BOURBON — Third graders in Mrs. Strycker’s class at Triton Elementary School have been studying plants and their parts. They have discovered that plants are more than roots, stems, and leaves.

Plants have special structures that work like a straw to help roots pull liquid and nutrients from the soil and “suck it” upwards through the stem to the leaves and flowers. This is known as capillary action.

Students tested different varieties of string and paper to determine its capillary action and then recorded the results in their science notebooks. Students used colored water to make it easier to watch the capillary action of their materials.

They measured the distance traveled by the color paths and took other observational notes from their experiments.  These results will help them with an engineering design challenge known as a “Bio-inspired Flower” from Purdue’s Science Learning Through Engineering Design Program.