Dr. Jennifer Hurley of RPI is leading the partnership that began last spring to study the circadian rhythm of sunflowers.
This morning, First Graders at School 2 checked up on the sunflowers they planted last spring as Kindergarteners as part of a partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to study the flowers’ circadian rhythm.
After learning that most sunflowers produce nearly 1,000 sunflower seeds, the group held a relay race to see how long it would take to move 1,000 sunflower seeds from one set of cups to another.
Our scholars will spend the next week gathering data and tracking how the sunflowers move throughout the day, then they’ll analyze their data next week when the group from RPI returns.
The partnership is part of an award from the National Science Foundation to bring science education to underrepresented communities. Thank you to Dr. Hurley and her team for bringing this great hands-on activity to School 2 and showing our scholars that anyone can be a scientist!
Dr. Hurley shows our scholars where to find the seeds in a sunflower.