Wildcat Workshop @ Chester Arthur School
GRADE 3
Plants & Pollinators
Essential Questions
What do plants need to grow?
What do successful science and engineering investigations look like?
What can scientists do and make with what they learn about plants?
How can we use digital tools to document and communicate about our investigations?
What does it mean to be a good digital citizen?
Key Projects
Digital journal using Google Slides that has images, text, video, and data displays summarizing investigations with plants
Automated watering system
Digital journal using Google Slides that has images, text, video, and data displays summarizing plant- and pollinator-inspired engineering designs
May 2023
We continued working on our seed designs. We'd been studying how seeds spread. Some of our seeds drop and spin, others float, while others stick to fur. Check out what we’ve come up with so far.
April 2023
We read a story about scientist and teacher Charles Henry Turner. He designed experiments to learn about insects. He learned that bees can see color and studied how ants explore areas that are new to them.
We began sharing what we know about composting. Some of us have experiences composting at home. We discussed what we needed to create compost and began collecting materials to add to our rotating compost bin.
We began discussing how seeds disperse. We searched for information and images using Google. Our goal was to make our own seed designs based on what we learned. Then, we sketched and began building seed models.
March 2023
We finished up our greenhouse and seed spreader designs.
We also measured the growth of our Wisconsin Fast Plants, organized our data into a table, and discussed what we figured out about population density might affect plant growth.
We also continued working on projects that could be entered in the Philadelphia Media and Design Competition. Students are using different digital tools to create the projects, like Scratch to create an animated story; LEGOs, the podcasting booth, iMovie, and cameras from our school's WHYY Media Lab to make a digital movie; and Google Slides and Avatar maker to create digital art.
February 2023
We began a new science investigation with Wisconsin Fast Plants. We wanted to figure out how planting too many seeds in one area might affect how tall they grow. We began documenting our investigation in Google Slides, which involved typing a materials list, experimental procedure, and designing a diagram. We planted our seeds and are waiting for them to grow.
While we wait on our plants to grow, we're working on a range of projects. Some students are working on projects that connect with our "plants and pollinators" theme. They are researching greenhouses and seed spreaders to build their own. Some groups are learning about cardboard build methods to create mini greenhouses. One group is creating a robotic seed spreader using LEGO WeDO 2.0 kits.
Other groups are creating projects that could be entered in the Philadelphia Media and Design Competition. There are three categories: digital movie, animation, and digital art. Students are using different digital tools to create the projects, like Scratch to create an animated story; LEGOs, the podcasting booth, iMovie, and cameras from our school's WHYY Media Lab to make a digital movie; and Google Slides and Avatar maker to create digital art.
January 2023
We returned to some of the coding applications we has used during the Hour of Code. Students chose among a number of options, including Scratch, Ozobot or micro:bit with Microsoft MakeCode, Tynker, Kodable, and code.org. Some students also used FUSE Studios Sculpt to create 3D designs.
We used materials like peg boards, paper towel tubs, marbles, tape, pulleys, wooden downs, cups, toy car ramps, Legos, string, yarn, cotton balls, and cardboard to build Rube Goldberg devices that could knock over a cup of water to water a plant. We brainstormed, tinkered, tested, and iterated with the materials.
December 2022
We used WeDo 2.0 LEGO kits to build a model of a pollinator and plant. After we built and coded our base models, we modified the design and the code to make it better represent pollination. Most groups decided they wanted the bee to touch pollen part of the flower and stop. They changed the design of the rotating bee arm, the flower, and/or the code.
November 2022
We began planning another project: Rube Goldberg devices that water plants. We’ve been looking to YouTube and Google Images for inspiration. We’ve been screenshotting ideas and pasting them into Google Slides. We also tested out some initial ideas with a peg board.
We checked in about where we’d like to go next. Students offered lots of suggestions added to our investigations / making idea chart!
Students chose between two project ideas: making a 3D printed planter using Tinkercad or designing a Scratch story about pollinators. We'll follow up on some of the other ideas later in the year.
October 2022
We put together our fruit and/or vegetable batteries and measured voltage with multimeters. (We started by testing light bulbs and motors, but we quickly realized that a single fruit wouldn't power either one.) We used Google Sheets to graph our data.
