How do Cottage Lane Elementary School scientists gather evidence to support their claim that plants need light, water, soil and air to grow? By conducting experiments to test their hypothesis!
K-8 Instructional Science Coach Samantha Levine and teacher Cassie Barbera recently provided technical support to student-scientist teams as they labeled, measured, poured and planted–ultimately creating planters which would provide a variety of conditions for tiny mustard seeds.
“This hands-on lab is part of the fifth grade Ecosystems science unit,” Levine noted. “Students will be monitoring growth over the next few weeks to test their claim and, eventually, develop a model to describe the movement of matter among producers (plants), consumers (animals), decomposers and the environment.”