Haricots & Co competition

"Haricots & Co." is targeted toward classes of pupils aged 4 to 19 (Primary + Secondary I + Secondary II levels) in public and private schools of Geneva, Switzerland.

"Haricots & Co." is organised by BiOutils, Chimiscope, and Mathscope, three outreach platforms of the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Each age category is assigned a different kit:

1. Primary ("Kids", 4-11y.o.): students receive ca. 15g of a given pulse seed (not revealed), and they must grow the tallest plant; results must be returned in the form of an A4 picture showing the plant(s) with an height scale.
2. Secondary I ("Juniors", 12-15y.o.): they receive seeds of 3 types of pulses (varieties available), and they must prepare the nicest and most scientifically significant A4 plate of herbarium of their plants.
3. Secondary II ("Seniors", 16-19y.o.): they receive seeds of a given pulse (variety available) with synthetic soil (vermiculite), inocculum (rhizobium), and fertilizeres (N+P+K, respectively P+K); students must grow them in 3 different pots (blank = fed with tap water; "chemical" = fed with N+P+K fertilizer; "biological" = fed with P+K after innoculation with bacteria); they must measure growth parameters (height, number of leaves, size of leaves) with time, and produce a graph showing the best mathematical equation fitting to the experimental data.

Kits are distributed from February 29 to April 4. Results must be sent to the organizers until May 13. The Award Ceremony is programmed on May 25.

Approximatly 3000 students (ca. 200 classes) are expected to participate in the competition.