Today, we focused on identifying the experimental data to include in the Results section of the Baggie Garden Experiment lab report.  We compared the pros and cons of collecting lots of data with collecting a focused amount of data.  Students identified, discussed, and justified which experimental endpoints they wanted to collect for their experiment, and then created data tables in their lab notebooks to collect the data.  Finally, students made their first careful observations of their baggie gardens and recorded their observations.  The slide deck includes lesson content, including a link to the Chia Pet video which is also available below.

Students conducted their Baggie Garden experiments today, setting up their experiment bags and one or more experimental control bags.  We began class with a brief overview of the day, and then students worked alone or in pairs to write a high-level experimental procedure.  Once their procedure was reviewed and teacher-approved, the students assembled their baggie gardens, using the resources available to test their hypotheses.  After setting up the gardens, students were prompted to respond in their lab notebooks to the following questions:

• Measured Experimental Outcome:
• How will you collect your results?
• Where will your result be documented?
• How will you analyze your results?
• How will you interpret your results?

Tomorrow we will make our first experimental observations and then discuss how to organize how to collect and organize data relevant to each group’s research question.

Happy New Year!   Hard to believe we are only three weeks away from the end of first semester!  Before Winter Break, we began our study of cellular respiration and briefly touched on photosynthesis.  Today we began studying plant biology by identifying testable experimental variables associated with plant seed germination.  Tomorrow, students will establish baggie gardens in order to test whether their selected variable impacts seed germination and/or seedling growth.  Our collective data will enable us to make detailed scientific observations and conclusions about factors affecting seed germination, seedling growth, and photosynthesis.  Along the way, students will practice the art of inquiry by:

• identifying variables (manipulated, responding, and controlled)
• writing hypothesis statements (using the if…then…because… format)
• writing a detailed experimental procedure (incorporating the concepts of validity, reliability, repeated trials, and experimental control conditions)
• recording, organizing, and analyzing detailed observations
• writing a conclusion statement

Students will be expected to produce a typed lab report which includes a data table and a graph of the data.