Student Research Reports

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This project was carried out during 2016 with students of the fifth and sixth grades of the Primary School Nº1345 "Nuestra Señora.del Carmen" of Pujato, Argentina. We worked with GLOBE protocols of Phenology. Visible changes were investigated about the basic life processes that are produced in a vegetable during a period, which covered the foliation, the autumnal coloring of the foliage and its fall. Each year, while conditions for plant growth increase, a "wave of green" spreads on the surface of the earth and then decreases, when conditions decline. From the activities of the GLOBE (Green Down) Program, three trees were chosen (Ash, Ombú and liquidambar) and a question for research: What is the relationship between the colour change in the leaves of some trees in the town of Pujato (Santa Fe) during the autumn period with the fall of them? Initial assumptions were made, suggesting a possibility: "Leaf fall during autumn is due to the presence of the wind". Investigations followed and it was noted that it was not the only period of the year with the presence of the wind. Information is then sought on the change in the coloring of the foliage and thus the hypothesis arises: The leaves of some trees of Pujato (Santa Fe) change their colour during autumn-winter and, every year, these trees lose their foliage during this period due to certain modification of meteorological conditions. Observation, research, inquiry, experimentation and analysis were carried out with the aim of testing the hypothesis and establishing relationships with a plant process which occurs during the fall.