Planting Science - Group: OSS Stephens Spring 2017
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OSS Stephens Spring 2017

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14 Feb 2017

This is the Classroom group for the Spring 2017 PlantingScience projects from Orillia Secondary School, led by teacher Phillippa Stephens and scientist-liaison Victory Coffey.

 

Goals/Big picture:

  1. Please describe what outcomes both for yourself and your students that you wish to achieve by participating in PlantingScience. (300 words or less)

Students should be able to investigate how biotic or abiotic factors impact the germination of plants.  We are hoping to hone their skills in science inquiry which they will have been introduced to prior to the project.   They should be able to design a controlled experiment with a control and experimental groups, collect data and organize in a format that allows them to easily look for relationships in the data, and communicate their understanding in a scientific format.  I also hope that the students will work on skills such as digital citizenship and communicating/collaborating with individuals in the greater scientific community.

  1. What is the name of the course you are teaching (optionally include a short description of what you will cover and how PlantingScience fits into the larger course).

Grade Nine Academic Science – we will be looking at ecosystems and biotic and abiotic factors that impact populations.  This will be our main investigation for the ecosystem unit.  (2 classes)

  1. How much have you taught regarding the topics of the investigation theme (e.g. photosynthesis, genetics) prior to starting this investigation? Are you using PlantingScience to reinforce concepts already learned or more of a discovery tool for generating ideas about the topic?

We are using planting science as a reinforcement of following the scientific inquiry process which we are connecting with our ecosystems unit.  We hope to investigate factors that impact germination.

Important dates and times:

  1. Please estimate your start date (must be after session start).
    Your start date is the day your students first login online, with your pre-selected username and password.

Estimated Start Date: Mar 22nd

  1. Please estimate your end date.

Your end date is when students last post to say goodbye to the mentors.

Estimated End Date: April 18th.

  1. Are there timeframes during your class inquiry the students will not access the website, such as school breaks? (Please note this in the calendar when you customize your group page)

No.

  1. Class meeting time(s): What time and which day(s) of the week does your class meet?

Class One:  Meets 11:38am – 12:53pm ET  Week A, 9:28am-10:43am ET Week B

Class Two: Meets: 1:01 pm – 2:16 pm ET Week A, 8:00 am-9:20am ET Week B

Morning and afternoon classes flip every other week.  Our start Week Mar22nd – lands on a Week B.

  1. Estimated number of days per week your students will be able access the website to post information &/or communicate with mentors.

3 days

Classroom demographics and expectations:

  1. Science background and language skills.
    Please relay any details about your student population that would help the mentors communicate with your teams.  For example, do they have exceptionally high motivation, little previous science experience, or include a large proportion of English as a second language (ESL) speakers? What are the first language(s) of your ESL students?

Students are in their first year of high school which means their experience with the inquiry process is varied before coming in this grade nine class depending on their elementary teacher’s focus.  They started the grade nine class on Feb 6th, and have been taught the inquiry process and completed a small guided inquiry.

  1. Is there additional information you think would be helpful to mentors (e.g., access to equipment, your class expectations)?

We unfortunately do not have natural light (with the exception of light tunnels) in our classroom.  We have access to window space in the classrooms across the hall from us.


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NSF_Logo.jpg This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2010556 and #1502892. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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