Presented by:

Laura Donoghue, Tessa Hamilton, Catherine Hughes, Philippe Turineck, & Jessica Kim
Project overview

-The aim of this development is to open a school garden by introducing

a project called Tomatosphere to McGill Elementary School.

-Tomatosphere, a free program where Kindergarten to Secondary students across Canada

use "space" tomato seeds to investigate the effects of outer space on seed germination.
Operated by Lets Talk Science, Tomatosphere is a project that teaches students the skills
and processes of scientific experimentation and inquiry.

-Usually, Tomatosphere is a project that is done in a single class; our goal is to start a
school garden at McGill Elementary school.
 What is Tomatosphere?
-Tomatosphere is an award winning program that has engaged more than three million
students since its inception in 2001.
-Each year, over 15,000 Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms across Canada use
Tomatosphere as a way to investigate the effects of space on food to support human space
travel.
-The results from Tomatosphere help Canadian scientists understand some of the issues
related to long-term space exploration.
Our Goal
Usually this is a classroom-based project, but our plan is to introduce this as a school wide project.

Our vision is to open The McGill Tomato Garden and plant the tomato seeds provided by
Tomatosphere and then have the students learn in science class about the growth of a plant.

Tomatosphere has created a curriculum for all grades from Cycle 1 to Secondary school science.
Our aim in broadening this to a school project is to have teachers expand on the basic
Tomatosphere Seed Investigation by connecting it to studies of plants, space, nutrition, math, and
the environment, depending on grade and curriculum.

We then hope partner up with a local culinary school (cole des mtiers de la restauration et du
tourisme de Montral) and the Atwater Market. Students will be able to get exposed to community
involvement as well as take part in business practices.
 Why Tomatosphere?

Tomatosphere engages and inspires the young minds of our future

generation, while contributing to vital present-day research.
Focusing on the technical needs of exciting ventures like the space
program motivates young people to study science, technology,
engineering and math.
What will students get out of this?
Learning how to plant a seed

Learning where food comes from

How to maintain a garden, how physically tiring and time consuming it can be

What it takes to keep something alive, nurturing a life

Students will learn about the scientific method

Students will learn about a control group (Space effect on seeds)

Responsibility (care for the garden)

Community involvement

Cultivation practices

Winter and fall gardening

Cooking practices

Selling and basic business practices

Pre-Departure Meeting #1
A meeting with all the staff and administrators on Ped Day (January 24, 2017)

1) Objectives

-) To explain the project

) the plan, purpose, experiments, budget, goals for specific cycles, benefits, whats
after the project, etc.

-) To discuss

) any potential activities, parents roles as volunteers, QEP competencies

-) To seek for any advice or suggestions

 A staff meeting on Ped Day (Jan. 24,
2017)
Means

1) Presentation through PowerPoint slides

-) To show the Tomatosphere website

-) To brainstorm and write down the ideas on a board

1) Potluck

-) To share each other suggestions, advice, etc.

-) To further build cooperative spirit among teachers

A staff meeting on Ped Day (Jan. 24, 2017)
Evaluation (Was the meeting successful?)

- Feedback form handed out in the beginning of the presentation

the form has enough space for teachers to write down their ideas and comments
- Oral conversations shared during potluck
- Question time after the presentation

Budget
- Teachers bringing food: $0
- Extra food & drinks: $100
- Table setting: $80 (estimate)
Pre-Departure Meeting #2
A meeting with the parents and members of the community (Feb. 1, 2017)

1) Objectives

-) To inform parents about the project

-) the purpose, who are going, where, what students will be doing, objectives,
benefits, activities before, during, and after the project

-) To present specific objectives for specific cycles

-) To ask the parents if they want to volunteer

-) To change any plans in light of parents suggestions

A parent meeting (Feb. 1, 2017)
Means

1) Presentation

-) To show the Tomatosphere website

-) To provide the Tomatosphere brochure
-) To provide the printouts of template that summarize the general information
-) Question period at the end of the presentation
1) Wine & cheese

-) To individually converse with the parents after the presentation

-) Wine and cheese will be served during the whole presentation

A parent meeting (Feb. 1, 2017)
Evaluation (Was the meeting successful?)

1) Feedback form (this will be served as an exit ticket to the door)

-) The feedback form will be attached to the template

-) On the form, parents can sign up for volunteers and share their willingness to allow
their children to participate in the project on scale of 1 to 5

Budget
-) Wine boxes: $26.99 x 20 = $539.80 (estimate)
-) Cheese: $3.99 x 30 = $119.70 (estimate)
-) Extra food and drinks = $40
-) Table setting = $200 (estimate)
Visit # 1: Northview Heights Secondary
School
Northview Heights Secondary
School in North York, Ontario
has successfully used Tomato
Sphere seeds to create a
project in their school
comparing the growth rates of
space tomato seeds vs earth
tomato seeds. (Rushowy 2014,
Toronto Star)
 Objectives for our visit to Northview
Heights
Objectives:

-To see the Tomatosphere project in action in a real school

-Gain insight on how supportive the Tomatosphere organization was in terms of additional support

