I thought an update on our science studies might be fun. The students are excited this year to start this new "big" third grade subject. We are working with Discover Science. It is a new online science program that our school system has adopted. There are articles, books, videos, and virtual labs all done through the computer and the projector in our classroom.
Students have been working on plants for the past few weeks. We started our unit with a "catch your attention" experiment. We placed a white carnation in blue food coloring and used our observations and prior knowledge to predict why the carnation turned blue.
Then, we learned about the parts of the plant and their jobs. We studied the basic needs of a plant and the process of photosynthesis. Students also completed a virtual lab to answer the question- What amount and types of soil, water, and light would produce the best and biggest tomato plants? The students learned about a fair test, changing one variable at a time, and creating a hypothesis. For the first virtual lab of the year, the students listened, participated, and did a good job.
Finally we recorded all of our data and findings in personal science notebooks. You may see these notebooks come home during test and quiz time throughout the year. Take a look below at a few pictures of our science studies.
Kendall and Gage checking out the science notebook
Flip book glued into the notebook showing and explaining the parts of a plant and their jobs. (Student produced)
Pictures, observations, and predictions of the flower in blue food coloring. We will return to this at the end of our studies to answer the question-Why did the flower turn blue? We can use what we have learned now instead of just guessing.
Anthony holding our experiment flower
Close-up picture of our blue carnation
