A Learning Activity for All About Earth: Our World on ... · PDF file... , and air are all...
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Transcript of A Learning Activity for All About Earth: Our World on ... · PDF file... , and air are all...
Purpose•To acquaint students with the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and
biospheremoreclosely.•Tohavestudentsusemicrocosmstostudynaturalphenomena.•To introduce students to the concept of a “fair test” in a scientific
investigation.
OverviewIn pairs, students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in ordertostudywhatplantsneedtolive.Variablestostudyincludethepresenceorabsenceofsoil,water,andsunlight.Studentswillrecordthegrowthofradishplantsaswellasobservationsof“thewatercycle”intheirterrariums.Attheconclusionoftheirexperiments,studentswillsharetheirresultswiththeclassand discuss how water, Earth materials, and air are all necessary to supportlivingthings.
Student OutcomesAftercompletingthisactivity,studentswillknowabouttheimportanceofthehydrosphere,geosphere,andatmosphereinsupportingthebiosphere.Theywilllearnhowtosetup“fairtests,”recorddetailedobservations,usedrawingsas scientific records, make sense of experimental results, and share thempublicly.
Science Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry•Abilitiesnecessarytodoscientificinquiry
Science Content Standard C: Life Science•Thecharacteristicsoforganisms•Organismsandenvironments
Science Content Standard D: Earth and Space Science•Propertiesofearthmaterials
Time•Part1:One30-45minuteclassperiod•Part2:One30minuteclassperiod•Part3:15-20minutesthreetimesaweek•Part4:One45minuteclassperiod
LevelPrimary(mostappropriateforgradesK-4)
Materials
Part 1:•ElementaryGLOBE
book:AllAboutEarth:OurWorldonStage
•Twoblankwallcharts
Part 2:•Oneofeachof
thefollowingpergroupofstudents(2–4students):21-literclearplasticsodabottles,3cupspottingsoil,10radishseeds,measuringcup,water,tape,permanentmarker,indexcard,foil,papertowels
•EarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCard–onecopyforeachstudentorgroupofstudents
Part 3:•Multiplecopiesfor
eachstudentoftheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet(andafoldertoholdthesepapers)
•OverheadtransparencyoftheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet
Part 4:•WallchartsfromPart1
TheGLOBEProgram EarthSysteminaBottle-Page1 AllAboutEarth
Earth System in a Bottle
ALearningActivityforAll About Earth: Our World on Stage
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TheGLOBEProgram EarthSysteminaBottle-Page2 AllAboutEarth
Preparation
Part 1:• Read the Elementary GLOBE book All About
Earth:OurWorldonStage–either read it to theclassorhavestudentsreadittothemselves.Thebook can be downloaded from www.globe.gov/elementaryglobe.
•Maketwowallchartstitled:“Whatdoplantsneedtolive?”and“Whatdowewanttolearn?”
Part 2:•MakeacopyoftheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipe
Card for each student or group of students.Optional: laminatetherecipecardssotheywon’tgetwetduringthisactivity.
Part 3:•Make copies of Earth System in a Bottle Student
ActivitySheetsothateachgrouphasablanksheetfor each observation they make. Make a folderforeachgroup.Anotheroptionistomakesmallerphotocopiesoftheactivitysheetsoyoucanfittwosets of the sheet on each piece of paper (usinglandscapeformatting).
•PreparethesodabottlesbycuttingthemasshowninFigure1.
Figure 1: Cut bottle in half and cut vertical slits as shown. Slide top over bottom of bottle, pushing alternate flaps to the inside.
•Preparestationsatwhichstudentgroupscanplanttheirterrariums.
•Plantoneterrariumaheadoftimetodeterminethecorrectratioofsoiltowater.Theamountofwaterneededtothoroughlymoistenabout3cupsofsoilwill vary depending on the type of soil availablelocally andon the initialmoisture content of thesoil.
•Spreadsomeofthesoilinalargetray,bakingsheetoronnewspaperandset it todryout (preferablyinasunnywindow)fortwodays.Thissoilwillbeusedinthe“Nowater”treatment.
