module 2: plants - scitrek...lamp) 18. light bulbs (60 w equivalent incandescent (750 lumen) light...

Last Updated 7/28/2014

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Module 2: Plants 2nd Grade

Activity Schedule: There are no scheduling restrictions for this activity.

Day 1: Observation Assessment/Observation Activity/Observations/Question (60 minutes) Day 2: Technique/Experimental Set-up/Procedure/Experiment (60 minutes) Day 3: Experiment/Graph (60 minutes) Day 4: Poster Making (40 minutes) Day 5: Poster Presentations (40 minutes) Day 6: Observation Assessment/Tie to Standards/Content Assessment (60 minutes) *Student Groups: This module will be performed in four groups of approximately 5 students.

NGSS Standard Addressed:

2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Common Core Mathematics Standards:

2.MD-4 Measurement and Data (Measure to determine how much longer one object is than another, expressing the length difference in terms of a standard length unit.) 2.MD-9 Measurement and Data (Generate measurement data by measuring lengths of several objects to the nearest whole unit, or by making repeated measurements of the same object. Show the measurements by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in whole-number units.)

2.MD-10 Measurement and Data (Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.)

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will be able to list at least three variables that affect plant growth. 2. Students will know how to use a ruler to measure an object as well as draw a line of a given length. 3. Students will be able to graph and interpret data. 4. Students will be able to list at least three observations about a given system, and identify statements that

are not observations. 5. Students will be able to list at least two ways that they behaved like scientists.


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Classroom Teacher Responsibilities:

In order for SciTrek to be a sustainable program SciTrek needs to work with teachers to develop their abilities to run student-centered inquiry-based science lessons in their own classroom. As teachers take over the role as the SciTrek lead it will allow SciTrek to be able to expand to additional classrooms. Even when teachers lead modules in their own classroom, SciTrek will continue to provide volunteers and all of the materials needed to run the module. A sample time line for teachers to take over the role as the SciTrek lead is seen below.

1. Module 1 (year 1) a. Classroom Teacher Co-Runs a Group

i. Classroom teacher will co-run a group with a SciTrek volunteer. Groups contain ~5 students.

2. Module 2 (year 1) a. Classroom Teacher Runs a Group

i. Classroom teacher will run a group. Groups ~5 students. 3. Module 3 (year 2)

a. Classroom Teacher Runs a Group and Starts Leading Class Discussions i. Classroom teacher will run a group. Group contains ~5 students.

ii. Classroom teacher will start leading parts of group discussions (example: observation activity, tie to standards, etc.).

4. Module 4 (year 2) a. Classroom Teacher Leads the Class with Co-Lead Volunteer

i. Classroom teacher will be responsible for leading whole class discussions (example: observation activity, tie to standards, etc.).

ii. Classroom teacher will be responsible for time management iii. Classroom teacher will be responsible for overseeing volunteers and helping

any groups that are struggling. 5. Any Additional Modules (year 3 and beyond)

a. Classroom Teacher Leads the Class i. Classroom teacher will be responsible for leading whole class discussions

(example: observation activity, tie to standards, etc.). ii. Classroom teacher will be responsible for time management.

iii. Classroom teacher will be responsible for overseeing volunteers and helping any groups that are struggling.

iv. It is very important for the classroom teacher to contact [email protected] if they will be unable to run the module on a specific day.

The SciTrek staff will be counting on teacher involvement after year one. Additional steps can be taken to become a SciTrek lead faster than the proposed schedule above. Please contact [email protected] to learn more. In addition, teachers are required to come to UCSB for the volunteer orientation, typically ran ~1 week prior to the start of the module (contact [email protected] for exact times and dates, or see our website at http://web.chem.ucsb.edu/~scitrek/Module_Times.html under your class’s modules times). At the orientation teachers will meet the volunteers that will be helping in their classroom, go over module content, and learn their responsibilities during the module.

mailto:[email protected]



http://web.chem.ucsb.edu/~scitrek/Module_Times.html


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Prior to the Module (at least 1 week):

1. Come to the SciTrek Orientation at UCSB. 2. If you are interested in changing the groups that your students were in for the first module, send

the new groups to [email protected] one week before the start of the modules so that we can have nametags/notebooks made for your students. When making groups divide the class into four groups (~5 students each). We find these groups work best when they are mixed levels and mixed language abilities.

During the Module:

Day 1-4: Have the students’ desks/tables moved into 4 groups and cleared off. This way each student can have a desk to sit at during SciTrek activities.

Day 2-3: Have a spot in your classroom where 12 lights can be plugged in (4 plugs) and placed on top of ~12 Xerox boxes. These lamps need to be kept on until the next SciTrek meeting.

Day 5 and 6: Have the students desks/tables cleared off. The desks/tables do not need to be moved into groups.

Days 1, 2 and 6: If possible have a document camera available for the SciTrek lead.

Materials Used for this Module:

1. Wisconsin Fast Plants 200 seeds per pack (Amazon) 2. 9 oz Clear plastic cups (Smart and Final) with 0.5 inch hole drilled in the center of the bottom 3. 20 oz Clear plastic cups (Smart and Final) 4. 3 oz cups any material (grocery store) 5. Multipurpose terry towel 14 in × 17 in (Home Depot) cut into 5 cm × 15 cm pieces 6. Miracle Gro Potting Mix (Home Depot) 7. Vermiculite (Home Depot) 8. Play sand (Home Depot) 9. Aquarium rocks (Petco) 10. Water 11. Saturated sugar solution (boil water and then add in as much sugar as you can get to dissolve in the

solution about 190 g of sugar for every 100 ml) 12. Saturated salt solution (boil water and then add in as much salt as you can get to dissolve in the

solution about 36 g of salt for every 100 ml) 13. Fertilizer liquid (Boreal Science part number: 8202104) 14. Nalgene graduated cylinders 100 ml (Fisher part number: 08-572D) 15. Disposable pipets (droppers) (Fisher Part Number: 13-711-7M)

16. Ruler wood 12 in/30 cm (Westcott part number: 10375001, Office Max part number: 21325086) 17. Gooseneck desk lamps (with adjustable heads) (Target part number: Room Essentials Gooseneck Desk

Lamp) 18. Light bulbs (60 W equivalent incandescent (750 lumen) light bulbs) (Home Depot) Make sure that you

use incandescent light bulbs because the seeds will not grow as well if you use a different light bulb 19. Extension Cord



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20. Boxes for different amounts of light and color of light were hand made by taking a Xerox box and cutting an 11.5 cm diameter hole. The boxes used for different colored light were made by taping a 13 cm x 14 cm or color filter over the hole (Sammy’s Camera part number: red (Lee Filters 026 (SO26)), orange (Lee Filters 105 (S105)), yellow (Lee Filters 101 (S101)), green (Lee Filters 139 (S139), blue (Lee Filters 075 (S075)), purple (Lee Filters 170 (S170)). The 750 lumen incandescent bulbs are set onto of the box and the light goes through the filter. The boxes used for the different amount of light were made by taping on a 13 cm x 14 cm polarizing filter over the hole (Education Innovations part number: PF-12). 750 lumen incandescent bulbs are then project though: one filter, two filters that are aligned, two filters that are 45° to each other, and two filters that are 90° to each other. All filters are taped to the top of the box so that they will not move. Another Xerox box is available with no holes to provide a dark environment. A picture of one of the boxes is seen below.

*All printed materials used by SciTrek (nametags, materials pages, poster parts, students notebook, or instructions) can be made available for use and/or edition by emailing [email protected].

