elementary globe earth systems activity

Purpose•To acquaint students with the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and

biospheremoreclosely.•Tohavestudentsusemicrocosmstostudynaturalphenomena.•To introduce students to the concept of a “fair test” in a scientific

investigation.

OverviewIn pairs, students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in ordertostudywhatplantsneedtolive.Variablestostudyincludethepresenceorabsenceofsoil,water,andsunlight.Studentswillrecordthegrowthofradishplantsaswellasobservationsof“thewatercycle”intheirterrariums.Attheconclusionoftheirexperiments,studentswillsharetheirresultswiththeclassand discuss how water, Earth materials, and air are all necessary to supportlivingthings.

Student OutcomesAftercompletingthisactivity,studentswillknowabouttheimportanceofthehydrosphere,geosphere,andatmosphereinsupportingthebiosphere.Theywilllearnhowtosetup“fairtests,”recorddetailedobservations,usedrawingsas scientific records, make sense of experimental results, and share thempublicly.

Science Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry•Abilitiesnecessarytodoscientificinquiry

Science Content Standard C: Life Science•Thecharacteristicsoforganisms•Organismsandenvironments

Science Content Standard D: Earth and Space Science•Propertiesofearthmaterials

Time•Part1:One30-45minuteclassperiod•Part2:One30minuteclassperiod•Part3:15-20minutesthreetimesaweek•Part4:One45minuteclassperiod

LevelPrimary(mostappropriateforgradesK-4)

Materials

Part 1:•ElementaryGLOBE

book:AllAboutEarth:OurWorldonStage

•Twoblankwallcharts

Part 2:•Oneofeachof

thefollowingpergroupofstudents(2–4students):21-literclearplasticsodabottles,3cupspottingsoil,10radishseeds,measuringcup,water,tape,permanentmarker,indexcard,foil,papertowels

•EarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCard–onecopyforeachstudentorgroupofstudents

Part 3:•Multiplecopiesfor

eachstudentoftheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet(andafoldertoholdthesepapers)

•OverheadtransparencyoftheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet

Part 4:•WallchartsfromPart1

TheGLOBEProgram EarthSysteminaBottle-Page1 AllAboutEarth

Earth System in a Bottle

ALearningActivityforAll About Earth: Our World on Stage

©2006UniversityCorporationforAtmosphericResearchAllRightsReserved


Preparation

Part 1:• Read the Elementary GLOBE book All About

Earth:OurWorldonStage–either read it to theclassorhavestudentsreadittothemselves.Thebook can be downloaded from www.globe.gov/elementaryglobe.

•Maketwowallchartstitled:“Whatdoplantsneedtolive?”and“Whatdowewanttolearn?”

Part 2:•MakeacopyoftheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipe

Card for each student or group of students.Optional: laminatetherecipecardssotheywon’tgetwetduringthisactivity.

Part 3:•Make copies of Earth System in a Bottle Student

ActivitySheetsothateachgrouphasablanksheetfor each observation they make. Make a folderforeachgroup.Anotheroptionistomakesmallerphotocopiesoftheactivitysheetsoyoucanfittwosets of the sheet on each piece of paper (usinglandscapeformatting).

•PreparethesodabottlesbycuttingthemasshowninFigure1.

Figure 1: Cut bottle in half and cut vertical slits as shown. Slide top over bottom of bottle, pushing alternate flaps to the inside.

•Preparestationsatwhichstudentgroupscanplanttheirterrariums.

•Plantoneterrariumaheadoftimetodeterminethecorrectratioofsoiltowater.Theamountofwaterneededtothoroughlymoistenabout3cupsofsoilwill vary depending on the type of soil availablelocally andon the initialmoisture content of thesoil.

•Spreadsomeofthesoilinalargetray,bakingsheetoronnewspaperandset it todryout (preferablyinasunnywindow)fortwodays.Thissoilwillbeusedinthe“Nowater”treatment.

Part 4:•Nopreparationnecessary.