Part 4:•Nopreparationnecessary.
Teacher’s Notes
In this activity students will plant some controlterrariums thathaveall theelementsaplantneedsto grow (soil, water, light) and other experimentalterrariumsthatlackoneoftheseelements.Theywillmonitor their terrariums closely to gather data onwhatplantsneedtogrow.
Science background:Plantsneedthefollowingthingsinordertogrow:Soil,Water,LightandAir(oxygenandcarbondioxide).
Soil: Plantsneedsoiltoanchortheirroots.Theyalsoabsorbthrough their roots necessary minerals dissolved inthewatercontainedinsoil.
Water: Like all living things, plants need water to survive.Plantsneedwatertosoftentheseedcoat-aprocessthat begins germination - and to maintain all theirlifefunctions.Waterevaporatesfromthesurfaceofplant leaves in a process known as “transpiration.”This evaporation provides the force that allows theroots todrawwaterup from thesoil. Transpirationalsocoolstheplant,justastheevaporationofsweatfromourskinsurfacecoolsus!Transpirationaccountsfor10%ofallwatercontributedtotheatmosphereintheformofwatervapor.
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Anoteaboutthephasesofwater:Individualmoleculesofwaterarecontinuallyleavingthesurfaceofliquidwater (evaporating) andentering theair in thegasphase. Water in the gas phase (water vapor) iscompletelyinvisible.Steam,fogandclouds(visiblewaterinair)consistoftinydropletsofwaterthathavecondensedonparticlesintheair.
Air (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen): Plants breathe (respire). Like all living things, theyrespire to support their life functions and give offcarbon dioxide as an end product of respiration.Duringthedaylighthours,theytakeincarbondioxidewhichtheyuseintheprocessofphotosynthesis.Theycapture the sun’s energy and use it to synthesizesugars and other molecules, using carbon dioxidemoleculesas“buildingblocks.”
Fair test: Afairtestisaninvestigationorexperimentinwhichone condition (called the “independent variable”)affectsanother (“dependentvariable”)whileall theotherconditionsintheinvestigationarenotchanged.Inalltheexperiments,plantgrowthisthedependablevariable. For example, the bottle wrapped in foilonly has light excluded (the independent variable),while it has the sameamountof soil andwater astheothertreatments;thedifferenceinplantgrowth(the“dependentvariable”)comparedwiththeplantsthat receive soil, sun and water (the “control”) canthen be attributed to the absence of light, sincethe investigation was a fair test. Since nothingelse was changed, the outcome is not confusedor “confounded.” For this activity, the terrariumthat contains soil, water, and light is the “control”terrarium,andthethreeterrariumsthataremissingoneelement(soil,water,light)arethe“experimental”terrariums.
Student ideas about what plants need: •StudentsmaymentionCO2andmayevenlistitas
oneoftheneedsofplants.Ratherthanenteringa discussion about it, simply acknowledge thatindeed,it’sagasinairandthatiftheplantshaveair inthebottle(whichtheydo)thestudentscanassumethattheplantswillgetCO2.
•Some children may say plants can live withoutwater,basedonpriorexperiencewith terrariums,orknowledgeofdesertplants.Ofcourse,strictlyspeaking,allplantsneedwater.
•Studentsmayhavetriedtogrowplantsinpuresandasacontrasttosoil,withvaryingsuccess.
Logistics for planting with students: Plantingismanageableasawholeclassactivityifyouhave one adult per student group. Other options:Havestudentsplant,withyourhelp,onegroupatatimewhiletherestoftheclassisengagedinotheractivities.
Things to note about the making an Earth System in a Bottle:•Seed depth: Be sure to tell students to plant the
seedsonlyasdeepastheseedsarewide.Ifseedsareplanted toodeep, theemergingseedlingwilltakelongertofindthesurfaceofthesoil.
•Theorderofplantingisimportant:Addthewatertothesoilbeforeaddingtheseeds.Otherwise,theseedswillfloattothesurfaceifwateredafterplanting.
•Soilcompacting:Studentswillpackdownthesoiltodifferentdegreesofcompactnessbutthisshouldn’taffectplantgrowth.
