Thinking Scientifically about Plants

Your students are starting a unit on plant growth and life cycles. Of course, they're planting seeds in paper cups and watering them every day. Maybe you've plowed up a patch of ground outside your window and planted a small garden. What could you do to help students think scientifically about these experiences?

This activity was developed for children in elementary school to help increase understanding of the scientific method and a curriculum module involving plants and plant growth. At the same time the kids learn about plants, they are also learning scientific thinking, as well as deeper thinking skills that are essential for the 21st Century.

Step 1: (Note: You don't have to use pre-made ThinkTiles, but they are good for smaller children if you don't want them to be encumbered with writing on the blocks. If you don't want to use ThinkTiles, simply use the dry erase marker directly on the ThinkBlocks).

Take the ThinkTile kit developed for this activity and lay them onto the table.


Step 2: Separate out the 6 tiles associated with the scientific method (scientific method, Observe, Question, Learn More, Experiment, Create Meaning, Tell People). Place the scientific method tile onto a large ThinkBlock. Place the remaining 5 onto Medium ThinkBlocks and place them inside the large ThinkBlock. We will use this system of concepts later in the exercise and it will be important for your students to actively "pull" each part of the scientific method out of the large block.

Step 3: With the remaining tiles on the table, ask your students to look at the concepts and tell you anything they know about any or all of the concepts. For example, you might prompt them with, "Do you know any of these?" or "Where have you seen them?" As they share their knowledge, they will invariably come across gaps in their knowledge. Have them note these gaps or questions (they could write them down or each student could have an L block where they add questions they have on M blocks).


Step 4: Have each student choose a question they would like to explore about these concepts. You might encourage them to look at two Tiles in the pile and ask, "What's the relationship between X and Y?" Or, "How are X and Y similar or different?" Because science is often the process of understanding relationships between things, we will use a standard relationship between two items in this example, but your children could use any question of interest.


Step 5: Have the children put their two chosen concept tiles onto two L blocks. Write a question mark in between to represent the relationship. Replace the question mark with a Medium ThinkBlock with a question mark on it. this helps your children to see that they can take implicit relationships and make them into explicit ones.

Becomes

Step 6: Have your children set their "relationship barbell" aside. Take the scientific method block and show them it. Have them pull out the parts and think about each one. Tell them that there is an order to the process. See if they can find the order (or skip this and do it for them).

You may also want to take this part of the activity further and explore the parts of these parts. Ask them to think about examples and non-examples of each of the steps in the scientific method. Place small blocks in each medium as they identify these examples and non-examples.


Step 7: Now take the medium ThinkBlocks out of the scientific method and place them in a circle (in order -clockwise) around the child's "barbell relationship". Have them point the reflective sticker at the barbell to represent looking at the relationship they are curious about from the view of each of the parts of the scientific method. Each perspective will help them to identify and answer questions.

How would I observe? What would I observe?
What questions do I have about this relationship?
Where could I learn more about this relationship?
How could I design and conduct an experiment?
What kinds of data will I need to gather to make the case?
Who do I want to tell about my findings?


Step 8: It is important that you give your students time to reflect on how their thinking has been an important part of the process. Making this explicit will help them to value and be aware of how thinking plays a role in their lives. As students reflect on how the Patterns of Thinking helped them frame their research question, they are practicing metacognitive skills that will increase transfer.

Explain to them that, ""You've thought it through, now its time to go and do" or "Well begun is half done." Now that students have build a cognitive structure of their research question, it’s time to execute their plan. There are many remarkable and powerful experiential ways they take this next step.