Teacher’s Notes

In this activity students will plant some controlterrariums thathaveall theelementsaplantneedsto grow (soil, water, light) and other experimentalterrariumsthatlackoneoftheseelements.Theywillmonitor their terrariums closely to gather data onwhatplantsneedtogrow.

Science background:Plantsneedthefollowingthingsinordertogrow:Soil,Water,LightandAir(oxygenandcarbondioxide).

Soil: Plantsneedsoiltoanchortheirroots.Theyalsoabsorbthrough their roots necessary minerals dissolved inthewatercontainedinsoil.

Water: Like all living things, plants need water to survive.Plantsneedwatertosoftentheseedcoat-aprocessthat begins germination - and to maintain all theirlifefunctions.Waterevaporatesfromthesurfaceofplant leaves in a process known as “transpiration.”This evaporation provides the force that allows theroots todrawwaterup from thesoil. Transpirationalsocoolstheplant,justastheevaporationofsweatfromourskinsurfacecoolsus!Transpirationaccountsfor10%ofallwatercontributedtotheatmosphereintheformofwatervapor.



Anoteaboutthephasesofwater:Individualmoleculesofwaterarecontinuallyleavingthesurfaceofliquidwater (evaporating) andentering theair in thegasphase. Water in the gas phase (water vapor) iscompletelyinvisible.Steam,fogandclouds(visiblewaterinair)consistoftinydropletsofwaterthathavecondensedonparticlesintheair.

Air (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen): Plants breathe (respire). Like all living things, theyrespire to support their life functions and give offcarbon dioxide as an end product of respiration.Duringthedaylighthours,theytakeincarbondioxidewhichtheyuseintheprocessofphotosynthesis.Theycapture the sun’s energy and use it to synthesizesugars and other molecules, using carbon dioxidemoleculesas“buildingblocks.”

Fair test: Afairtestisaninvestigationorexperimentinwhichone condition (called the “independent variable”)affectsanother (“dependentvariable”)whileall theotherconditionsintheinvestigationarenotchanged.Inalltheexperiments,plantgrowthisthedependablevariable. For example, the bottle wrapped in foilonly has light excluded (the independent variable),while it has the sameamountof soil andwater astheothertreatments;thedifferenceinplantgrowth(the“dependentvariable”)comparedwiththeplantsthat receive soil, sun and water (the “control”) canthen be attributed to the absence of light, sincethe investigation was a fair test. Since nothingelse was changed, the outcome is not confusedor “confounded.” For this activity, the terrariumthat contains soil, water, and light is the “control”terrarium,andthethreeterrariumsthataremissingoneelement(soil,water,light)arethe“experimental”terrariums.

Student ideas about what plants need: •StudentsmaymentionCO2andmayevenlistitas

oneoftheneedsofplants.Ratherthanenteringa discussion about it, simply acknowledge thatindeed,it’sagasinairandthatiftheplantshaveair inthebottle(whichtheydo)thestudentscanassumethattheplantswillgetCO2.

•Some children may say plants can live withoutwater,basedonpriorexperiencewith terrariums,orknowledgeofdesertplants.Ofcourse,strictlyspeaking,allplantsneedwater.

•Studentsmayhavetriedtogrowplantsinpuresandasacontrasttosoil,withvaryingsuccess.

Logistics for planting with students: Plantingismanageableasawholeclassactivityifyouhave one adult per student group. Other options:Havestudentsplant,withyourhelp,onegroupatatimewhiletherestoftheclassisengagedinotheractivities.

Things to note about the making an Earth System in a Bottle:•Seed depth: Be sure to tell students to plant the

seedsonlyasdeepastheseedsarewide.Ifseedsareplanted toodeep, theemergingseedlingwilltakelongertofindthesurfaceofthesoil.

•Theorderofplantingisimportant:Addthewatertothesoilbeforeaddingtheseeds.Otherwise,theseedswillfloattothesurfaceifwateredafterplanting.

•Soilcompacting:Studentswillpackdownthesoiltodifferentdegreesofcompactnessbutthisshouldn’taffectplantgrowth.