Module Notes: ~7 days prior to the module:

Plant the seeds for the original observation ~7 days before the first day of the module. Take 12 small cups (9 oz) with 0.5 inch hole in the in the center and insert a 15 cm × 5 cm piece of towel through the hole, so that there is ~4 cm sticking into the small cup and ~11 cm hanging out. Place the small cups into larger cups (20 oz). Fill each small cup with ~6 oz of soil (4 cups of each of the following: a) potting soil, b) vermiculite, and c) aquarium rocks). Put 2 seeds, no more than 0.5 cm below the soil, in each of the small cups and pour 200 ml water over them. Place the cups under constant light until the start of the module. On the day of the module if both seeds have sprouted remove one sprout so that there is only one plant per cup.

3 days prior to day 2 of the module:

Use the same set-up as above to make cups with potting soil or vermiculite as the soil type. Make 10% more cups than needed of each of the two soil types in case some seeds do not sprout. Put 2 seeds in each of the cups and pour 200 ml of water over them. Place the plants under light. Before taking the plants to the classroom remove the excess water in the large cup. If both seeds sprouted remove one sprout so that there is only one plant per cup.



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Day 1: Observation Assessment/Observation Activity/Observations/Question Schedule:

Introduction (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes Observation Assessment (SciTrek Leader) – 5 minutes Observation Activity (SciTrek Leader) – 12 minutes Observations (SciTrek Volunteers) – 20 minutes Question Discussion (SciTrek Leader) – 3 minutes Question (SciTrek Volunteers) – 15 minutes

Wrap-Up (SciTrek Leader) – 3 minutes Materials:

(4) Volunteer Boxes: ☐ Student nametags ☐ (7) Student notebooks ☐ Volunteer instructions

☐ Volunteer lab coat ☐ (2) Markers ☐ Paper towels

☐ (6) 100 ml Graduated cylinders

☐ (3) 20 oz Cup unmarked ☐ Pipette

☐ Materials page for each of the 4 variable

☐ Scotch tape ☐ (7) Mechanical pencils

Other Supplies:

☐ (4) Large group notepads ☐ (4) Trays ☐ Lamp with 750 lumen incandescent light bulb

☐ (4) Just made cup set-up with potting soil (labelled A)

☐ (4) Just made cup set-up with vermiculite (labelled B)

☐ (4) Just made cup set-up with rocks (labelled C)

☐ (4) 7 Days old cup set-up with potting soil (labelled 1)

☐ (4) 7 Days old cup set-up with vermiculite (labelled 2)

☐ (4) 7 Days old cup set-up with rocks (labelled 3)

Lead Box:

☐ (5) Blank nametags ☐ (3) Extra student notebooks ☐ Lead instructions ☐ Lead lab coat ☐ (4) Markers (red, green, blue,

orange) ☐ Paper towels


☐ 20 oz Cup unmarked ☐ Pipette

☐ Materials page for each of the 4 varaibles

☐ Scotch tape ☐ Water (at least 200 ml)

☐ 9 oz Cup with hole in bottom ☐ Cloth strip ☐ (2) 3 oz Blue cups

☐ Vermiculite ☐ (2)Pencils ☐ (25) Cotton balls

☐ (25) Observation assessments ☐ Time card


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SciTrek Notebook Pages Used with Students:

Group Notepad Pages Used With Students:


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Set-Up:

SciTrek Leader: Fill two 100 ml graduated cylinders with 100 ml of water each. Fill two 3 oz cups completely full of vermiculite. Plug in the lamp. Set out materials for experimental set-up demonstration ((2) 3 oz cups of vermiculite, (2) 100 ml gradated cylinders with 100 ml of water, large cup, small cup with holes, ruler, and cloth strip). If the classroom has a document camera, ask the teacher to use it for the observation activity (page 2). If the classroom does not have a document camera, then tape the example poster size notebook page to the front board.

SciTrek Volunteer: Put your name, the teachers’ name, and your group color on the top of your group notepad. As students are taking the observation assessment walk around the room and quietly place the students’ nametags, which are in your group box, on each students’ desk. Get three plants (one of each: 1) soil, 2) vermiculite, 3) rocks) that are 7 days old. Get three plants (one of each: A) soil, B) vermiculite C) rocks) that were just made. Set all plants on a tray as well as 6 graduated cylinders and 3 empty 20 oz cups. Your table will look like the set-up seen below:


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Introduction (2 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

“Hi, we are scientists from UCSB and we want to show you what we do as scientists. We will show you an experiment and then you can make observations, and then design your own experiments to help answer the class question. We want to show you that you can do science and that it’s fun.” If you are a teacher that is leading the class: tell your class that they are going to start a long-term science investigation and you have asked some scientists from UCSB to come and help. Allow the UCSB volunteers to introduce themselves and share their majors. Tell the class that for this module we are going to work together to try to answer the question: “What factors affect plant growth?”

Observation Assessment (5 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

As the students are taking the assessment the volunteers should get the student nametags out of their group boxes and walk around the room looking for their students. Quietly lay each student’s nametag on their desk. If students do not have their name on their paper remind them to put their name on their paper.

“Before we start with our module we want to see how your ideas on observations are developing.” Pass-out the observation assessment and a cotton ball to each student. Tell students to fill out their name, teacher’s name, and date at the top of the assessment. Remind the students that it is important that they fill out this assessment on their own. Read the instructions to the students. Then read each of the observations aloud to the students and tell the students to circle “observation” for statements that are observations or “not an observation” for statements that are incorrect observations or statements that cannot be observations. When they are finished, collect the papers and verify that the student’s name is on the top of the paper. In addition, collect all of the cotton balls from the students.


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Observation Activity (12 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

As the lead is going over types of observations with the students the volunteers should get the student notebooks out of their group boxes and walk around the room and quietly place a notebook and a mechanical pencil on each student’s desk.

Tell the students that scientists make lots of observations. Ask the class, “What is an observation? What are the types of things that you can record for an observation?” If they have trouble, show them an object and let them make observations about the object. Turn these observations into general features of observations. Examples of possible general observations are: color, texture, size, weight, temperature, material, etc. Ask the class if there are statements that are not observations. Students should be able to come up with opinions and inferences. Have students give you examples of statements that are opinions (example: chocolate chip cookies taste better than ice cream) and inferences (example: the white lab coats are bought from K-Mart). If they are unable to come up with these categories (opinion and inference) or cannot give you an example, give them an example statement (colored pens are fun) and then have them identify the type of statement (opinion) as well as come up with another example.

Tell the class that they are now going to do an activity where they look at a list of possible observations about the object that was just put on their desk (mechanical pencil). They will then decide if each statement is an observation or not an observation that can be made about the object.

Tell students to fill in their name and their teachers’ name on the front cover of their SciTrek notebook that the SciTrek volunteers passed out during the observation discussion. Note: they will not be able to fill in their SciTrek volunteer’s name or their group color until they get in their SciTrek groups. Then tell students to turn to page 2 of their notebooks and place a blank notebook under the document camera and turn to page 2. Read the directions aloud to the class. Have students work on the activity by themselves circling what they think are the correct observations that can be made about the mechanical pencil. After everyone has had a chance to work through the activity (~3 minutes) go over the answers as a class. Tell the students that we are now going to go over each answer and that they shouldn’t erase their answers. Instead, tell the students to box the correct answers so that they will have an idea of the concepts/categories they are struggling with. Have the students share what they think is the correct answer and why. Then have the class vote using thumbs up/thumbs down if they agree/disagree with what the student said. After the class has come to agreement, mark the correct answer on the example notebook for students to copy.


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Below are the answers to a-f on page 2 in detail Letter a: The object is smaller than a jump rope. Observation (Comparison)

This is an observation because the statement compares the size of the object to the size of a jump rope. Since a jump rope is larger than the mechanical pencil the statement is an observation. Note: if the statement had said, “the object is small” then this would not have been an observation because a scientist would not know what is meant by “small.” Example: the object is large compared to a grain of rice but small compared to a house.

Letter b: The object is made out of metal. Not an Observation (False)

While the materials objects are made of can be observations, in this case the object is not made out of metal, instead the object is made out of plastic. Therefore, this is a false observation made about the object. Students can tell this by seeing and feeling the object.

Letter c: The object is thicker than a broom handle. Not an Observation (False-Comparison)

The object is thinner than a broom handle, not thicker. Therefore, this is a false comparison. Note: if the statement had said, “the object is thin” the statement would still not be a correct observation because a scientist would not know what is meant by “thin.” Example: the object is thin compared to a broom handle but thick compared to a strand of hair.


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Letter d: The object is cool. Not an Observation (Opinion)

Some people might think that mechanical pencils are cool but others might think that they are not cool. Therefore, this is an opinion. Opinions cannot be observations.

Letter e: The object has a pointed end. Observation

This is an observation because students can observe with their sense of sight, that one end of the mechanical pencil (the end of the pencil where lead comes out) is pointed. Students can also observe that there is a pointed end with their sense of touch by feeling both ends of the mechanical pencil.

Letter f: The object can be twisted at one end. Observation (Test)

If students try to twist the object at the pointed end they will see that that it can be twisted, making this statement an observation. Note: if students do not twist the pointed end then the statement is an inference instead of an observation. Make sure that all students twist the end of the object making this statement an observation.

Letter g: The object has been used to write many words.

Not an Observation (Inference) This is not an observation because students do not know what for or if the object was used before they received it. Since many pencils are used for writing this is considered to be an inference or something that you think might be true based on past experiences. Inferences cannot be observations. Note: this statement is different from “the object is smaller than a jump rope” because although students do not have a jump rope in front of them, jump ropes are all similar in size, therefore, students should know that the object is smaller than a jump rope. However, the statement, the object has been used to write many papers, is an inference because not all pencils are used to write many papers, therefore, this may or may not be true.

Once students have completed the observation activity see if they can give you one or two more observations about the object. While students are giving other observations the volunteers should walk around and collect the mechanical pencils from students and put them back in their group boxes.

Tell students we will now use the skills that we learned to make observations in our module. Tell students that for this module they will be investigating “What factors affect plant growth?” Ask students if they know any factors that they think will affect plant growth. Possible answers: light amount, water amount, soil type, etc. Make sure that in your discussion students come up with soil type as one of the factors. Tell the class that they will first explore how soil type affects plant growth. Tell the students to find out how the soil type affects plant growth, you planted seeds in three different soil types (potting soil, vermiculite, and rocks) 7 days ago, and you are now going to show students how you planted the seeds. Take out the large (20 oz) and small (9 oz) cups. Feed the towel (5 cm X 15 cm) through the hole in the bottom of the small cup, so that there is ~4 cm of towel sticking into the small cup and ~11 cm of towel hanging out. Get out the vermiculite and walk around the class showing it to the students. Tell the students that this is a special type of soil called vermiculite that they will be working with during the observations today. Have them say the word vermiculite with you so that they remember the word. Pour two 3 oz cups of vermiculite into the small cup. Place a seed into the cup of vermiculite.


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Put the small cup into the large cup. Have a student tell you the amount of water in each of the graduated cylinders (100 ml each) and then pour the 200 ml of water through the cups. Place the cup under the lamp and turn the light on. Tell the students that they are now going to get into their groups and tell their volunteer observations about what you just showed them. Tell students that they will first make observations about the experimental set-up, followed by the seeds that were just planted this morning (lettered cups), and then they will finish by making observations about the plants that are 7 days old (numbered cups). In addition, the group that generates the most observations will get a prize during the next session. Remind students that it is important to only come up with observations and not inferences/opinions because only observations will be counted. Tell students to look at their nametag color to determine their group and then tell them where each group will be sitting. Inform students that they should bring their notebook and a pencil when they go to their group. If a student does not have a nametag write the student’s name on one of the extra nametags that are in the lead box using the color of marker of the group that you are going to have them join.

Observations (20 minutes –Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Once students come over to your group have them sit in boy-girl fashion. Make sure the table is set-up as described in the set-up section. Have students fill in your name and the group color on the front of their SciTrek notebook. As a group, have the students come up with observations about the experimental set-up that was just shown to them. As the students make observations record them in the group notepad. Students do not need to record any observations into their own notebooks. An example group notepad is seen below. Feel free to deviate from the example.


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Once students have exhausted these observations bring out the lettered cups that were just made this morning. Have students come up with observations about the contents of each cup and record these on the group notepad. Students can measure the amounts of water in the large cups using graduated cylinders. When measuring the amount of water transfer the small cup with the dirt into one of the extra, large cups (20 oz) that is in your group box. The water in the bottom of the large cup will be more than 100 ml. Therefore, have the students pour about half the water into one graduated cylinder and the other half into an additional graduated cylinder. The students can then read the water amount of both graduated cylinders and as a group you can add the two numbers to find the total amount of water in the large cup. Do not have students pour the water into the graduated cylinder until it reaches 100 ml because this will take too long and students will not get as much practice with addition. Divide the group into three parts and give each of the three small groups one of the cups to measure the water from. Have all groups measure the amount of water at the same time. In the other observation section, record comparisons between the three cups or other general observations of the set-up. During this time discuss with your group which soil type absorbed the most water (vermiculite) and which soil type absorbed the least water (rocks). Ask students if they are surprised by these results. Note: students have already completed a module on soil water retention earlier in the year so they should be able to relate the previous module about how different soil types absorb different amounts of water to the current module. An example of the group notepad is seen below; feel free to deviate from the example.

After your group has made observations of the lettered cups, have the students make observations of the cups that were planted seven days ago, which are labeled by numbers. Repeat the process by recording the contents of each cup and then general observations under the other observations heading. Do not have the students measure the amount of water in the numbered cups. However, have the students compare the relative amounts of water in each of the cups and talk again about the amount of water that each soil type has absorbed.


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At the end of the observation section each group is going to be asked to share one of their observations. Pick one student that will share an observation with the rest of the class.

Question Discussion (3 minutes – Full Class– SciTrek Leader):

Have each group share one of their observations with the rest of the class. Review with the class how the plants changed over time. Ask the students if soil type affects plant growth and what evidence do they have to support this? The students should reply that soil type affects plant growth because they observed the plants in the different soil types to be different heights. Ask students if they wanted to grow the tallest plant, what type of soil they would use. Students should tell you that they would want to use potting soil to get the tallest plant. Ask students if they think that plants would grow well if they replaced the dirt in their garden with rocks and why do they think this. They should say that plants wouldn’t grow well if their garden soil was replaced by rock because rocks do not absorb water. Therefore, their plants would not get any water and die. Tell students that we have now learned that soil type affects plant growth and in order to get plants to grow we need a soil that retains/absorbs water.

Tell students that they will now get to pick another factor that might affect plant growth to investigate within their group. The factors that they will get to pick from are some of the factors that they suggested before. They can either pick to explore if water affects plant growth or if light affects plant growth. If they are interested in exploring how water affects plant growth they can manipulate either the liquid amount or the nutrients amount added to the water. If they are interested in exploring how light affects plant growth they can manipulate either the light color or the light amount that each plant is exposed to. Tell students they will now vote in their groups about what they want to investigate. They will then generate a question around their selected changing variable.


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Question (15 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Have students get back into their small groups and turn to page 3 of their notebooks. As a group, have students vote if they are interested in investigating how the water or the light affects plant growth. If there is a tie, then the volunteer will make the deciding vote. Volunteers should pick a factor that is not being investigated by other groups. Once they have decided on which factor they will investigate have them circle it in their notebooks. Then have them decide what their changing variable will be. If they decide to investigate a water factor have them choose if their changing variable will be the liquid amount or the nutrient amount. If they decide to investigate a light factor have them choose if their changing variable will be the light amount or the light color. All experiments will measure the change in plant height. After they have decided on which changing variable they will explore, have the students come up with their question they will investigate. Ask the students again what they are changing in their experiment. Have the students tell you their changing variable and then insert this variable into the blank in the question sentence frame. Then have students copy this into their notebooks. An example of the group notepad/student notebook for the question is seen below.

