An interdisciplinary, semester-long project is presented in which students grow Cucumis sativus (cucumber) plants from seeds and study the ability of the plants to remediate a heavy metal from contaminated soil or water or both. Phytoremediation strategies for environmental cleanup are presented as possible alternatives to chemical based clean-up methods. The project is presented to the students as a general topic, and the students or instructor can choose which experimental variables to study. The results of the projects presented here focused on the remediation of Cr(III) from aqueous media and Cr(II), Cr(III), and Cr(VI) from contaminated soil. This project introduces students to the concepts of phytoremediation, the use of atomic absorption spectroscopy for the analysis of metals ions, and research methodology. (Contains 3 tables.)