•Haveyoungstudentspracticemeasuringthecorrectamountofwater.Oftentheyputtoomuchwaterintothebottle.

Results to expect in this activity:•Intheterrariumwithnowater:Theseedswillnot

germinate.

•Intheterrariumwithnolight:Theplantswillgrowlongandspindlybut theplantwillbe“etiolated”(because they contain no chlorophyll, the stemswillbewhiteorpalegreenandextremelyfloppy).

•In the terrarium with no soil: The plants willgerminate and grow by anchoring their rootsintothepaper. Eventually, theywillstopgrowingbecausea)therootsneedsoilinwhichtoanchortheplantandpapertoweldoesn’tprovideenoughsupport, and b) the plant ultimately needs thenutrientsitgetsfromsoil.Studentsmayconcludefromthis thatplantsdon’tneedsoil. Have them



comparetheplantstothosegrowinginsoiltohelpthemdecide.

•Note:Sometimestheseedcoatisnotshedbythegrowingseedlingbut traps thefirstsetof leaves.If thishappens,youcanexpect it tobegintogetmoldywithinthefirstweek.

For more information on using plastic bottlesto create terrariums, see Bottle Biology atwww.bottlebiology.orgorwww.fastplants.org.

What To Doand How To Do It

Part 1: Discussion and Brainstorming1.Having read the Elementary GLOBE book All

About Earth: Our World on Stage, introduce thisinvestigationtotheclass.Explaintostudentsthattheywillbeusinga“microsystem”toinvestigatesomeofthesameEarthsystemsthatthechildrendid in the book, but that they will be doing thisfromthebiosphere(aplant’s)pointofview.

2.Askthestudents,“Whatdoyouthinkaplantneedstolive?”

3.Record their answers on a chart. They will likelymention water, air, sunlight, soil, and perhapscarbondioxideandoxygen.

4.Onceyouhavegivenallstudentstheopportunityto respond, explain to them that they will beinvestigatingplants’needforwater,soil,andlight.

Part 2: Planting and Predictions1.Demonstratehowtoplanttheseedsintheterrarium.

SeetheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardatthebackofthisactivityfortheinstructions/recipe.

2.Have students repeat the steps they observedyoumakeduring thedemonstration. YoucanalsophotocopytheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardatthebackofthisactivitysostudentscanfollowalong.

3.Eachgroupwillplantone“control”versionoftheEarth system and one “experimental” version oftheEarthSystem. TheexperimentalEarthsystem

willnothaveoneofthefollowingpartsoftheEarthsystem:light,soil,orwater.Makesureyourclasscreatesatleastoneoftheseexperimentalsystems.SeetheEarthSysteminaBottleRecipeCardforthelistofexperimentalsystems.

4.Havethestudentswritedowntheirpredictionsonanindexcardeitherindividuallyorintheirgroupsfor what they expect to see in the experimentalEarthsystembottle.Tellthemtheywilllookattheirpredictionsagainattheendoftheexperiment.

Part 3: Observational Procedures1.Explain to the students that they will make

observationsandrecordthemontheEarthSysteminaBottleStudentActivitySheet.

2.Explain the Earth System in a Bottle StudentActivitySheet to thestudents (usinganoverheadtransparencyofthesheetifyouwish).Everyotherday,studentswillrecordtheirnames,thedate,andthesystemtheyareobserving.Remindthemthateachterrariumhasairinit,sotheywillalwayscheckthatboxonthestudentactivitysheet.Thentheywillobservetheplantsclosely.Givethestudentscuesabout what to write about - some ideas are: thenumberof sproutsor leaves,condensation,plantsize,color,mold,roots.Theywilldrawtheplantsin thebottleandmayalsowritenotesalongside.Youngerstudentsmayneedassistancewiththis.

3.Option: You or your students may want to takedigitalphotosasarecordaswell.

4.Explaintostudentsthattheywillmakeobservationsfor10-15minutesatspecifiedtimesoncertaindays.