Once students have determined their changing variable, find the matching materials page from your box (examples seen below) and tape it into the group notepad. The materials page will help your group determine their controls and their specific values. Have the students help you fill out the entire materials page. Students will not fill in the experimental set-up page in their notebook until the next SciTrek meeting.


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Prepare one student to share the group question with the rest of the class during the wrap-up.

Wrap-Up (3 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

Have each group share the question that they are going to investigate with the rest of the class.

Tell the students that the next time SciTrek is there they will get to design a procedure based on their question and then start their experiments. Tell the students that all of the class experiments will help us be able to answer the question, what factors affect plant growth.

Clean-Up:

Before you leave have the students attach their nametag to their notebook and place them in the group box. Count the number of observations that your group generated (from pages 1-3 in the group notepad) and write it on the front page of your group notepad underneath the group color. Bring all materials back to UCSB. In addition, put your lab coat back into your group box.


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Day 2: Technique/Experimental Set-up/Procedure/Experiment Schedule: Introduction (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes Technique (SciTrek Leader) – 15 minutes

Experimental Set-Up (SciTrek Volunteers) – 5 minutes Procedure (SciTrek Volunteers) – 16 minutes

Experiment (SciTrek Volunteers) – 20 minutes Wrap-Up (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes

Materials:

(4) Volunteer Boxes:

☐ Student nametags ☐ Student notebooks ☐ Volunteer instructions

☐ Volunteer lab coat ☐ (2) Markers ☐ (2) Droppers


☐ Water (at least 500 ml) ☐ Paper towels

☐ Nutrient (if needed) ☐ (7) Rulers

Other Supplies:

☐ (4) Large group notepads ☐ Lamps with 750 lumen incandescent bulbs (1 lamp per light color and light amount box plus one extra for full light)

☐ Requested boxes to change light amount

☐ Requested boxes to change light color

☐ Requested number of plants in vermiculite labeled with group color and plant number

☐ Requested number of plants in potting soil labeled with group color and plant number

Lead Box:

☐ (5) Blank nametags ☐ (3) Extra student notebooks ☐ Lead instructions

☐ Lead lab coat ☐ (4) Markers (red, green, blue, orange)

☐ (4) Droppers

☐ (2) Pencils ☐ (4) 100 ml Graduated cylinders

☐ Water

☐ Liquid Fertilizer (full 8 oz bottle)

☐ Sugar solution (full 8 oz bottle)

☐ Salt solution (full 8 oz bottle)

☐ Masking tape ☐ Sharpie ☐ (6) Erasers for prizes

☐Time card


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SciTrek Notebook Pages Used With Students:


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Set-Up:

SciTrek Leader: Make sure that you have identified the group with the most observations so that you can give the prize (erasers) to that group. Set-up the light level boxes (levels 0-4), and light color boxes if needed, in ascending order with the light turned on sitting on top of the boxes with the front lids removed. Set up an additional lamp for level 5 lighting, note this will not be in a box. Do not plug extension cords into other extension cords. If the classroom has a document camera ask the teacher to use it for the technique discussion (pages 4 and 5). If the classroom does not have a document camera, then tape the example poster size notebook pages to the front board.

SciTrek Volunteer:

Quietly pass out notebooks/nametags and rulers to students in their regular seats while the SciTrek leader is going over the technique instructions. The first part of the activity will be done in their regular classroom seats, after students will break up into their groups. Get your groups plants and set them aside to use when students are ready to start their experiments.


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As the lead is going over the introduction the volunteers should get the student notebooks/nametags out of their group boxes and walk around the room and quietly placing them on each student’s desk along with a ruler. Note students will be sitting in their regular classroom seats for the technique discussion after which they will move to their SciTrek groups.

Announce which group had the most observations from the previous session and distribute prizes (erasers) to that group.

Ask the class what is the class question that we are investigating? The students should reply: what factors affect plant growth? Ask students what they did the last SciTrek meeting. They should reply that they made observations about plants that were just planted, and plants that were 7 days old. In addition, students should say that they came up with a question that they are going to design an experiment around. Remind students that each group’s research is going to help answer the large class question of what variables affect plant growth. Ask the class, how will we tell if a factor affects plant growth? How did we know that potting soil was a better soil to grow plants in than rocks? They should reply that they will look at the height of the plants to be able to tell how different soils affected plant growth. Tell students “one way that we can be more precise about the height of the plant is to use a ruler to measure the plant. We will now practice using rulers before you start planning and carrying out your experiment.”

Technique (15 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

Make sure that each student has a ruler and has their notebook turned to page 4. Place an example notebook under the document camera and turn to page 4. Tell the class that rulers can be used to measure lengths, widths, or heights of objects. Ask the students, “does anyone know what units the ruler measures in?” (inches and centimeters/millimeters). Show the students which side of the ruler corresponds to inches and which side of the ruler corresponds to millimeters. Tell students that when scientists make measurements they use the metric system. Therefore, we are going to measure the length and width of objects in millimeters, like other scientists. Ask students, what is the maximum measurement that they could make using this ruler? (300 mm)

Tell students how to use a ruler to measure an object. Tell students to measure the length of an object first line up the zero mark on the end of the ruler with the end of the object that you are interested in measuring. Then follow the ruler to the other end of the object and read the measurement to the nearest whole number. As a class complete example A together and confirm that the eraser is 70 mm long and 24 mm wide. Have the students complete B and C by themselves. As students are working, volunteers should be walking around the class and helping any students that are struggling. Make sure the students are making their measurements in mm.


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Once students have completed the measuring activity have them share their results with the class. After a student has shared their answer have the rest of the class vote if they think the answer is correct using thumbs up/thumbs down for agree/disagree. When a class consensus has been reached write the correct number on the notebook under the document camera.

Have the students turn to page 5 in their notebook. In addition, turn the example notebook to page 5. Tell the students that as scientists sometimes you may want to draw a line of a specific length so it is important for the lines you draw to be accurate. Explain to students that when they draw a line using a ruler, they must first draw a small dot at the place they would like the line to start. They will then place the 0 mm mark on the ruler at the dot they have drawn. They will follow the ruler to the length of the desired measurement and place a dot at that value. Without lifting the ruler, they will then draw a line to connect the two dots they have drawn. Remember to be careful not to draw the line farther than the dots on either side of the line. After going through the explanation, do example A with the students.

Have students complete B-D by themselves. As the students are working, volunteers should walk around and help students that are struggling. Make sure that students are drawing their lines using mm.

If there is extra time have students switch notebooks with the person sitting next to them and have each student check each other’s work. If the lines are correct (within 3 mm of the requested size) have the partner put a small check next to the line.


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Tell students “that now that they know how to use a ruler they are ready to get in their groups. The first thing that they will do with their group is explain the experiment to their group leader. They will then use this information to come up with an experimental set-up. This experimental set-up will help them with their procedure. When designing a procedure they will start by getting plants that are 3 day-old plants from their group leader. Once their procedure and results table are filled out they will get to start their experiment.” Tell students they should take their notebook and a pencil and get into their groups.

Experimental Set-Up (5 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Once the students get to your group have them sit in boy/girl fashion. Have them explain to you what they decided to do last time for their experiment. If the group has problems show them the group notepad to refresh their memory. Have students turn to page 6 of their notebooks and turn to the experimental set-up page of the group notepad. Ask what the group decided to have for their changing variable. Record the changing variable into the group notepad and have students copy this response into their notebooks. After students have filled out their changing variable have students reiterate the controls of their experiment and record these in the group notepad making sure to write the variable and the value that they will use, for example: soil type/potting soil. Try to come up with at least one control that is not on the materials page: example soil amount/2 blue cups, wick material/white towel, number of plants/1, etc. If your group is struggling to remember the controls from the previous time then turn the group notepad back to page 4. An example of the experimental set-up can be seen below.


