Finally, a post regarding the Inquiry class. It is long overdue that I set down and discuss some of the research questions students have in their initial exploratory investigation. So far, students have been working primarily with 4 or 5 different types of plants: lettuce, spinach, alfalfa, and shamrocks.
Research questions have centered on the use of chemicals in plant environments:
- salt
- caffeine
- rooting hormone
- detergents
as well as the role of light in plant growth and development:
- LED
- broad spectrum
- UV
- black light
Students report on their research results next week. In the meantime, I wanted to discuss some of the learning objectives for the exploratory research:
Content Standards A, G from NSES:
- abilities necessary to do inquiry
- understandings about scientific inquiry
- understanding of science as a human endeavor
I noticed that many students have been interested in salt contamination from road de-icing, and wondered if there is any additional data for students to use. If students did experiments on the salt tolerance of plants, would there be related curriculum resources that refer to the overuse of underground water sources and potential contamination in coastal areas due to rising sea levels from climate change.
Comments as ALWAYS WELCOME. Especially new ones. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment