Teching Up the Nature of Science

Students will explore all elements of the following Georgia Performance Standards:

S4CS7. Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and how it is achieved.
a. Similar scientific investigations seldom produce exactly the same results, which may differ due to unexpected differences in whatever is being investigated, unrecognized differences in the methods or circumstances of the investigation, or observational uncertainties.
b. Some scientific knowledge is very old and yet is still applicable today.

S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry.Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:
a. Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.
b. Clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to inform others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.
c. Scientists use technology to increase their power to observe things and to measure and compare things accurately.
d. Science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and backgroundstudents.

Students will be divided into groups of 5. Each member of the group will have a job: photographer - this (1) student will take pictures of the experiment everyday so that they gain an understanding that scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments. Public relations - these (2) student will display that clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. They will inform others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists/students, and stay informed about scientific discoveries in their class by posting daily observations onto Edmodo that will be open for the class to reply, ask questions about, or conduct scientific arguments based on what is being observed in each group. Video Logger - these (2) students will be incharge of creating and maintaining a video log that will display that scientists use technology to increase their power to observe things and to measure and compare things accurately by sharing their hypothesis, changes in their hypothesis as the experiment progresses, group thoughts on the experiment, how much the plants grew since the previous video log, how much if any water was added, and any suprises that they encountered that day.

Each group will be given 3 ziplock bags, 6 butterbean seeds, 3 paper towels, ruler and a measuring cup.

-Day 1-
The students will be directed to take the paper towels and fold them so that they fit into the ziplock bags nicely. Then, they will add the SAME amount of water to each bag. Two seeds will be placed in each bag on the paper towel and finally the bags will be sealed. (Yellow & blue make green...) The bags will be numbered so that they will be easy to identify in photos and through out their video logs.

Butterbean bag 1 will be placed in a windowseal. Butterbean bag 2 will be placed in a shoebox and Butterbean bag 3 will be the groups choice.

*Pictures will be taken every day through out the duration of the experiment.
*Students will post which seed they think will grow the best as well as which seed they think will grow the slowest and why.
* A brief (2-3 minute) video log will be recorded explaining what they did today and what their hypothesis for the growth of the seeds.

-Day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9
Students will check and measure all 3 butterbean bags making special care to measure butterbean bag 2 quickly and correctly so that it isn't exposed to more light than necessary. If water is needed then the students must make a note of it in their video log and tell the amount of water that was added. (If water is added to bag 1 then it should be added to bags 2 & 3 in the same amount because it is a "control.")

*Pictures will be taken every day through out the duration of the experiment.
*Students will post any change in seeds and compare them with the postings of their classmates so that their is a clear understanding that even similar scientific investigations seldom produce exactly the same results, which may differ due to unexpected differences in whatever is being investigated, unrecognized differences in the methods or circumstances of the investigation, or observational uncertainties.
* A brief (2-3 minute) video log will be recorded explaining what they did today, how much if any water was added, and any suprises that they encountered that day.

-Day 10-
Students will upload their photos and video to a Glogster Glog. They will create a meaningful digital resource that will display their expreiment, findings, video logs. These will be posted to the class blog for parents and students to see and gain additional understanding from.

Through out this process students will gain an understanding of how to conduct a scientific experiment and how to record data, make hypothesis, how to re-evaluate their hypothesis as data is collected, how to support their findings and question the findings of others in a reasonable scientific manner through additional research.