Brassica, Butterflies and Caterpillars

From a student perspective, I thought that this project could be expanded into an inquiry-based project developing hypothesis creation and then subsequent self-creation of an experiment to test the hypothesis.  I think that this would fit well into the inquiry system because the laboratory would be entirely subjective: the student would have to write out their hypothesis (or hypotheses), the methods they would use, detailed experiment steps, summaries, graphs, etc.  This would be great for an upper level high school class because of the freedom of the project.  We did something like this in chemistry, where we had to design our own project in order to test a given hypothesis (like the gas law); it didn't matter if our experiment agreed or disagreed with the gas law, but rather, what we did to develop our project.  This stressed the developmental aspect of experimentation rather than the conclusion.  The student had to explain their own thoughts, describe what resulted (both favorable and perhaps unfavorable) but also analyze how they, themselves, had designed the project and what improvements could be made in the future.  This gives them an upper-hand in the learning process because, instead of being given a concrete lab with set instructions, they leave themselves open to exploring (and, of course, failure) but ultimately learn more, especially if they are hands-on learners, like myself.

Thanks Wil, for a terrific lesson today! As you described the lab I allowed my thought process to help guide my ideas for implementation in my own classroom. i want to enable the students to have their own space/time to create meaningful understandings but I don't want to overshadow the joy of discovery with procedural confusion. I spent a long time starting with the teacher's guide and then pouring out a reasonable constructed surface for my students to place their ideas. Lastly was the lab frame that will get at their observation within a managed matrix. i included possibilities for further research and am tickled that I can share this with other Bio teeachers who may want to use my lab set-up.

I'd share the constructed product on the forum but my brain operates in MS Word and I can't handle the web page's dislike of it.

Fabulous day, I know that I will continue to polish this lab but I'm so happy to have the product!

We could use this lesson as a group guided inquiry project.  This project/investigation will be used with a 3rd grade class and is alligned with the core curriculum & standards-  "Generate questions about an object, organism, and/or events that can be answered through scientific investigation."

We would conduct an experiment using identical seeds/plants using artifical light vs. sunlight and tap water vs. bottle water.

Our students will do daily observations and look at how environment affects plants.

Our hope is that our students will develop their own questions to later develop their own experiment and lead to an independent inquiry project.

I was asking myself how can I adapt this to meet my curriculum ?  I decided to use the fast plant and cabbage butterfly to investigate life cycles and environmental issues.  When I teach these areas in the late winter and spring, I will incorporate the Brassica butterflies.  I would also like to introduce the fast plants in September so that the students can write in their journals about what they see; just open inquiry, maybe even make suggestions of what might happen next.  Since I am not aware of what level I will have in the fall, I will probably do an introduction lesson and then plan for future inquiry lessons when I know my grade level.  Each time I see the fast plants, I get a new understanding and awareness of how useful fast plants can be in inquiry.  I will also tie my lessons into a multiple intelligence format.  Thanks for the inquiry lab, I learned that sometimes open inquiry,(no directions just do your own thing), can be an excellent way to find out how people think and organize information.

I enjoyed today's lesson.  Using qualitiative and quantitative datas to determinef rather a trait is genetic or casued by environment helped me to think "outside the box" on this topic.  The lesson can for many grade levels.  Dalia and I are deciding how to adapt this for her thrid graders.  We will probably only use two variables.

Deidre

Dear Mr. Franklin,

What an amazing experiment you used with your Biology students. I took a class on these plants several years ago and never figured out how to connect it to my third graders. Now I understand what the objectives were and as I own plant growing systems, I think I can create a version of the set up here at the college.

I did not understand the graphing you modeled today in the class. But I think I can use some of the findings by placing them in a graph format.

I think I could bring this down to a life-science activity for grades 2-5 in an elementary school setting. Of course we would be studying life cycles of animals and plants. Students WBAT describe what plants need to survive and what plants butterflies depend on for living. I would like to create a lesson plan using Fast Plants, but as this precise moment today, I am too focused on my interview later today near Chinatown.