•Haveyoungstudentspracticemeasuringthecorrectamountofwater.Oftentheyputtoomuchwaterintothebottle.
Results to expect in this activity:•Intheterrariumwithnowater:Theseedswillnot
germinate.
•Intheterrariumwithnolight:Theplantswillgrowlongandspindlybut theplantwillbe“etiolated”(because they contain no chlorophyll, the stemswillbewhiteorpalegreenandextremelyfloppy).
•In the terrarium with no soil: The plants willgerminate and grow by anchoring their rootsintothepaper. Eventually, theywillstopgrowingbecausea)therootsneedsoilinwhichtoanchortheplantandpapertoweldoesn’tprovideenoughsupport, and b) the plant ultimately needs thenutrientsitgetsfromsoil.Studentsmayconcludefromthis thatplantsdon’tneedsoil. Have them
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comparetheplantstothosegrowinginsoiltohelpthemdecide.
•Note:Sometimestheseedcoatisnotshedbythegrowingseedlingbut traps thefirstsetof leaves.If thishappens,youcanexpect it tobegintogetmoldywithinthefirstweek.
For more information on using plastic bottlesto create terrariums, see Bottle Biology atwww.bottlebiology.orgorwww.fastplants.org.
What To Doand How To Do It
Part 1: Discussion and Brainstorming1.Having read the Elementary GLOBE book All
About Earth: Our World on Stage, introduce thisinvestigationtotheclass.Explaintostudentsthattheywillbeusinga“microsystem”toinvestigatesomeofthesameEarthsystemsthatthechildrendid in the book, but that they will be doing thisfromthebiosphere(aplant’s)pointofview.
2.Askthestudents,“Whatdoyouthinkaplantneedstolive?”
3.Record their answers on a chart. They will likelymention water, air, sunlight, soil, and perhapscarbondioxideandoxygen.
4.Onceyouhavegivenallstudentstheopportunityto respond, explain to them that they will beinvestigatingplants’needforwater,soil,andlight.
Part 2: Planting and Predictions1.Demonstratehowtoplanttheseedsintheterrarium.
SeetheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardatthebackofthisactivityfortheinstructions/recipe.
2.Have students repeat the steps they observedyoumakeduring thedemonstration. YoucanalsophotocopytheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardatthebackofthisactivitysostudentscanfollowalong.
3.Eachgroupwillplantone“control”versionoftheEarth system and one “experimental” version oftheEarthSystem. TheexperimentalEarthsystem
willnothaveoneofthefollowingpartsoftheEarthsystem:light,soil,orwater.Makesureyourclasscreatesatleastoneoftheseexperimentalsystems.SeetheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardforthelistofexperimentalsystems.
4.Havethestudentswritedowntheirpredictionsonanindexcardeitherindividuallyorintheirgroupsfor what they expect to see in the experimentalEarthsystembottle.Tellthemtheywilllookattheirpredictionsagainattheendoftheexperiment.
Part 3: Observational Procedures1.Explain to the students that they will make
observationsandrecordthemontheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet.
2.Explain the Earth System in a Bottle StudentActivitySheet to thestudents (usinganoverheadtransparencyofthesheetifyouwish).Everyotherday,studentswillrecordtheirnames,thedate,andthesystemtheyareobserving.Remindthemthateachterrariumhasairinit,sotheywillalwayscheckthatboxonthestudentactivitysheet.Thentheywillobservetheplantsclosely.Givethestudentscuesabout what to write about - some ideas are: thenumberof sproutsor leaves,condensation,plantsize,color,mold,roots.Theywilldrawtheplantsin thebottleandmayalsowritenotesalongside.Youngerstudentsmayneedassistancewiththis.
3.Option: You or your students may want to takedigitalphotosasarecordaswell.
4.Explaintostudentsthattheywillmakeobservationsfor10-15minutesatspecifiedtimesoncertaindays.
5.Youmaywanttomonitorstudentsduringthefirsttwo observation sessions to make sure they areobservingand recording in themanner specified(though any additional information studentsmay want to record is also welcome). Note: Atfirst, teachers might want to model a completeobservationsessionfortheclass.