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Procedure (16 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Once their experimental set-up is complete have the group generate a step-by-step procedure of how to answer their question and conduct their experiment. The first step of the procedure should be: get 5 plants in (potting soil or vermiculite) that are three days old. It is helpful to have the students dictate the procedure to you while you copy it on the group notepad. Once the procedure is complete have the students copy it from the group notepad into their notebooks. Try to keep the procedure as short as possible while still including the important information. Make sure to record all of the values for the changing variable in the procedure. Example procedure step for a groups who has a changing variable of light amount: put the plants in A) level 5 (full), B) level 4, C) level 2, D) level 1 E) level 0 (no light). A sample of an appropriate procedure can be seen above.

Experiment (20 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Before bringing out the materials for students to work with have students fill out the variables in the results table on page 7. Have students record everything in the results table except the data (this will be recorded after the experiment) and the initial plant height (this will be recorded once you give them their plants). If a variable is constant then simply write the value in Trial A and draw a line through the remaining trials. For your changing variable record every value in each appropriate trial. An example results table can be seen below.


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Get the appropriate plants for your group’s experiment, these plants should already be labeled with your group’s color and trial letter on them. Give each student one of the plants and a ruler; this will be the plant that student is responsible for during the rest of the experiment. Help students measure the initial plant height in mm (of the plant that they are in charge of) and record this measurement in their notebook. In addition, record all of the initial plant heights on the group notepad. Students can then measure the appropriate amount of water using a graduated cylinder and a pipette and then pour the water over the top of their plant. If you group’s changing variable is nutrient amount help students add the appropriate amount of nutrients to the graduated cylinder and then use water to add to the nutrients in the graduated cylinder until you get to the appropriate liquid amount. (Example, if you would like a total liquid amount of 100 ml and Trial A to have 30 ml of nutrients then add 30 ml of nutrients to the graduated cylinder then add 70 ml of water to the graduated cylinder to get a total liquid amount of 100 ml.) After the height of the plant has been measured/recorded and the plants have the appropriate amount of liquid, have students put their plants under the correct lighting source.


Tell students that the next time SciTrek is here they will get to measure how tall their plants have grown and get to determine the change in plant height.

Clean-Up:

Before you leave have students attach their nametag to their notebook and place them in the group box. Leave all plants and lights in the class; make sure that all lights are left on. Bring all other materials back to UCSB. In addition, put your lab coat back into your group box.


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Day 3: Experiment/Graph

Schedule:

Introduction (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes Experiment (SciTrek Volunteers) – 30 minutes Graph (SciTrek Volunteers) – 25 minutes Wrap-Up (SciTrek Leaders) – 3 minutes

Materials:



☐ Volunteer lab coat ☐ (2) Markers ☐ (5) Rulers

☐ Paper towels ☐ Scotch tape ☐ (6) Graph parts

Other Supplies:

☐ (4) Large group notepads ☐ (3) Tubs to take plants back to UCSB in

Lead Box:

☐ (3) Extra student notebooks ☐ Lead instructions ☐ Lead lab coat

☐ (2) Markers ☐ (4) Rulers ☐ Paper towels

☐ Scotch tape ☐ (6) Graph parts ☐ Time Card SciTrek Notebook Pages Used with Students:


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Set-Up:

SciTrek Volunteer:

Set out the SciTrek notebooks/nametags around the table having students sit in boy/girl fashion.


Ask the class, “What have we been working on the last two meetings?” They should be able to tell you that they have been exploring plant growth and that they have found out that the soil type affects the plant height and that soil that can hold water is better for plant growth. They should also state they were starting to design an experiment to look at other variables or factors that might affect plant height. Have each group tell you the variable that they are going to investigate. Tell the class that today they are going to look at the growth of their plants and they will measure the plant height. Ask students, how they will determine how much their plant has grown since the start of their experiments? Students will say that you can subtract the initial height of the plant from the final height of the plant to see how much the plant has grown. They will then use this data to make a bar graph to see how their changing variable has affected plant growth.

Experiment (30 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Help your group get the plants from the appropriate light sources. Make sure that each student gets the plant that he/she was working with before. Then, help the students measure the height of the plant in mm. Have student’s record the final measurements in the results table on page 7. As students find the final height of the plant record these values into the group notepad for other students in the group to copy into their notebooks. Then ask students how they are going to be able to tell how much the plant has grown over the last couple of days. Students should tell you that you would need to subtract the two


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numbers from one another. Then have students determine the change in height of each of the plants by taking the final height of the plant and subtracting the initial height of the plant. Make sure when subtracting the two values to write out each step of the subtraction process (carry over the ten values). Also, have students record other observations about their plant such as the relative amount of liquid in each cups, color of leaves, number of leaves, etc. See example group notepad below.

Graph (25 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Once the results table has been completed, and each student has every trial filled out, pass out one partial graph piece to each student and have them fill out the piece for the plant that they oversaw. On the bottom line have students write the value of their changing variable, not the trial letter of their plant. This way when the pieces are rearranged they will be able to see the values for each of the trials. Have students draw a line showing the appropriate plant height as well as write the plant height over the line. Once each student has completed the graph piece for their plant, arrange the partial graphs so that they go either from shortest change in plant height to the tallest change in plant height, or tallest change in plant height to shortest change in plant height. Tape the partial graphs to the group notepad so that they look like a complete graph (see sample group notepad below). When taping the graph pieces to the group notepad make sure that each graph piece overlaps with the one next to it so that you only see the y-axis for the first graph.


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After the pieces of the graph are taped into the group notepad ask the students what was their changing variable. Record this answer for the x-axis title and have students copy this into their notebooks. Once all the students have completed their graph, as a group fill in the sentence frame “My experiment shows _______,” see sample above. Do not simply record that the graph shows the x value vs. the y value. Instead, make sure that students make a claim about the trend or pattern in their data and provide an explanation for their claim using the data. Since their graph pieces are in either ascending or descending order, they should be able to predict if a pattern or a trend exists and if so what it is. An appropriate claim could be: the more fertilizer you put in the water of the plant, the higher the plant grows. This is an appropriate claim because it allows the students to make a prediction about what would happen if new values of their changing variable were introduced. After generating a claim or a prediction about what the experiment shows, write the word “because” and follow it with supporting data or values from the graph (when 1 ml of fertilizer was added the plant grew 5 mm taller and when 5 ml of fertilizer was added the plant grew 25 mm taller). Help students copy this statement into their notebooks on page 8. Prepare one student to share this sentence frame with the rest of the class. Once students have filled out “My experiment shows _______” have each student individually fill in the sentence frame (page 9): “I acted like a scientist when _______.” This sentence frame should be unique for each of the students. If students are having trouble with this sentence frame ask them what they did during each SciTrek visit.


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Have each group present their sentence frame “My experiment shows___________” to the class. Tell the class that the next time we meet they will make a poster with their findings from their experiment to present to the class.

Clean-Up:

Before you leave have students attach their nametag to their notebook and place them in the group box. Take all plants, lights, and boxes back to UCSB. In addition, put your lab coat back into your group box.

