Goals

The pilot study accomplishes two important things:

1. It introduces you to your study system. Your observations and experiences from the pilot will help you develop your model and plan your experiments.

2. It helps you get a dataset early in the course. These data will be included in your paper, and you’ll also use them when learning about statistics and graphing.
   

For your pilot experiment, you will be determining how different plant species respond to variation in their surroundings right after they germinate and begin to grow. Specifically, you will be planting seeds of two different species at different densities and in different species combinations, and then measuring how much they have grown over a 2-week time period.

A COVID-19 practical note

We have opened campus for residential life, and I sincerely hope we make through the entire semester in person. However, the reality is that the COVID situation could worsen and we could be sent home at any time. The experimental portion of the course takes 6-8 weeks, and requires access to outdoor natural areas. Identifying these study sites is a big part of the pilot experiment. You will return to one or more of these sites throughout your project.

As you immerse yourself in this study, think about creating flexible plans that you could continue from home, if necessary. Rest assured that I’ve intentionally chosen this project because it is doable from just about anywhere, so if we need to transition into remote learning you'll definitely be able to complete this project. I am confident that this framework is flexible enough for you to be successful no matter what happens this semester.