-To see the logistics involved in maintaining the garden and the costs associated

-To see how the school incorporated the Tomatosphere project into different cross-curricular subjects

-To gain feedback from community members, staff, students about their experience launching the Tomatosphere
project

-Learn about the science experience conducted at Northview Heights Secondary School comparing growth rates
between Tomato Sphere seeds and regular earth tomato seeds.
Means to meet our objectives

-Meet with the staff and community members involved to find out the cost of maintenance
and the amount of volunteers required to successfully run this program

-Meet with the stakeholders of this project and discuss about unforeseen obstacles they
faced through their process

-Meet with the Science teaching staff to gain insight on lesson planning and experiments
that can be conducted in conjunction with Tomato Sphere

-Meet with different volunteer organizations of the community that are helping with the
project
Evaluation
-The teachers visiting Northview Heights Secondary School will be responsible for
documenting salient points about meetings and workshops they will attend.

-There will be feedback forms handed to staff members and community representatives to
gain feedback on how what they did well and what they would change about their
implementation of tomato sphere.

-Cost analysis forms will be filled out in conjunction with the members involved in
Tomato Sphere to obtain a yearly estimate cost for the project.

-Obtain sample lesson plans from staff members about Tomato Sphere based lessons
Cost of Visit #1

2 teachers travelling to North York, Ontario for a total of 3 days

3 days of substitution: 200$ x 2 teachers x 3 days = 1200$

Cost of rental car service: 100$ per day x 3 days = 300$

Cost of gas: 150$ round trip = 150$

Cost of one hotel room: 150$ X 2 nights = 300$

Cost of food per day: 40$ per teacher per day = 40$ x 2 x 3 = 240$

Total cost of the trip: 2140$

Visit #2: University of Guelph

The Tomatosphere Project was created by U of G environmental

sciences professor Mike Dixon and former Canadian Space Agency
astronaut Robert Thirsk. We will visit Professor Dixons lab, and speak
with both him and Glenda Casimir from Lets Talk Science, another
organization which sponsors the Tomatosphere Project.
Objectives for our visit to University of
Guelph
To establish contacts with the U of G Tomatosphere team & Lets Talk
Science for future reference purposes.

To discuss optimal implementation strategies for the Tomatosphere

Project.

To get insider details regarding the Tomatosphere program.

To discuss our plans for expanding the program within our school.
Means to meet our objectives
First-hand observation of Tomatosphere Laboratory at the University
of Guelph

Meetings with Professor Mike Dixon and Glenda Casimir

Evaluation
lunchtime meeting with staff participants upon return to school
debriefing regarding details gathered during Guelph visit
Costs of Visit #2
Travel Via Rail $407.42 (tax incl)
2 adults
return trip

Hotel Days Inn $391.84

2 rooms
2 nights

Taxi $100 (estimate)

Per Diem $40/day $240

3 days x 2
people

Substitute Teachers 3 days x 2 $1200

teachers

Total $2239.26
 Visit #3
cole des mtiers de la restauration et du tourisme de Montral and
Atwater Market

Two teachers will take one day to visit cole des mtiers de la restauration et du tourisme de Montral and the
Atwater Market to seek potential future partnership
Objectives for Visit #3

-To seek future partnership with local companies

-To help establish the costs of renting a kitchen and assistance for the
creation of the Red Planet Sauce

-To establish connections with local companies to gauge their

willingness to volunteer for Tomato Sphere

-Get estimates for opening a booth at the Atwater market to sell our
sauce
Means for Visit #3

-Visiting the facility and meeting the kitchen staff at the culinary school.

-Speak with the kitchen staff and receive estimates for the use of their
kitchen

-Speaking with representatives at the Atwater market to get estimates

on running a booth for our sauce
Evaluation for Visit #3
-Bringing a budget sheet for each location and marking down all costs
associated with renting the booth and the kitchen help with the future
planning of this project
Cost for Visit #3
1 days of substitution: 200$ x 2 teachers x 1 day = 400$

Cost of travel using metro/taxi = 40$

Food cost: 30 per teacher = 60$

Total cost of trip= 500$

Spaghetti Dinner Objectives
The objectives of the spaghetti dinner are to:
Invite all the parents and students to gather more information about Tomatosphere
who have not previously had the chance.
Restate the goals of Tomatosphere to the school community.
Introduce the idea that the spaghetti dinners could be used as fundraiser in the future
for Tomatosphere by making spaghetti sauce out of the Tomatoes.
Allow another opportunity for parents to offer support/assistance.
Spaghetti Dinner
Means:
The purpose of this spaghetti dinner is to invite the parents, and students, to an evening
to introduce them to the new school initiative for the following year. The guests will
have the chance to enjoy a free spaghetti dinner, followed by a short information session
to introduce Tomatosphere, where the students who come to the event can either play
outside or attend the information session.

Evaluation of night:
The parents will then have time to ask any further questions.
The parents will be asked to fill in a feedback form,
allowing them to sign up to assist in anyway they are interested.

Total Cost: 368.90$

Thank You!