5.Youmaywanttomonitorstudentsduringthefirsttwo observation sessions to make sure they areobservingand recording in themanner specified(though any additional information studentsmay want to record is also welcome). Note: Atfirst, teachers might want to model a completeobservationsessionfortheclass.

Part 4: Sharing Results1.Once the plants have grown sufficiently to show

clear results (this will take 2 to 4 weeks), havethe students take some time to study all of the



observationstheyhavemade.

2.Next,havethemdecideintheirgroupswhattheirdatashow.

3.Havethestudentssharetheirfindingsinawholeclassdiscussionandsummarizetheirfindingsonachart.

4.Finally, have the students revisit the predictionstheywroteontheirnotecardsanddiscussasaclasswhetherornottheirconclusionsaredifferent.

Adaptations for Youngerand Older Students

Youngerstudentsmayneedhelptapingtheirbottlesshut. Youmightalsowant tohelp themlabel theirbottles.Inaddition,wrappingbottlesinfoilsecurelyenoughtokeepall lightoutcanbeachallengeforyoungerstudents.

Younger students may only make drawings on theEarth System in a Bottle Student Activity Sheet andrequireadulthelptowritedownwhattheyobserved.Tohelpyoungstudentswriteabouttheirobservations,puta“wordbank”uponthewallofyourclassroom;this chart can contain words the students mightcommonlyusetodescribetheirobservations:plant,grow,tall,green,brown,wet,dry,etc.

Youmightconsiderengagingtheolderstudentsinadiscussionofwhatconstitutesa“fairtest”forwhetherplantsneedwater, soilor sunlight. Older studentscandiscusswhattheywillacceptasa“healthy”plantandwhattheircriteriawillbefordeterminingwhataplantthatisgettingallitneedsmightlooklike.

Further Investigations

•Scientists’ Journals:Showyourstudentsexamplesof published journals some well-known scientistskept in the past. Some good examples to useare the journals of Charles Darwin, Henry DavidThoreau and Merriweather Lewis & William Clark.Havethestudentslookforexamplesofinteractions

betweenEarth’scomponentsinthesejournals.

•Completing the plant life cycle: Here are twooptionsforcontinuingterrariuminvestigations.

1.Keeptheterrariumsundisturbedonthewindowsillandhavethestudentsdiscoverthat thesystemintheterrariumsupportstheplantswithoutanyfurthercarefromthem.

2.Removethetopsfromtheterrariumsandallowplants to continue growing. Depending whattimeofyearyouchooseforthisactivity,studentsmightevenbeable toharvest radishes! Note:once you remove the top of the terrarium youwillneedtostartwateringitsothesoildoesn’tdryout.

•Observe other members of the radish family:Radishes belong to the family Cruciferae, thecabbage family, which contains about 3,000species.ThefamilywasnamedCruciferaebecausetheflowersofplantsinthisfamilycharacteristicallyhavefourpetalsspreadingintheformofacross.Farmers and scientists have bred many of thecommonfoodplantsweeattodayfromthisfamily(e.g. radishes, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, andbroccoli). Bring examples in and discuss thediversityofthisplantfamilywiththestudents.

•Literacy Connections:Readasciencetradebookabout plant life cycles to your students. SomeexamplesareTheCarrotSeedbyRuthKraussandThis Is the Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer. Afterreading the story, have the children write/drawonapaperthatisdividedintofourpartswiththefollowing headings: 1) Title; 2) “The plant in thisstory grew because it had ___ (for example, soiland rain); 3) The plant would have grown evenbetter if ithad___(e.g.,moresunormorerain);and4)Myfavoritepartofthestorywaswhen___.

The“EarthSysteminaBottleLearningActivity”wasdeveloped in collaboration with Harold McWilliamsandGillianPuttickfromTERC,Cambridge,MA.


Earth System in a Bottle Recipe Card

All About Earth: Our World on Stage


Earth System in a Bottle Student Activity Sheet

All About Earth: Our World on StageNAME:____________________________


elementary globe earth systems activity

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