Part 4: Sharing Results1.Once the plants have grown sufficiently to show
clear results (this will take 2 to 4 weeks), havethe students take some time to study all of the
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observationstheyhavemade.
2.Next,havethemdecideintheirgroupswhattheirdatashow.
3.Havethestudentssharetheirfindingsinawholeclassdiscussionandsummarizetheirfindingsonachart.
4.Finally, have the students revisit the predictionstheywroteontheirnotecardsanddiscussasaclasswhetherornottheirconclusionsaredifferent.
Adaptations for Youngerand Older Students
Youngerstudentsmayneedhelptapingtheirbottlesshut. Youmightalsowant tohelp themlabel theirbottles.Inaddition,wrappingbottlesinfoilsecurelyenoughtokeepall lightoutcanbeachallengeforyoungerstudents.
Younger students may only make drawings on theEarth System in a Bottle Student Activity Sheet andrequireadulthelptowritedownwhattheyobserved.Tohelpyoungstudentswriteabouttheirobservations,puta“wordbank”uponthewallofyourclassroom;this chart can contain words the students mightcommonlyusetodescribetheirobservations:plant,grow,tall,green,brown,wet,dry,etc.
Youmightconsiderengagingtheolderstudentsinadiscussionofwhatconstitutesa“fairtest”forwhetherplantsneedwater, soilor sunlight. Older studentscandiscusswhattheywillacceptasa“healthy”plantandwhattheircriteriawillbefordeterminingwhataplantthatisgettingallitneedsmightlooklike.
Further Investigations
•Scientists’ Journals:Showyourstudentsexamplesof published journals some well-known scientistskept in the past. Some good examples to useare the journals of Charles Darwin, Henry DavidThoreau and Merriweather Lewis & William Clark.Havethestudentslookforexamplesofinteractions
betweenEarth’scomponentsinthesejournals.
•Completing the plant life cycle: Here are twooptionsforcontinuingterrariuminvestigations.
1.Keeptheterrariumsundisturbedonthewindowsillandhavethestudentsdiscoverthat thesystemintheterrariumsupportstheplantswithoutanyfurthercarefromthem.
2.Removethetopsfromtheterrariumsandallowplants to continue growing. Depending whattimeofyearyouchooseforthisactivity,studentsmightevenbeable toharvest radishes! Note:once you remove the top of the terrarium youwillneedtostartwateringitsothesoildoesn’tdryout.
•Observe other members of the radish family:Radishes belong to the family Cruciferae, thecabbage family, which contains about 3,000species.ThefamilywasnamedCruciferaebecausetheflowersofplantsinthisfamilycharacteristicallyhavefourpetalsspreadingintheformofacross.Farmers and scientists have bred many of thecommonfoodplantsweeattodayfromthisfamily(e.g. radishes, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, andbroccoli). Bring examples in and discuss thediversityofthisplantfamilywiththestudents.
•Literacy Connections:Readasciencetradebookabout plant life cycles to your students. SomeexamplesareTheCarrotSeedbyRuthKraussandThis Is the Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer. Afterreading the story, have the children write/drawonapaperthatisdividedintofourpartswiththefollowing headings: 1) Title; 2) “The plant in thisstory grew because it had ___ (for example, soiland rain); 3) The plant would have grown evenbetter if ithad___(e.g.,moresunormorerain);and4)Myfavoritepartofthestorywaswhen___.
The“EarthSysteminaBottleLearningActivity”wasdeveloped in collaboration with Harold McWilliamsandGillianPuttickfromTERC,Cambridge,MA.
©2006UniversityCorporationforAtmosphericResearchAllRightsReserved
Earth System in a Bottle Recipe Card
All About Earth: Our World on Stage
©2006UniversityCorporationforAtmosphericResearchAllRightsReserved
Earth System in a Bottle Student Activity Sheet
All About Earth: Our World on StageNAME:____________________________
©2006UniversityCorporationforAtmosphericResearchAllRightsReserved