We wrote our plans for our fruit and/or vegetable battery investigations (background research, question, variables, materials, procedure, diagrams of setup) in Google Slides as we prepared to conduct our investigations. We also created diagrams of our experimental setups.
We moved on to a new set of investigations based on a theme students proposed: fruit batteries. We know they’re a thing. But how much do we know about them? And what would we want to figure out? In one class:
1 student said he’d watched a YouTube video about starting a car w/lemons.
Another student said he’d watched a different YouTube video (prior to class) and knew that we’d need copper and zinc to make our batteries. This would be good for our materials list.
A third student suggested we could compare a potato to a battery to see which one produced more electricity.
A fourth student asked, “How would we measure how much electricity??”
The third student said, “There’s some kind of monitor or meter.”
We also discussed how to figure out how much electricity there was. Maybe a motor would move faster? Maybe we could use a micro:bit like we had with our soil conductivity test. Maybe we could see how much time it took to charge something. These were all student ideas.
Pairs of students will begin to select a question and identify variables for their investigations. We’d already started talking about variables in the other grade 3 class. And now we have some great ideas to share across classes as we draft our plans in digital journals.
September 2022
We brainstormed things we wanna investigate and/or make. One problem: We need to keep our plants watered but students aren’t in the workshop every day. (And we’re also unable to water on weekends and holidays.) So, one student suggested we develop an automated watering system. When students in the other class heard this idea, a student suggested we program a micro:bit to help us! (We used micro:bits last year.) We brainstormed how we might use a micro:bit to solve the problem we identified. We had some great ideas!
Next, Mr. Smith showed an image a potential solution to try out—and improve upon. Students discussed how the setup could give us info about whether the soil needed water or not. (Mr. Smith drew a diagram only after we discussed why we might need 2 nails.) Then, we used a video to help us set up the soil moisture tester with micro:bit. We discussed how the code worked and what kind of information we were getting from the graphs and numbers that displayed on the micro:bit.
After setting up our micro:bit to check soil conductivity, we used an example project with a servo motor, rubber bands, popsicle stick, tape, and straw watering arm. We realized we needed to make setup adjustments with the particular materials we used. This meant we needed to troubleshoot and iterate on our designs.
To help us think about why we might want to learn more about plants, we started reading about and researching George Washington Carver. We wrote down some things we learned from a story and then used those ideas to create internet search terms so that we could learn even more.
We also modified an animation in Scratch. We used repeat forever, move, and rotate coding blocks to make flowers spin in creative patterns.
We were still trying to figure out if our harvest corn was real or fake; so, we tried a few investigation ideas:
When we cut kernels open, we found a white center.
When we popped some kernels in a microwave, they didn’t pop open like normal popcorn would but there was the same white center.
When we put the corn in water for a few days, green sprouts and white roots grew from some kernels. It also smelled really bad and attracted flies. The water appeared to be “dirty.” There was also mold growing on some of the corn we’d put in water.
We moved on to another investigation because we didn’t like how the water got “dirty” and the smell. We planted some kernels in soil. Then, we documented what happened using digital cameras and by typing our procedure, materials, and data into a Google Slideshow. We learned to use some of the formatting options (themes, slides layouts, bullets, numbered lists) as we created digital investigation journals.
August 2022
Our theme for the year is “plants and pollinators.” We’ll be planning, carrying out, and sharing science, engineering, and history investigations using digital tools. We began this week by discussing what we think we already know about plants. A few things stood out:
In one class, students began to offer things they think plants need to grow (sun, soil, etc.)—and then added “sometimes” as they were talking. I pointed this out and asked if we might think about each thing in terms of “always” or “sometimes.” We’ll try to revisit this often.
In the other class, we had a lengthy discussion about whether plants need soil (another “sometimes” discussion). A student brought up an example of plants growing in the sidewalk (as an instance with no soil). But then we wondered if there was dirt in the cracks. Then, I pointed out that a nearby church has plants growing out of the top / side of it. Is there dirt there? Another student then mentioned vines growing up walls and over fences. Another student said that vines still may come from the ground. Lots of listening and responding. Students offered lots of arguments, evidence, examples, and counterexamples. We have plenty to think about to help move forward this year!
After charting what we think we know, I asked students if they could apply some of the ideas to help me figure out if the harvest corn I bought was real or not. We noticed and wondered (which includes picking kernels off the cobs). Then we brainstormed investigation ideas.