Day 4: Poster Making Schedule: Introduction (SciTrek Leader) – 3 minutes Poster Making (SciTrek Volunteers) – 35 minutes Wrap-Up (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes

Materials:



☐ Volunteer lab coat ☐ (2) Markers ☐ Highlighter

☐ (2) Glues ☐ Scissors ☐ Poster diagram (full page)

☐ Sticker for how to present graph

☐ (2) Paperclips

Poster Parts:

☐ Scientists’ names ☐ Question ☐ Experimental set-up

☐ Procedure ☐ Results ☐ Bar graph

☐ (6) “ I acted like a scientist when _______”

☐ (6) Picture spaces

Other Supplies:

☐ (4) Large group notepads ☐ Large poster paper

Lead Box:


☐ (2) Markers ☐ (2) Highlighters ☐ (2) Glues

☐ Scissors ☐ Poster diagram (full page) ☐ Sticker for how to present graph

☐ (5) Paperclips ☐ Scotch Tape ☐ Time card


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Set-Up:

SciTrek Leader: Ask the classroom teacher for a place to leave the student posters in the classroom.

SciTrek Volunteer: Set out SciTrek notebooks/nametags around the table having students sit in boy/girl fashion. Have poster parts ready for students.


Ask the class, “What is the class question that we have been investigating?” Students should tell you “what factors affect plant growth?” Tell students that today they are going to be putting together a poster to present to the class for the next session, which tells the class what they have found out about this question. Tell them that they should write as neatly as possible on the poster parts so that the other class members can read their poster.

Tell the groups if they have not filled in the “I acted like a scientist when _______” sentence frame they should finish this before starting on their posters. In addition, tell students before they start their poster they should explain the experiment they did to their volunteer along with what they found out. Tell students that they should try to do this without looking at their notebooks. Tell students that it is now time to get into their groups.

Poster Making (35 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

If students have not finished “I acted like a scientist when_______” have then complete this before starting their poster. Have your students explain their experiment to you without looking at their notebooks as well as their findings. Try to make every student in the group tell you something about the experiment. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes. Assign each student a part of the poster to complete. If a student struggles with writing try to give them a shorter writing section to complete (example: question). If you have more students than there are poster pieces then cut the poster piece with the graph and “my experiment shows ____________” into two parts so that one student can complete/present the bar graph and another student can complete/present “my experiment shows ____________.” Have the students write their name on the sections that they complete. In the students’ notebook highlight the section that they will complete/present. Note: if students are completing multiple sections use the paperclips in your group box to clip together the sections that they are completing so that during the poster presentation day they will have an easier time flipping back and forth between pages. Place the following sentence frame sticker on the top of page 8 in the notebook of the student that is completing the graph. Changing Light Amount/Light Color


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The plant under ___________________________ grew_______________________ mm. Changing Water or Nutrient Amount

The plant with _____________ml of ____________________ grew_____________________ mm.

Then practice reading the five sentences with that student. For the poster below, the sentence frame would be: the plant under full light grew 40 mm. An example of a sentence frame for a group that changed the nutrient amount would be: the plant with 50 ml of salt water grew 0 mm. Make sure that you fill in the second blank of the changing water/nutrient sentence frame but leave the changing variable value and measurement blanks empty. When students finish writing their sections, have them draw a picture of their experiment or how they acted like a scientist during the experiment. As soon as students have completed some of their pieces, start gluing them onto the large poster paper exactly as they are arranged in the example below. Do not wait until students have completed all the pieces to start gluing them onto the poster Once the poster is complete have students start practicing for the poster presentation. Make sure that students know to read from their notebooks instead of from their poster. The poster should be presented in the following order: 1) scientists’ names, 2) question, 3) experimental set-up, 4) procedure, 5) graph, and 6) “my experiment shows ________.” They will NOT read the “I acted like a scientist when _______”, or results table from their poster. The “I acted like a scientist when _________” section will be discussed as a class after all posters are presented. In addition, it sometimes helps to write a small number (order seen above) on the sections in the students’ notebooks in the order that they will be presented.

measurement

(you should fill this blank out for the student)

water/nutrient type

measurement changing variable value

changing variable value


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If there is extra time, ask the students questions that have them make predictions about the plant height for situations that they did not test. They should be able to use their findings as a base for their predictions. For instance for the poster above an appropriate question would be if we put the plant in a light that was level three what would you predict the plant height to be and why? Once possible answer would be 25 mm because level 3 was not tested but this plant height would be between level 2 and level 4 which were tested.


Tell students that they will present their findings the next meeting and you are looking forward to hearing about all of their experiments.

Clean-Up:

Before you leave have students attach their nametag to their notebook and place them in the group box. Leave student posters in the classroom. Bring all materials back to UCSB. In addition, put your lab coat back into your group box.

Day 5: Poster Presentations Schedule:

Introduction (SciTrek Leader) – 2 minutes Practice Posters (SciTrek Volunteers) – 10 minutes

Poster Presentations (SciTrek Volunteers/SciTrek Leader) – 23 minutes Wrap-Up (SciTrek Leader) – 5 minutes Materials:



☐ Volunteer lab coat ☐ Highlighter ☐ Pencil

☐ (2) Paperclips ☐ Large binder clip Lead Box:


☐ (2) Pencils ☐ (2) Highlighters ☐ Scotch tape

☐ (4) Paperclips ☐ Teacher evaluation ☐ Time card

*Student posters should already be in the classroom.

Set-Up:

SciTrek Leader: Write the class question on the board “What factors affect plant growth?” Leave enough room so that you can record student findings under the question. Give the classroom teacher the “Evaluation of the SciTrek Program by Participating Teachers” form. Ask teachers to fill this form out and give it back to you the next time you are there.


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SciTrek Volunteer: Set out the SciTrek notebook/nametags. Get your groups’ posters. Today students will be sitting in their regular classroom seats during poster presentations.


Tell students that today they are going to present their posters to the rest of the class. Tell the students that they are now going to be given 10 minutes to practice presenting their poster before the presentations. Tell students before they practice their poster they need to explain to their volunteer what experiment they did and what they learned from their experiment. After that their SciTrek volunteer will ask them questions about their experiment. Tell students to pay attention to the type of questions their volunteer asks them, because these are scientific questions and they will need to ask other groups scientific questions during the poster presentations. After the 10 minutes students will return to their original class seats. They will sit in these seats during the presentations.

Practice Posters (10 minutes – Small Groups – SciTrek Volunteers):

Once students have gotten to your group have students explain to you what they did for their experiment and what they learned about plant growth. Ask students questions to make sure that they understand what they did during their experiment. Make sure that you also have them use their results to predict what would happen for other systems that they did not test. Remind them to think about the pattern or the trend that they saw for their own results and apply this trend to make other predictions about plants that they did not test. For instance if a group’s changing variable was water amount ask them to predict the height of the plant if they put 200 ml of water over the plant (this would be greater than the allowed amount of water). Try to make sure that each student in your group answers one question. Once your group has an understanding of their experiment have them practice presenting their poster. Make sure students are reading the poster parts in the correct order (scientists’ names, question, experimental set-up, procedure, graph, “my experiment shows_______”) and out of their notebook, not off the poster. If the students’ section is not highlighted in their notebook, highlight the section for them. If they are reading multiple sections paperclip the sections together.

Poster Presentations (23 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Volunteers/SciTrek Leader):

Have students return to their original class seats. Ask the class, “What is the question we have been working on solving?” Students should tell you: What factors affect plant growth? Ask the class why we are interested in answering this question. Students should say that if they can determine the factors that affect plant growth they could grow taller plants in their garden. Tell the students that after each presentation you will ask the class what changing variable the group was testing. They will then be given the opportunity to ask scientific questions to the presenting group to help them determine if the variable that the group was investigating affected plant growth. Scientific questions are the type of questions that your group leader was asking you about your experiment to learn more about your trials. Ask the class “if the group experimented with water amount do you think that they would be able to answer questions about light amount?” They should say no. “Therefore, we should try to ask the group questions that focus on their changing variable.” Tell the class


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once they have finished asking the group questions you will ask them if the group’s changing variable affected plant growth and how. Summarize the students’ ideas on the board under the class question. Volunteers should make sure that students are quiet and respectful when other groups are presenting. When your group is presenting, go to the front of the room with the group and prompt students if they do not know who talks next and remind them to read out of their notebooks and not off of the poster. During the student question time, the SciTrek lead and/or volunteers should ask at least one question. Examples of possible questions are: “How do you know…?” or “Is there anything else you can do to get more information about your question?” Each group should answer approximately 5 questions (1 question per student). After all poster presentations, ask the class “what did we learn about plant growth?” Have them summarize their results. Depending on the experiments that the class ran these are the highlights of the experiments

The brighter the light, the shorter the plant (for plants under ~10 days old)

Plants that are under brighter lights are greener and have more leaves than plants under dimmer lights

The amount of water does not affect the height of the plant unless there is no water in the reserve cup and then the plant will die.

