Making the jump from problem to conclusion when carrying out an experiment can be a quantum leap for some students. The lack of focus and the tendency to get things turned around often results in writing a conclusion that causes teachers to cry.
Formalized hypotheses are the link to logical conclusions.
Let's see how and why this works. The observation of wilted flowers and limp salad provide us with a possible clue. Most of us have noticed that if you don't water your yard the herbs wilt and if you soak cut carrots and celery before they are served, they are firm and crisp. In this lab, we use pieces of potato cut to uniform size which are measured for mass and length before and after treatment. To induce the movement of water into or out of the cells, the potato pieces are placed into hypertonic or hypotonic solutions of sucrose.