which were brown waste, green waste, compost container and soil. We also asked ourselves leading questions such as “why is compost helpful for the plants?” and “Why is good for not only the plants but the environment?” which led us to our discovery of understanding how to make this waste.  

We concluded our research by looking at edaphic factors which means that the biotic factor that helped determine their chemical and physical composition and also that the compensation point was shifting towards photosynthesis.

With respect to participating and completing the group 4, the factors that should be reflected on was my understanding of how experiments can repeatedly fail and your hypothesis might never actually be proven or disproven. It also makes you understand the importance of the results and the process that takes place while working with experiments as it might be creating dispensaries in the analyzed question.