Seed Dispersal

Don’t forget to remind and reinforce science routines and thinking tools, building and growing students’ scientific thinking toolkits all year, such as exploring and continuing to observe (I notice...), ask questions (I wonder...), make connections (it reminds me of...), as well as continuing to share information and ideas, develop discussion skills, and record data.

In this lesson we introduce the following Science Practices:

• Possible Explanations from Evidence— “I Think Maybe...” Note that the language of uncertainty is important - we don't know - so it's only a possible explanation. We can't think of everything and there may be others. We can find out more, or test our ideas, though!

• Testing ideas—through experiments (such as in this lesson), further study (such as looking things up in books), and also through discussion.

See "Encouraging Explanations..." and "Notes from Training" below for specific ideas on how to introduce and incorporate science practices in this lesson.

Don’t forget to remind students of these practices and reinforce their use as *routines* and thinking tools, building and growing students’ scientific thinking toolkits all year.

Seed Dispersal Videos

Classroom teachers may show in the classroom before field program, if desired

• If you don't have time for this, you can give each student a milkweed seed to try to keep afloat on their walk back to class - they love it, and you can make sure you have time for a nice Magic Spot.

• This can be done between the Scavenger hunt and Magic Spots if you saved enough time, or at the end as above.

• Seed Sorting Mats: The seed sorting mats are optional - use them if they are helpful. Students can use the log rounds, rocks, their bags, or their journals to lay seeds out to sort. They are in the kits, but don't feel obligated to use them.

• Remember to use INIWIRMO (or "The 3 I's of a Scientist") - ask questions while students are exploring looking for seeds and when they are writing their predictions and their results What do you notice about your seeds? What do you wonder about? What does that remind you of? How are they alike and how are they different? What do you think will happen if you put this one in water? etc.

• Seed Experiment:

  • Emphasize to students to ONLY fill out the top Prediction part of the page before their experiments - the bottom part is for their Results, AFTER the experiment.

  • Have students work in pairs, and do two separate sets of experiments with two different sets of seeds - they will learn from their first experiment - just like real scientists! They fill out one student's journal with the first round and the other's journal for the second - going through predictions first, then tests and results. (Amy's idea)

  • Many people found it more successful to NOT do the seed experiment in stations, as that got a little (or a lot) chaotic. Instead they stayed in the circle and went through the tests together - the teacher has the container(s) of water for them to test floating, and can call them over one pair at a time.

  • For the sticking to animal fur test, just have them use their socks. (This is especially useful if your felt squares are missing)

  • Help students form possible explanations from evidence - so you think this seed is carried by the wind? What is your evidence for that? etc. Add "I Think Maybe..." to the INIWIRMO routine to help frame the tentative language. Ask, "how could you test this idea?"

  • Remember, "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny …” — Isaac Asimov (This is important to emphasize to students - the point of science is to find something out, not to prove yourself right!)

• Milkweed Race

• If you don't have time for this, you can give each student a milkweed seed to try to keep afloat on their walk back to class - they love it, and you can make sure you have time for a nice Magic Spot.

• This can be done between the Scavenger hunt and Magic Spots if you saved enough time, or at the end as above.

• Magic Spots for this lesson

  • Lots of writing - Dahlia suggested having them use a blank page in the back instead if they wanted to draw. You can do the top part together after the experiment, and the "List 10 things you notice" you could do at the beginning, if you want, after observing changes. I'll work on making a more open-ended space for this month's magic spot in the journal. Update: I took out the list of 10 things you notice to make room for drawing. They can always use a blank page if they want, though.

  • For Magic Spots it is ALWAYS an option NOT to write or draw anything but to just BE. Watch clouds, birds, bugs, trees. Daydream. Take a Nature Nap. It is a wonderful time to decompress and float freely in nature for a bit. Plus, direct interaction with nature (looking, listening, feeling, smelling...) is always preferable to something they could do in a classroom.

NOTES FOR 2020

• We are meeting classes outdoors, so no in-class intros

• Skip the seed dissection - we are not doing this, but we will read The Dandelion Seed or Seeds Travel book to students out in the field. This allows more time for the experiment and discussion about science , Milkweed race, and Magic Spots! The lesson was a little too packed before, so I think we'll leave out the seed dissection going forward, especially since they have already done it in 1st grade with the garden program, and possibly also in the 2nd grade. Plus, this lesson focuses on seed dispersal...

• Milkweed Race - if you run out of time, you can give the students milkweed seeds as they leave and see who can keep theirs in the air all the way back to school!