The greater the amount of salt, the shorter the plant

The amount of sugar has little to no effect on plant height

The larger the amount of fertilizer the taller the plant. This effect is really small and might not be observed by students

Plants under different colored light grow different amounts. When reflecting on the summary, use students’ collected data and not what they should have found, if the two are in disagreement. Ask students if you wanted to grow the tallest plant, in ~ 7 days, what values of variables would you want to use?

Soil Type: Potting Soil

Light Amount: Dark

Water Amount: Any

Nutrient amount: could use fertilizer but does not have large affect Ask students if you wanted to grow the plant that was the healthiest (greenest and most leaves) what values of variables would you want to use?

Soil Type: Potting Soil

Light Amount: Full

Water Amount: Any

Nutrient amount: could use fertilizer but does not have large affect


Ask students the following wrap-up questions: Did you act like a scientist during this project? What did you do that scientists do?

Tell the students that the volunteers that have been working with them are undergraduate and graduate students that volunteer their time so that they can do experiments. Have the students say thank you to


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the volunteers. Tell the students that this is the last day with their SciTrek volunteers, therefore, they should say goodbye to them. Tell students that you will be back one more time.

Tell students to remove the paper part of their nametag from the plastic holder and that they can keep the paper nametag but to give the plastic sleeve back to their SciTrek volunteer.

Clean- Up:

Before you leave collect plastic parts of nametags and put them in the group box. Students can keep the paper part of their nametag. Also collect and clip notebooks together with a large binder clip. Leave student posters in the classroom. Bring all materials back to UCSB. Remove tape from the lid of your box and place into group box. In addition, remove all materials from lab coat pockets, remove your nametag, unroll lab coat sleeves, and put your lab coat and nametag back into your group box.

Day 6: Observation Assessment/Tie to Standards/Content Assessment Schedule: Observation Assessment (SciTrek Leader) – 5 minutes

Tie to Standards (SciTrek Leader) – 45 minutes Content Assessment (SciTrek Leader) – 10 minutes

Materials:

Lead Box:

☐ (3) Extra student notebooks ☐ Student notebooks ☐ Lead instructions

☐ Lead lab coat ☐ (2) Pencils ☐ Pictures of plants in the dark with water

☐ Pictures of plants in the light with water

☐ (4) Graph paper for example graphs

☐ (25) Rulers (mm)

☐ (25) Black beads ☐ (25) Observation assessments ☐ (25) Content Assessment

☐ Time card

Other Materials:

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in gravel

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in potting soil

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in with 100 ml of water

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in 200 ml of water

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in no fertilizer

☐ 7 Day old plant grown in 50 ml of fertilizer


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SciTrek Notebook Pages Used with Students:


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Set-Up:

SciTrek Lead: Pass out notebooks to students. If you do not have time to get set-up before the start of the module ask the teacher to pass out notebooks during the observation assessment. If the classroom has a document camera, ask the teacher to use it to fill out the tie to standards activity with students on pages 9-12. If the classroom does not have a document camera, then tape example poster size notebook pages to the front board.

Have plant picture cards and plants ready and available.

Observation Assessment (5 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader)

“Before we start with our activity we want to see how your ideas on observations are developing.” Pass-out the observation assessment and a black bead to each student. Tell students to fill out their name, teacher’s name, and date at the top of the assessment. Tell students one of the ways that we get money for the program is to show that the program is effective and that we need them to do their best on the assessment so we can know the effectiveness of the program. Remind the students that it is important that they fill out this assessment on their own. Read the instructions to the students. Then read each of the observations aloud to the students and tell the students to circle “observation” for statements that are observations or “not an observation” for statements that are incorrect observations or statements that cannot be observations. Have the students turn over their paper. Tell the students for the following attitude questions there are no right or wrong answers. Read each of the four attitudes towards science


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questions to the students and have them circle/fill in their answers. When students are finished collect the assessments and verify that they have written their name on the assessment. In addition, collect all of the beads from the students.

Tie to Standards (45 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader): Plant Growth Predictability (15 minutes)

Tell the class that you enjoyed their poster presentations the last time you were there. Tell the students that today we are going to revisit all of the factors that they have been investigating and determine if they affect plant growth and how. Have students turn to page 9 of their notebooks. Place an example notebook on the document camera and turn to page 9.

Ask the class what is a prediction. They should realize that a prediction is the best guess we are able to make about a system using previous knowledge. Ask them if they think the growth of plants is predictable. They should say yes. Tell the students that you started an experiment 7 days ago and you brought in the plants from your experiment for the class to observe. Tell the students that they will predict which plant grew taller from a set of two plants in which different growing conditions were used. Go over each of the predictions with the students. Have one student share which plant they think will be taller and why. Then have the class vote, using thumbs up/thumbs down if they agree/disagree with the student. If many students are in disagreement ask one of the students that is in disagreement what they think and why. After show the students the two plants and have them circle the plant that grew taller in their notebook as you record the answer in the example notebook. An example can be seen below.

Tell students since they made such good predictions you now know that plant growth is predictable and that the amount of water (in the bottom of the cup) does not affect how tall the plant grows, but soil type, and nutrient amount both affect how tall a plant will grow. Tell students that knowing these things will allow them to make decisions about what are the best conditions to grow plants in their own garden.

Now tell students that they are going to make predictions about plant growth over time during different conditions. Tell students that you are going to record their predictions on example graphs for them to reference later. Tell them that after they make predictions you will show them actual data that was collected so that they can compare their predictions with the actual data. Do not have students turn to the next page until you have plotted all of the prediction graphs. In addition, do not have students copy these graphs into their own notebooks.

D D


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Plants in the Light Ask the students to predict what they think a graph would look like for a plant that was in the light and had no water. Allow a couple of students to share their answers. Ask the rest of the class if they agree/disagree with thumbs up/thumbs down. Once the class has reached an agreement use their ideas to make a bar graph and place that graph under the document camera. Typically students predict that a plant that was in the light but had no water would not grow at all over a given amount of time. An example of this graph can be seen below.

Now ask the students to predict what they think a graph would look like for a plant that was in the light and had water. Allow a couple of students to share their answers. Ask the rest of the class if they agree/disagree with thumbs up/thumbs down. Once the class has reached an agreement use their ideas to make a bar graph and place that graph under the document camera. Typically students predict that a plant that was in the light and had water would continuously grow taller throughout a given amount of time. An example of this graph can be seen below.


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Plants in the Dark Now ask the students to predict what they think a graph would look like for a plant that was in the dark and had no water. Allow a couple of students to share their answers. Ask the rest of the class if they agree/disagree with thumbs up/thumbs down. Once the class has reached an agreement use their ideas to make a bar graph and place that graph under the document camera. Typically students predict that a plant that was in the dark with no water would not grow over a given amount of time. An example of this graph can be seen below.


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Ask the students to predict what they think a graph would look like for a plant that was in the dark and had water. Allow a couple of students to share their answers. Make sure that the students state whether the plant in the dark with water would be taller or shorter than the plant in the light with water. Ask the rest of the class if they agree/disagree with thumbs up/thumbs down. Once the class has reached an agreement use their ideas to make a bar graph and place that graph under the document camera. Typically students predict that a plant in the dark with water will grow, but be smaller than the plant in the light with water. An example of this graph can be seen below.


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After you have completed the graph predictions tell the class that they are now going to look at data that you collected to see if their predictions are correct. Tell students that they are going to also work on graphing the actual data.

Effect of Light and Water on Plant Growth (10 minutes)

Have the students turn to page 10 in their notebooks. Tell students that they are now going to look at data that you collected over the course of 15 days to see if their predictions were correct. Tell students that you used the same experimental set-up as they used for their own experiments. Have students look at the data in the table for “light/no water” and plot this data. Tell the class that you will do two graphs with them but they need to graph the other two graphs by themselves. For “light/no water” all of the data points were 0 mm. Therefore tell the students to draw a straight line at 0 and write 0 mm above each day. After the data has been plotted ask the students what happened to the seed in the light with no water. Students should notice that no plant growth took place for the seed that was in the light with no water. Show students their prediction graph and ask if the data matched their prediction? Example student work is seen below.

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Tell the students that we are now going to plot the data for “light/water.” Ask the students how tall the plant was on day 0. They should respond 0 mm. Put your finger at zero and tell the students to tell you to stop once you reach the appropriate level for day 0. Once you have reached the level draw a line. Ask the students how tall the plant was on day 5. They should respond 23 mm. Repeat the process by putting your finger at zero and telling the students to tell you to stop once you reach the appropriate level for day 5. Once you have reached the level draw a line, and write the number value over the line and quickly shade below. Tell the students when they are shading in they should try to beat how fast you shaded in the area. Repeat the process for the other two data points. After the data has been plotted ask the students what happened to the seed in the light with water. Students should notice that with light and water the plant continued to get taller until day 15. Show students their prediction graph and ask if the data matched their prediction? Example student work is seen above.

Ask the students, “What did plants in the light need to grow?” Students should see that plants in the light needed water to grow. Record “water” for question number 2.

Effect of Darkness and Water on Plant Growth (10 minutes) Have the students turn to page 11 in the notebooks.

Tell the students that we are now going to plot the data for “dark/no water.” Have students graph the data for “dark/no water” on their own. SciTrek volunteers can walk around and help students if needed. While students are plotting the data remove the notebook from the document camera and plot the data on the example notebook. After ~3 minutes put the example notebook under the document camera and have students check their graph. After the data has been plotted ask the students what happened to the

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seed in the dark without water. Students should notice that there is no plant growth in the dark with no water. Ask students how this data compares to plants in the light with no water. They should see that the data is the same. Show students their prediction graph and ask if the data matched their predictions? Example student work is seen below.

Tell the students that we are now going to plot the data for “dark/water.” Have students graph the data for “dark/water” on their own. SciTrek volunteers can walk around and help students if needed. While students are plotting the data remove the notebook from the document camera and plot the data on the example notebook. After ~3 minutes put the example notebook under the document camera and have students check their graph. After the data has been plotted ask the students what happened to the seed in the dark with water. Students should notice that in the dark with water the plant continued to get taller until day 15. Ask student how this data compares to plants in the light with water. Students should see that the plant in the light did not grow as tall as fast as the plant in the dark. Show students their prediction graph and ask if the data matched their prediction? Example student work is seen above. Ask the students, “What did plants in the dark need to grow?” Students should see that plants in the dark needed water to grow from the results and from their graphs. Record “water” for question number 3. Ask students what reasons are there for plants in the dark with water to grow taller faster than plants in the light with water. Have a couple students share their responses with the class. Make sure that students understand by the end of the conversation that the plants might be growing taller at a faster rate in the dark to try to reach the light. Then ask students what they think the plants in the dark and the light look like over the course of the 15 days. Have student share their answers.


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Matching Plant Growth Pictures (5 minutes) Have students turn to page 12 in their notebooks. Tell student that you took pictures of the plants in the light with water (question 4) and pictures of the plants in the dark with water (question 5) during the 15 days of your experiment. But your pictures got out of order and you would like them to help you get them back in the correct order. Tell students that the plants need to be matched to the correct day, so they will help you by writing the number of the day that matches with the picture of the plant. Have them write the correct day number under each of the pictures. Have students individually try to put the pictures of the plants that were in the light in order. Then have one student share what they think the correct order is with the class. Then have the class vote, using thumbs up/thumbs down if they agree/disagree with the student. If many students are in disagreement ask one of the students that is in disagreement what they think and why. Once a class consensus has been reached record the day number in the example notebook. See example below.

Repeat the process for the plants that were in the dark, question 5. See example below.

Ask students how the appearance of plants in the light was compared with the appearance of the plants in the dark. Students should respond that the plants that were in the dark were taller but that they were also less green, skinny, and had very small leaves. Students should say that the plants that were in the light had green leaves that were very large.

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Ideal Conditions for Plant Growth (5 minutes)

Have the students turn to page 13 in their notebooks.

Ask students “what they think is more important for plant growth and why?” One possible student answers is water because plants were not able to sprout without water but they were able to sprout without light. If needed turn back to the graphs on page 10 and 11. Record water for the answer to question 6.

Ask the students, “which do you predict to be taller at day 10 a plant in the light with water, or a plant in the dark with water?” Students can look back at the data that they graphed if they need help answering this question. Students should realize that at day 10 a plant in the dark would grow taller because this plant is using all of its energy to grow to find light. Circle the correct answer for question 7. An example can be seen below.

Now ask the students, “what plant would you predict to be healthier (greenest and more leaves) at day 10, a plant in the light with water or a plant in the dark with water?” Students should realize that a plant in the light with water would be healthier (greener and more frequent leaves) than a plant with water in the dark. Circle the correct answer for question 8. An example notebook can be seen below.

Ask students, “what conditions are needed in order for plants to live the longest and healthiest life?” Students should now realize from previous discussion and from the data in their tables that in order for a plant to live the healthiest and longest life they would need to be in the light and have water. Record these conditions for question 9. An example of this section can be seen below.

Variables (5 minutes)

Do this section with the class only if there is time remaining. Make sure to leave 10 minutes for the content assessment. Ask the students what is the definition of a variable. They may be able to tell you that a variable is something we can change about an experiment to learn more about a system. Write the definition

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(something you can change) as the answer to number 10. Ask students what were some examples of the variables that they changed in their own experiments (water amount, nutrient amount, light color, light amount).

Now that all students know the definition of a variable, ask them what other variables might affect plant height. Tell them to think of factors that they might have seen out in their own gardens. A few examples of these are shown below along with an example of student work. Record two of these in the example notebook.

Temperature Type of soil Size of container Type of plant

Tell students that this module has taught you that plant growth is predictable and that water and light are needed to get plants to grow. In addition, they have given you a few ideas for other experiments that you may be able to try out another time. Tell students that before you leave that you would like to see how their science content knowledge has changed.

Content Assessment (10 minutes – Full Class – SciTrek Leader):

Tell students to close their SciTrek notebooks and to place the notebook in the corner of their desk. Pass out the Content Assessment and ruler to each student. Tell students to put their name, teacher’s name, and date on the top of their paper. During the assessment remind students to work by themselves. Read each of the content questions to the students and have them select/fill out the correct answer. When students are finished collect the assessments and verify that they have written their name on the assessment. In addition, collect all of the rulers from the students. Tell the student that you have enjoyed working with them and that you hope they continue to see themselves as scientist and explore the world around them.

Clean- Up:

Bring all materials back to UCSB.

module 2: plants - scitrek...lamp) 18. light bulbs (60 w equivalent incandescent (750 lumen) light...

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